Andrew Scott's day just got quite a bit tougher. With 1,300 in the pot, he and James Broom took a highly coordinated flop of . Broom was first to act, checking it over to Scott. Scott quickly bet 1,000. Broom check-raised him to 3,000. It was almost possible to see the gears churning in Scott's head as he debated his action. Ultimately he opted to raise all in, a raise that Broom snap-called with middle set, . Scott merely had top pair, , and was drawing dead by the turn. The completed the board, allowing Broom to scoop a pot worth roughly 16,000.
A few moments later Broom and Scott were at it again, with Scott racing preflop for his tournament life with against the of Broom.
The fell on the flop to give Broom a commanding lead, leaving Scott looking for one of the two remaining fours to survive. He didn't find it as Broom ended with the nut flush, to send Scott crashing out of the tournament.
It probably goes without saying (but we'll say it anyway) that most people connected with the poker industry like to play poker. Kil Hoon Hwang, in the field at Table 3, is employed on the "operational side" of PokerStars in Korea. He's had a bit of a struggle today, attempting a river bluff-raise on a board of . His opponent made an easy call with , scooping the pot when Hwang showed only .
Hwang later mounted a bit of a comeback, taking down a pot with an all in bet on the turn of a board. He sits behind approximately 9,000 chips right now.
Ronald Singson was one of six local players to cash in last year's APPT Manila event, and although Singson has experienced success in this season's Filipino Poker Tour, he was unable to match that form here today. He was recently eliminated after committing himself on a board of with but he found himself up against the of Patrick Carron. The river bricked out and Singson was sent to the rail.
The level has gone up but the blinds will remain the same. Play is still with blinds at 100/200 but now a 25 chip ante has been introduced for the first time which should stimulate more action.
135 players remain from today's starting field of 149 entrants.
We wandered by Larry Pashak's table just as a big pot was brewing. With about 2,000 in the pot, the board showed . A middle-position player bet 1,100 and was called in one spot before Pashak raised from the button to 3,000. That folded the player who opened the betting and brought the action back to the caller.
There was some eyeballing of stack sizes. Pashak had about 16,000 behind and isn't even the tallest stack at the table -- that honor belongs to Garry Cantong. Eventually Pashak's opponent raised to 10,000, bringing a snap-fold from Pashak.
James Broom has been active early. Although he hasn't yet amassed a tournament-leading chip stack, he's certainly provided the most entertainment so far. He just eliminated an opponent with the mighty eight-five offsuit. With the board showing -X-X-, and his opponent having table king-ten, Broom spiked a second eight on the river to make trips.
Deng Yu is now amongst our chip leaders after an intriguing hand went down on table four. We caught the heads up action on a flop of where a bet and raise had already swelled the pot. The action was back on Yu in the small blind who put in another raise of an additional 3,300 before his opponent decided to put in a fourth post-flop bet with a min-raise to 6,600. Yu quickly moved all in with only a few thousand left behind and his opponent made a pot-committed call.
Yu tabled for a set to be well in front of his opponent who held an ambitious . The turn brought the to provide a sweat, but the river bricked the to give Yu a huge pot and a double up to over 30,000 chips!
David Saab has been active at Table 5, building a chip stack of almost 20,000 chips. He recently called a raise to 700 by Tommy Henstein. A late-position player also called.
"We could play a 19,000 pot, the three of us," Saab noted as the players compared chip stacks.
Each player checked the three-club flop, . Henstein checked again when the turn paired the board , inducing a bet of 1,500 from Saab. That was the winner when each other player folded.