We arrived at the table with the flop showing . Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou led out for 1,000 from middle position before his opponent bumped it up to 3,200 from the cut off. Zhou then casually raised it up to 6,200 and was called shortly after.
The came on the turn and Zhou tossed in a 5,000-chip. His opponent thought about his decision for a minute before announcing all in for around 22,000 in chips. Zhou almost instantly mucked his hand as he relinquished the pot to his opponent.
The online high-roller has dropped down to 23,700 following the hand.
Chun Lei Zhou, also known as "samrostan" online, was down to less than half the starting stack but doubled through Bryan Huang on a board of . It was Zhou who had raised from under the gun and made a back door straight holding the to get back above starting stack.
Before we could ask Huang what happened, the Team PokerStars Pro had called a raise to 1,100 by Nicolas Cardyn to see a flop of . Cardyn's continuation bet of 1,000 was called and the turn brought the . The Frenchman made it 2,000 to go and called off a shove worth around 13,000 with the for two pair. Huang's for a flopped straight held up after the river and now Cardyn is the shortest stack at the table.
Via Twitter, Huang said that he had flopped a set of jacks in the first hand.
Tournament staff has just announced that there are already 70 entries. If the number should reach 75, the first 10 spots will be played. However, late registration is still open for more than three hours.
Furthermore, there is no official dinner break on Day 1 and the players are more than welcome to order food directly to the table. A bar within eyesight makes for a short run to get some drinks and free water is available in the tournament area.
With around 7,000 in the pot and the board spread out Winfred Yu checked his option from middle position. His opponent then bet out 3,500 from the hijack and watched as Yu contemplated over his next move.
A minute passed before Yu splashed out a raise to 13,500 which sent his opponent into a longer tank over his decision. Eventually he mucked and the pot was pushed over to Yu.
Eddy Liang opened to 900 from under the gun and received three callers including Bryan Huang to see a flop of . Liang check-called a bet of 2,500 by Huang whereas the other two players got out of the way. On the turn the story repeated itself for 5,800 before both then checked down the on the river.
Liang flipped over for a pair of queens and Huang was unable to beat that, sending his cards into the muck instead.
The action started with PokerStars Team Pro Bryan Huang raising to 1,400 from under the gun plus one. His opponent to his immediate left made the call before Yuguang Li bumped it up to 3,900 from the button. Huang made the call before the player to his left raised it once more to 8,900. Li thought about his decision before tossing in another raise totalling 18,900 in chips.
Huang was taken back by all the action but eventually moved all in for 34,825 after summing up the play. The player to his left flung back in his chair, not expecting the raise.
“I wasn’t worried about him,” said Huang, whose main focus was on Li’s eventual decision.
The player to Huang’s left folded before Li asked for a count.
“No snap call? I feel better now,” cheered Huang, as he watched the dealer cut out his stack.
Li then made the call and both players tabled their cards.
Huang:
Li:
Huang was in great shape to double up before the dealer produced the flop. Li had a gut-shot straight draw but would not get there as the board ran out the and to see Huang win with his monster pair.
A big smile came across Huang’s face as he raked in a pot just over 80,000 in chips.
The pots are getting bigger and large raises in multi-way pots have become a standard in the last two levels. Henrik Tollefsen profited from one of them after he bet the flop for 5,400 and received a call from the player to his immediate right. The other two players mucked and Tollefsen then pushed the turn for 19,025.
His opponent didn't snap-call but did so eventually to sigh when the Norwegian showed his for two pair. The table neighbor had turned lower two pair in and the river bricked off.
We arrived at the table to see the action fold around to the player in the small blind. He raised it up to 1,900 and was snap called by Sam Higgs in the big blind.
“Must defend all the time,” joked Higgs, before both players watched the flop come .
The small blind threw out a continuation bet of 2,500 which again was snap called before the fell on the turn.
Higgs then watched as his opponent reached for his chips and tossed in another 5,500 in chips. Higgs thought for a moment before mucking his hand.
Percy Yung has lost some chips after topping the counts in the first break. It has mostly been small pots from what we could see while walking by and there was no major showdown. That being said, Yung is still among the top five counts in the room though but misses Celina Lin, who sat next to her and has since been moved to a new table to accommodate the growing field.
With another 2h30 left on the late registration, there are now already 78 entries.