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We are walking the floor and the gamble and hero calls that greeted us at the beginning of the day, seemed to have left the building. In all fairness, it is the second half of the day and the thought of making it to day 2 is becoming more of a reality. Players are a bit more cautious on the heels of the announcement of a combined pool of 256 players and with the prize pool soon to be released.
The action during the fifth level of play has slowed down considerably, and one of the players taking advantage of that is Andy Chan.
Chan, seated at Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier's table takes naps while he's not in the hand, but it hasn't affected his stack as he sits on around 43,000 chips.
The days here at APPT Seoul aren't crazy long, as we only play eight levels in total, but it seems like Chan is already saving his energy for the later stages of this event.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
43,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
Level: 5
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
Play will resume in 10 minutes.
Ryan Pignatelli, who's known as piggysnipz on both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, has made a name for himself in the online poker world with close to a million dollars in cashes. Pignatelli, originally from Ontario, Canada currently resides in Australia where he enjoys the sun, beaches and ability to play online poker.
While Pignatelli could obviously still play from his home country the same cannot be said for his American friends Patrick 'PSCProdigy' Crivell and Jordan 'JWPRODIGY' Westmoreland who he shares a house with. It's safe to say that the amazing climate in Australia was a big factor for Pignatelli to move from the rigid Canadian climate, but it's not just online where Pignatelli tries his luck.
"I've been to Macau about five times to play and after this event I'm going to Manilla for an event before flying back to the Gold Coast to play the SCOOP on PokerStars," Pignatelli said.
"I always play some online satellites for big live events but unfortunately I didn't mange to win one of this event since we decided very last minute we were going to play."
Crivell, who did qualify for this event, was knocked out yesterday and it's now up to Pignatelli to make this trip a success for the online grinders. When we asked him if he's considering coming out to the World Series of Poker this summer his logical response was, "Well, all the top players will be in Las Vegas then so I'll stay in Australia to grind online."
Right now Pignatelli sits on around 15,000 chips and he seemed very confident when we asked if he liked his table. After cashing in this event last year Pignatelli could have an extra edge on the field, as many of the players from last year returned to Seoul for another shot at the title.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
15,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
With all the "baby" talk coming from table 12, one would think Scotty Nguyen was in the field. Instead you will find Mandeep Narang stacking the chips. We didn't see the original betting but we did catch Narang raising from the big blind to 3,850. A player in middle position called and the button plus the small blind folded.
Narang check-called the 6,000 bet from the middle position player after the 
flop was dealt. Narang checked again when the 
turn was dealt. This time the player in middle position went all in and Narang insta-called. Narang turned over 
and his opponent showed 
which unfortunately, sent him to the rail.
His response to someone calling him lucky: "but I had ace-king, baby." That ace-king gave Narang a healthy stack to play with during the second half of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
47,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
The clock currently shows there are 106 players remaining from the 138 that started almost four hours ago. The average stack right now is 26,037 or 86 big blinds.
Taishi Kudo just managed to rake in a nice double up after he won a coin flip for his tournament life.
After a raise to 900 it was Kudo who moved all in from the button for 4,950 more and the action folded back to the initial raiser who made the call.
Kudo: 
Opponent: 
The board ran out 
and Kudo quietly, but excitedly, said, "Oooooh full house."
Kudo's back up to around 12,000 chips, which gives him 40 big blinds to play with.
The 2013 Asia Player of the Year, Jian Yang just took his seat among the 108 remaining players in today's field. He had three tournament wins last year which included two first-place finishes and a fourth. Those wins were good enough to secure him the Asia Player of the Year title with several events still to go. We will be keeping an eye on him today, to see if he can make a splash here in Seoul.
Jimmy Pan, a Macau resident for quite some time, won't be intimidated by the stakes of this event here today, but the ever increasing blinds and antes provide quite the worry.
"It's going fast," Pan said about the blinds already being up to 150/300 after four hours of play.
The APPT is however one of Pan's favorite tournaments as the cashgame specialist alludes to the fact that the players here play quite a different style. Back in 2011 Pan finished runner up to PokerStars Team Online Randy Lew in APPT Macau for $304,106, which is his biggest result to date.
"At an EPT you get three-bet all the time but here there's much more calling and limping," Pan said. Right after he told us this we witnessed him playing the following pot.
Pan raised to 725 and two players on his left decided to make the call, after which the big blind three-bet to 2,800. Pan looked back down to his cards, and the clock, before moving all in for right around 15,000 chips. All three of his opponents quickly folded and Pan picked up this pot.
Four levels into the day Pan hoovers around the starting stack, but seated next to Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu that could quickly change as both players love to get into the thick of things.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
19,500
19,500
|
19,500 |
