Main Event
Day 1a Started
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Asia Championship of Poker
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Asia Championship of Poker
Buy-in
95,000 HKD
Prize Pool
24,206,000 HKD
Entries
260
Level
30
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
The Asia Championship Poker (ACOP) Main Event starts today
The ACOP Main Event begins today. This is a $100,000 HKD ($13,000 USD) buy in event. Last year, Gabriel Le Jossec bested a field of 291 players to claim the $6.3-million HKD prize ($820,000 USD approx).
The ACOP is the largest poker festival in Asia and features 15 events. This Main Event will be event #10. This will be the first of two starting days. Players will play seven levels during each of the starting days. The first four levels will be 60 minutes and the remaining levels will be 90 minutes. Players may also buy directly into Day 2 which begins Wednesday.
Team PokerStars SportsStar and Former World Cup Champion Ronaldo kicked off the tournament by wishing the players good luck and is playing tomorrow, but Erik Seidel, PokerStars Team Pro Online Naoya Kihara, and Stephen Chidwick are just some of the players in today's field.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Ronaldo gave a welcome speech to the Day 1A players and did the official shuffle up and deal announcement to get play underway here at PokerStars Live in the City of Dreams, Macau.
Who's About?
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
As well as the fore mentioned Erik Seidel, and Naoya Kihara, the early players to have taken their seats include Team PokerStars Pro Anh Lin; former PCA champion Dimitar Danchev and poker superstar Stephen Chidwick.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
Tough Draw
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Yuguang Li is fourth in the Asia Player of the Year race. He won the Red Dragon Main event and The High Roller at Macau Poker Cup 22 in March. He is sitting next to the previous ACOP Macau Main Event winner, Gabriel Le Jossec. Also at the table is Team PokerStars Online Pro Naoya Kihara.
Ronald Yu recently is sitting in seat two, with Li and Jessoc to his left. He picked up some early chips after winning two pots in a row.
On the first hand, Yu was heads up on a flop of 
and checked. His opponent bet 525 and Yu raised to 1,100, his opponent called. The turn was the 
and Yu led for 1,500. His opponent called and the river was the 
, putting four diamonds on the board. Yu bet 3,500 and his opponent called quickly. Yu turned over 
for a diamond flush. His opponent mucked.
On the following hand Yu was heads up with the same opponent. The board read 
and Yu led out for 3,550. This time his opponent folded and Yu continued to chip up early.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,500
35,500
|
35,500 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Seidel Straightens out Li
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Erik Seidel has gotten off to a great start after he turned the world against Bjorn Li and got there.
The two were heads up and the board read 
. Li checked from mid position and called after Seidel bet 800 from the button. The board completed with the 
and Li check-called another 2,000. Seidel opened 
for a rivered straight and Li mucked while showing the 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
25,000 | |
Kihara's Small Flush Gets Paid Off
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Naoya Kihara and ACOP Main Event 2014 Champion Gabriel Le Jessoc just played one of the bigger of the early stages of the tournament. Kihara got paid off when he rivered a small flush.
The board read 
and Kihara checked to Jessoc. Jessoc bet 1,350 and Kihara called. When the 
hit the river Kihara looked ready to bet. After a few moments, he decided to bet 5,350, which was just about the size of the pot. As Kihara set out his bet, Jessoc let out a long breath as he sat up. He checked his cards several times and looked as though he was very unsure of his next move. After some deliberation, Jessoc set out the chips to call and slowly pushed them over the betting line. Kihara turned over 
for a flush and Jessoc mucked his hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
44,200
14,200
|
14,200 |
|
|
||
|
|
26,000 | |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
High Roller Event Down to Four
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
The final table of the HK$250,000 (~US$32,000) is playing out today and they are already down to four players.
Seven players made the money last night and play was halted at that point. The line up returning today was:
Seat 1: Fedor Holz (Germany) - 3,070,000
Seat 2: Wang Zuo (China) - 2,515,000
Seat 3: Anton Astapau (Belarus) - 1,745,000
Seat 4: Stevan Chew (Australia) - 1,405,000
Seat 5: Aleksandar Denisov (Russia) - 885,000
Seat 6: Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (Thailand) - 4,325,000
Seat 7: Stanley Choi (Hong Kong) - 1,805,000
Fedor Holz was the first to bust earning HK$889,000 and he was followed by Stevan Chew and Aleksander Denisov, who earned HK$1,037,000 and HK$1,185,000 respectively.
Holz three-bet all in for 15 big blinds with pocket threes after Phanlert Sukonthachartnant had opened. The Thai chip leader snap called with king-seven and got there.
Stanley Choi took both Chew and Denisov out. Chew three-bet all in with ace-jack but Choi had opened with queens, made the call and held. Denisov moved his short stack all in from the button with king-eight and Choi called in the big blind with ace-four. Both flopped a pair but Choi's hand was good at the river.