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When you cover enough poker tournaments, you eventually feel like you've seen it all. But here at APPT Seoul, we just witnessed something we hadn't seen before.
Brian Kang opened the pot from the button with a raise to 36,000. After Hidenari Shiono folded his small blind, action passed to Yoshihiro Tanaka, who had shifted seats to start the hand and his chips lined up in a wall just behind the betting line. Tanaka motioned towards the dealer to throw him an all-in triangle, then placed the triangle in front of his chips. It was a unique way to declare an all-in bet, but it worked. Kang folded.
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Brian Kang
Brian Kang is still continuing with his more aggressive approach as evident by the last two hands.
Kang raised to 36,000 from the small blind and Hidenari Shiono made the call in the big blind. The flop came down and Kang fired out 40,000, Shiono then bumped it up to 80,000 and Kang insta-folded.
The next hand Kang tried again with a raise to 36,000 on the button. Once again Shiono made the call, this time out of position in the small blind. The flop was and this time the continuation bet of 45,000 from Kang did the trick as Shiono folded and Kang regained some of his chips. He's hovering around the 300,000 chip mark.
While there is a lull in the action, why not check out some of the great videos hosted by PokerNews' own Melissa Castello in our Video Gallery.
Recently Melissa caught up with Takeda of the Japan Poker League to talk about poker in Japan and the strong presence of the JPL at the APPT. Check it out...
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Some more unconventional play from our two Japanese players...
Hidenari Shiono min-raised to 24,000 from the small blind, and Yoshihiro Tasaka quickly shoved all in for effectively around 600,000 from the big blind. Shiono folded and Tasaka flashed pocket kings!
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Brian Kang Doubles
Yoshihiro Tasaka raised to 36,000 from the small blind before Brian Kang moved all in for a total of 239,000 from the big blind. Tasaka leaned back on his chair and cried "Call!"
Tasaka:
Kang:
Tasaka was calling for a king but the flop left him in trouble when it came . "Jack, ten!" Tasaka started chanting ambitiously, but the turn was the to end the hand.
"Anything!" came the sarcastic call from Kang's entourage, knowing that the river was meaningless when it came the .
Kang doubles to just under 500,000 with Tasaka now back on the short stack with about 440,000.
[user75032]
What a hand we had heading into the last break. Yoshihiro Tasaka raised to 36,000 from the button preflop. Action was next on Brian Kang, who reraised to 120,000 total. After Hidenari Shiono passed, Tasaka put in a third raise by signalling once again for the all-in triangle.
There was some confusion as Kang asked for a count. Tasaka thought Kang called and therefore quickly flipped over his cards, showing . The raise back to Kang was an additional 316,000 to call.
Kang, who had earlier been warned not to expose his hand as he pondered calling a large bet from Hidenari Shiono, requested that Tasaka's hand be declared dead. TD Danny McDonagh ruled that his hand was still live, and the cards would stay open. He assessed a one-round (three hands) penalty to Tasaka at the conclusion of the hand.
Kang looked pained as he tried to figure out what to do, armed with the knowledge of Tasaka's hole cards. He tanked for almost five minutes, then decided that he had to play and announced "Call," showing .
His hand brought a murmur of astonishment from the gallery as Kang was behind and would be left with only 75,000 chips if he lost the hand. Kang turned his back to the table, unable to watch what was transpiring. The flop missed both players, but Kang paired up on the turn with the . He needed to duck just three cards on the river -- the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds and the ace of clubs. As the dealer burned and turned, Tasaka, who was out of his seat, shouted "ACE!" at the top of his lungs.
And it worked! The river was the , bringing a roar from the Japanese side of the gallery. Tasaka jubilantly hugged several of his supporters as the dealer swept a pot of over one million chips to his seat.
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Brian Kang - 3rd Place
With Yoshihiro Tasaka missing due to his penalty, Brian Kang decided to push all in for his last 70,000 chips but Hidenari Shiono made the call.
Kang:
Shiono:
The board ran out and although Kang flopped a straight draw and turned a flush draw, he was unable to improve and was eliminated from the tournament in third place for $44,074 in prize money. We're now heads up!
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Kang fired out 40,000, Shiono then bumped it up to 80,000 and Kang insta-folded.
and this time the continuation bet of 45,000 from Kang did the trick as Shiono folded and Kang regained some of his chips. He's hovering around the 300,000 chip mark.
. "Jack, ten!" Tasaka started chanting ambitiously, but the turn was the 
to end the hand.
.
missed both players, but Kang paired up on the turn with the 
. He needed to duck just three cards on the river -- the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds and the ace of clubs. As the dealer burned and turned, Tasaka, who was out of his seat, shouted "ACE!" at the top of his lungs. 
and although Kang flopped a straight draw and turned a flush draw, he was unable to improve and was eliminated from the tournament in third place for $44,074 in prize money. We're now heads up!
