Lester Edoc is one of the best players in PH. No doubt about that. He has won multiple events not only here but also internationally.

Many local players do look up to him and study his game and profess that he is that good.

But just recently he did something that is worth looking into. 

Metro 750k – Day 1A chip leader which became the overall Day 1 chip leader.

It is normal that the last-day chip leader is the overall chip leader. as there are more players that played on the field.

But something unique did happen on the Metro 750k. Lester Edoc entered day 1A and yes he was the chip leader. but what was surprising as the other day 1 chip leader did not surpass his lead. Nobody could and as day 1’s ended. He finished as the chip leader of all day 1’s

Why does it matter?

The name of the game is after all becoming the champion. having more chips does give you an advantage. it could help you run deeper in tournaments. and everyone wants to run deep because the higher you end up the more money you make. 

Being the chip leader is also an advantage as you can create more plays or call more hands to gain more chips. 

But Lester becoming chip leader and maintaining the lead does post a whole set of question. 

End of the day, what is important is to qualify dor day 2 and have a good stack.

That is the main goal of day 1, to survive. You can not be a champion if you do not survive day 1 right?

Lester Edoc unique performance could help a lot of players be champions. it has destroyed some myths and bad habits that players believed. so let us take a close look at his unique achievement and how he achieves it.

Some key factors

Metro Card Club will always have a good day 1A

From satellites and a stable number. Metro Card Club is probably unique in this position. After all, they are now the only cardroom that can run a daily tournament with no guarantee and still accumulate enough players to have a good tournament.

This is due to the fact that Satty’s held by the Metro are very affordable to the masses hence it draws them in.

Unlike other poker rooms that offer you a meager stack. Metro will offer a good structure and a good stack you want to get a 2k starting stack and hope for the best. it will have a decent stack.

It is also a key in the APT where players still get a good stack. the only difference is that it is more affordable for the masses as the seat in itself is cheap.

Example. the main event of the Metro has only 3,300 buy in. so a satty of 300 buy in can be done. which is very cheap for the local market.

Metro Card Club Tournament structure are good.

Because the structure is good. One can still afford to make plays early on to gain more chips for the later battle.

There is a myth that you can only steal a few chips if the battle is small. but that is not actually technically true.

A few years ago. the PPT was held where it had a one hour per level blind. imagine being in 25/50 for 1 hour, and your starting stack is 20,000

WSOP has a 2 hour blind, although it starts at 100/100. the starting stack for the main is 60k chips.

But the difference is that players are really the ones that dictate the flow of the game. when it was still at 25/50. aggressive players tune up the game and raise it to 500 whenever they have a good hand or want to make a play. which is 10 times the big blind.

As the aggressive players raise the normal raise of the table. other players started following it.

Lester Edoc was doing this years ago during the PPT. it is possible he followed this pattern. as the blinds are still low. one can easily fold the hand and lose less while gaining more during the right position or the right hand.

Fewer pros on Day 1A

More pros still want to play on the last day 1. That is normal. We have become so accustomed to this that there are really more players on the last day.

Pros too prefer to play on the last day.

knowing there would be a good number and having a good structure. Lester Edoc has traveled the world over and is one of the top players of PH. Lester was pretty much a wolf in a hen’s house.

He was above everyone in terms of skills and experience during that day. Not to say there were no great players. but he could avoid them easily and picked on the weak ones.

and he did.

Did Lester Edoc have that plan in mind when he entered day 1A?

Did Lester Edoc plan it out? Nobody knows except him. End of the day. he did prove that you can finished and have a good stack playing day 1A

Maybe more pros will try this strategy out because after all the objective of day 1 is to enter with a good stack and playing day 1A might not be a bad idea.

But regardless, tournaments are slowly coming back. and ironically the next big tournament will be the Metro Summer event, set for April 20-25, 2022.

But for the first quarter, Lester Edoc did something that is worth writing about. by setting a bar on a tournament that could not be equalled.