On a flop of 2008 APPT Macau 3rd place finisher Diwei Huang and his opponent pushed all of their chips into the middle. Huang held the lead with his for top pair, gutshot straight and backdoor flush draw, but his opponent was also drawing big with for middle pair and flush draw.
However remarkably the turn and river fell , to put a straight on board and keep both players happy as they chop it up! Huang sits with about 24,000 chips.
Although originally we were supposed to play seven levels today, the tournament staff have informed the players that Level 6 will be the last level of play for the day.
Japanese player Hidenari Shiono has just captured a massive pot to storm to the tournament chip lead.
Shiono flopped a full house with his pocket eights on a board to send his opponent to the rail. Shiono's firey black and red jacket is as impressive as his chip stack as he now sits behind 50,000 chips.
An early position player raised to 900, finding a single caller -- David Saab, who was playing the button. Both men checked the flop. When the turn came , Saab's opponent bet 2,000 and was quickly raised by Saab to 4,500. He mulled it over before making a call. When the river came , he checked to Saab.
"How much do you have my friend?" Saab asked. Once he saw that his opponent had well over 10,000, he opted to check behind and tabled . That was a winner versus his opponent's .
"Seems like a tough spot to get value," deadpanned Greg Raymer.
"I thought I'd have to bluff the river," Saab replied.
An all in on Table 8 seemed uneventful. The short stack, who was very short, tabled pocket sevens against his opponent's pocket threes. A player from a nearby table stood up to watch the action.
"Jack nine six," he said. Three seconds later, the dealer spread that exact flop, in order! .
"Pyschic Sid calls in the flop," he said before sitting back down at his own table.
We can't help but notice the strong showing by the Japanese contingent here in this year's APPT Seoul event. Of the 165 starters, 35 players have registered themselves as being based in Japan and there are many "JPL - Japan Poker League" logos splashed across the hoodies of players still alive in the field. Of course local Korean players are prohibited by law from playing in this event, but with its close proximity to Tokyo, Seoul is an attractive proposition for those residing in Japan until they are able to one day host their own APPT event!
All the chips were in the middle when we walked up to James Honeybone's table. He was at risk of elimination, holding against an opponent's . The flop came out , prompting Honeybone to stand up.
"Why put a king anyway?" he asked despondently. The board ran out , at which point one of the other players rubbed salt in the wound by informing Honeybone that he had folded a nine.
"A one-outer!" said Honeybone before gathering his things and heading out of the casino.
David Saab has just doubled through Greg Raymer when the board read . We don't have details of the action, however Saab had tabled for a flush while Raymer was left with only two pair with his .
Raymer is down to around 5,000 with Saab continuing his roller-coaster day as he is back up to about 12,500 chips.
Things aren't going Jan Van Dyk's way. Just minutes after doubling up Hevad Khan with the worse hand, he has doubled up Veerachai Vongxaiburana with the best hand. Van Dyk opened from under the gun for 900. Action passed all the way to Vongxaiburana in the big blind, who pushed all in for about 8,000. Van Dyk snap-called with and was up against Vongxaiburana's . There was a small murmur from the table as the flop came to pair Vongxaiburana's kicker. He had Van Dyk reverse-dominated and had his hand hold on the turn and the river.