Xuan Liu is no more. Don't worry, she's fine, just not in the ACOP anymore.
Mingjie Sun opened to 1,800 from early position before Tony Cheng three-bet to 5,000 from mid position. Lui was in the big blind and four-bet shoved for 19,000 with ace-king. She managed to get through Sun but not Cheng who had aces, called, and held.
A certain David Benefield has taken his seat. The high stakes cash game player, who spends much of his time in Macau these days, takes the total number of entrants up to 258.
Terrence Chan found a good spot to get his stack in the middle and he got the double up he needed and craved.
Jintian Xu had limped in from under the gun and the action folded around to Chan on the button. He moved all in for 9,500 and Xu called after some thought.
Xu:
Chan:
The board ran to make the part-time MMA fighter two pair.
Bryan Huang called his opponent on three streets to add about 15,000 to his Day 2 starting stack within the first 20 minutes.
Three players saw the flop of and the first player checked. The second player in led 2,200 and Huang called. The first player folded leaving Huang heads up with the bettor.
The turn was the and the bettor led out again for 3,700. Huang called. The river was the and the bettor led out again for 5,200. Huang wasted little time and called. His opponent showed and Huang turned over for top pair and the win.
Cards are in the for Day 2. Registration is open for one more 90-minute level. The plan for today is to play five levels and there will be a break every two hours.
Day 2 of the Asia Championship of Poker Main Event starts today at 2 p.m. local time. Yasuhiro Ojiri leads the field with 149,900 and Zhengye Yao (136,500), Andy Andrejevic (136,200), Ningdan Shi (131,000), and Erik Seidel (130,400) round out the top five.
Defending Champion Gabriel Le Jessoc was eliminated by Andrejevic on Day 1a, so the 157 remaining players will be competing to be the new ACOP Main Event champion.
The Asia Player of the Year race is also in the balance as two of the top 5 in the rankings, Ka Cheong Wong (2nd, 54,900) and Yuguang Li (4th, 115,200) are both through to Day 2. A deep run by either player will certainly propel them over the current leader Alan King Lun Lau, who was eliminated on Day 1a.
Team PokerStars SportsStar Ronaldo, who kicked off both starting flights with well wishes for the field, was unable to make it through to Day 2. There are still plenty PokerStars pros in the field, with seven of the ten who played Day 1b making it through.
"I'm happy to make day two," said Team Pro Aditya Agarwal who made it through with 12,800 chips. Mikhail Shalamov (100,500) and Isaac Haxton (71,800) ended the day with healthier stacks, but Day 2 is Day 2 and Agarwal is definitely up for the task.