KAI PAULSEN WINS THE MSE 2019 MAIN EVENT

After 11 hours of final day action, the Metro Card Club crowned its newest champion with Kai Paulsen taking down the MSE Main Event. This was Paulsen’s first-ever victory at the Metro and it was certainly very well deserved. The Norwegian pro entered fourth in the chip rung, proceeded to carry the biggest stack into the final table, and barely stumbled on his way to the throne. He pocketed a cool P918,673 for his stellar performance.

Final Day recap / Winner’s story

The Main Event saw the return of 18 players out of the 652 total entries. As the most experienced and decorated pro in the lineup and ranked fourth in chips, Paulsen was clearly the player to keep a close watch on. Surprisingly, one of the earliest to fall was Rey Osete who went from 2nd in chips to 15th place.

It wasn’t until 12 were left did Paulsen begin his ascent. He doubled up through Junnie Pamplona with Ad-As over pocket queens then followed it up with a four-bet shove preflop on Jharome Pena to take the lead for the first time.

His first knockout came shortly after with Qc-Qs winning the flip against Alvin Sembrano’s Ad-Kd that missed. The final table was formed at the fall of Pena (11th) to Dexter Salmingo.

Final Table

Entering the final table, Paulsen carried in a commanding big stack. Salmingo was in second rank and was running quite hot as well. Salmingo claimed the most heads throughout, five in total. His third bust was Avelino Rene Maglalang (10th). Muammar Mabilang (9th) fell next leaving 8 on the felt. Paulsen surged to 40 percent of the chips in play by knocking out Pamplona (8th). It was similar to their earlier meeting. Pamplona was all in with pocket queens, Paulsen with Ad-Kh, and like previous, the ladies were crushed. Paulsen found an ace on the board.

Salmingo took care of the next elimination, his fourth, by burning out the light of the lone female Grace Takayama in 7th place. However this was still not enough to overtake the leader Paulsen who claimed a big pot against Kevin Dos Santos to control half of the chips in play.

It was during this six-handed round did the players see Geno Gendrano emerge from slumber. Gendrano was down to just 8 bbs when he went on a mad rush, winning pots off both the leaders and railing the day’s entering chip leader Raymond Gomez in 6th place. Salmingo went on to gobble up his fifth victim in Dos Santos (5th).

Geno Gendrano

Paulsen continued to hold court up top with 65 percent of the chips at his disposal. His three opponents, Gendrano, Salmingo, and Jan Jason Leoncio were all below average. Gendrano proceeded to bust Leoncio (4th) and it was down to three. An ICM deal was immediately discussed and reached with everyone guaranteed a respective payout less P50,000 each for a total of P150,000 more to the eventual champion.

The game resumed for another two hours. Gendrano and Salmingo met numerous times causing their stacks to seesaw. Gendrano dropped to 2 bbs but impressively bounced back winning a triple up followed by two double ups. Gendrano’s lucky streak continued at the expense of Salmingo whose trips on the turn were destroyed by Gendrano’s straight on the river. Salmingo couldn’t recover and met his end in 3rd place at the hands of Paulsen.

Dexter Salmingo

Heads up began with Paulsen way ahead over 4:1. Gendrano was noticeably the aggressor between them and it paid off. He shipped two double ups to tighten the gap then took the lead for the first time. Paulsen quickly answered and snatched it back. From there, experience prevailed. Paulsen defeated Gendrano with the final hand 6d-5c winning over 9h-6h on a board of 4s-5s-6s-7d-2c. The shoves were at the flop.

Congratulations to Kai Paulsen! He is the newest Metro 2019 champion!

Final Day payouts

1st Kai Paulsen – P918,673
2nd Geno Gendrano – P616,247
3rd Dexter Salmingo – P464,220
4th Jan Jason Leoncio – P200,000
5th Kevin Dos Santos – P130,000
6th Raymond Gomez – P90,000
7th Grace Takayama – P69,000
8th Junnie Pamplona – P57,000
9th Muammar Manabilang – P45,000
10th Avelino Rene Maglalang – P39,000
11th Jharome Pena – P33,000

12th Alvin Sembrano – P33,000
13th James Auld – P30,000
14th Christopher Pasion – P30,000
15th Rey Osete – P30,000
16th Sandy Cea – P27,000
17th Jason Magbanua – P27,000
18th Luke Pangan – P27,000

The MSE Main Event drew 652 entries for a guarantee smashing prize pool of P3,912,000 (~US$75,600). 65 players reached the money. That wraps up the MSE festival. It ran from April 5 to 15 with the Main Event taking place on the last six days.