Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Seoul
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Seoul
Buy-in
2,760,000 KRW
Prize Pool
645,205,200 KRW
Entries
241
Level
24
Blinds
15,000 / 30,000
Ante
5,000
Ward Leads After Day 1a; "ElkY" and Wilifnosky Bust
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The first of two starting days of the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Season 9 stop in Seoul drew a crowd of 116 players with the United Kingdom's Alex Ward finishing out on top with 133,800 in chips.
South Korea's biggest tournament of the year had a stacked field on Day 1a, but many of the big names hit the rail early on. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was the biggest name in the field on Day 1a, as the French all-time money leader is not only famous in poker, but also a Starcraft player. Grospellier lived in Seoul for a few years during the heyday of his Starcraft playing days and speaks the language fluently, but none of that helped him in the tournament. Early on we caught Grospellier losing some pots, and before the halfway point he had hit the rail.
The other two former European Poker Tour winners, Ben Wilinofsky and David Vamplew, were on the wrong side of variance as well. Wilinofsky was among the first player to get knocked out when he ran into Kitty Kuo's quad tens. Kuo did manage to make it through the day, and she bagged up 27,400 at the end.
Defending champion Chane Kampanatsanyakorn showed up to defend his title, and he's still in contention for another amazing run. Before winning the event last year, Kampanatsanyakorn finished second in 2013 to Aaron Lim, and he finished the day on 17,100. Lim bagged up 62,200. Chane's brother, Chin, played as well, but he wasn't as fortunate. He got knocked out by Toan Nguyen.
Sam Cohen, who finished third in this event last year, had an awful start when her aces got cracked in a three-way all in. Cohen was left with just a few thousand chips, and while she managed to stay in for a bit, she didn't survive the day.
Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang had a day filled with swings, which isn't unexpected for Huang, and two hands in particular he will remember for a while. First, a player limp-shoved for 60 big blinds with ace-queen into Huang's kings. The kings didn't hold up and Huang lost a huge pot. A few hands later, Huang got his money in with ace-king against jacks, but his hand held up.
Huang survived the day with 79,900, which is a bit more than what American pro Jason Mo (44,000) bagged up.
Asia Player of the Year leader Yuguang Li and the defending winner of this title Pete Chen both got knocked out, while freshly-signed Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal bagged up 34,500.
The remaining 44 players from Day 1a will return on Saturday at 12 p.m. local time, but there will be plenty more coverage right here on PokerNews.com starting Friday at 12 p.m. for Day 1b.
PokerNews Podcast Episode #276: Epic Slowrolls and More
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
Rich and Donnie break down the epic slowroll at the Irish Poker Open, look ahead to the WPT500 at ARIA, discuss Christian Lusardi's sentencing, and the Global Poker Masters announcement.
You can subscribe to the entire iBus Media Network on iTunes here, or you can access the RSS feed here. The PokerNews family of podcasts is now available on Stitcher.
Official End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
133,800 | 133,800 |
|
101,900 | 28,900 |
|
101,100 | 101,100 |
|
91,200 | -18,800 |
|
90,100 | 90,100 |
|
|
88,900 | 88,900 |
|
86,799 | 86,799 |
|
80,600 | 61,600 |
|
79,900 | 51,900 |
|
79,200 | 79,200 |
|
79,100 | 79,100 |
|
77,500 | 77,500 |
|
74,100 | |
|
73,300 | 73,300 |
|
64,700 | 64,700 |
|
62,200 | 8,200 |
|
|
56,800 | 56,800 |
|
51,200 | 30,700 |
|
49,600 | 12,600 |
|
49,100 | 49,100 |
|
|
48,800 | 48,800 |
|
47,100 | -2,900 |
|
45,900 | 45,900 |
|
44,000 | 23,000 |
|
43,800 | 43,800 |
Big Hand Before The End Of Play
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The hand started with Jian Yang limping into the pot from the cut off and followed with calls by Tyler Jennens on the button as well as Bryan Huang and Chane Kampanatsanyakorn in the blinds.
The flop came down 
and all four players checked their option. The 
fell on the turn and the action checked around to Yang. He made it 4,000 to go before Jennens instantly raised it up to 11,000. The players in the blinds mucked their hands and Yang made the call shortly after.
The 
completed the board and Yang moved all in for around 90,000 in chips. Jennens was well covered but made the call with 23,000 behind.
Yang tabled his 
for two pair but it was not enough as Jennens rolled over his 
for trip tens and the winning hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
73,000 | |
|
68,000 | 48,000 |
Wong Fighting For Top Spot
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
We arrived at the table to see the player in the hijack raise to 2,700. He was called by Mick Wong in the cut off and the two watched the flop come down 
.
A check from the player in the hijack prompted Wong to move all in for a substantial amount. His opponent had just over 20,000 in chips and deliberated over his decision before finally making the call.
Wong:
Opponent: 
The board ran out the 
then the 
to see Wong scoop in another large pot as he moved up to over 100,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
102,000 | 47,000 |
Huge Hold for Gruenewald
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
After some preflop raising action it was Stefan Gruenewald who ended up all in against another player.
Gruenewald: 
Opponent: 
The board ran out 
and Gruenewald had his opponent covered by just 800 chips. The German player now has a decent stack heading into the final few orbits of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
42,000 |
Lim Loses Some
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
Aaron Lim limped into the pot from under the gun plus one before his opponent in the cut off raised it up to 2,800. Lim made the call and both players watched the flop come down 
.
Both players opted to check before the dealer produced the 
on the turn. Lim check-called a bet of 1,700 before doing the same for 2,000 when the 
completed the board.
Lim watched as his opponent tabled for a pair of queens which saw him toss his cards into the muck.
Even though he lost that hand, the 2013 AAPT Seoul champion and WSOP bracelet is still sitting on just over 50,000 in chips closing in on the end of day's play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
54,000 | 32,000 |
Wong Applies Pressure
Level 8
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
A player raised to 2,000 and another called before Mick Wong three-bet to 6,500. Both his opponents called and the flop brought out [2cQd2s and Wong fired out 12,000.
Both his opponents folded and Wong picked up the pot.
Last night Wong qualified into the Main Event through the satellite, and so far he's continuing his run-good into the big one.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
55,000 |
Level: 8
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100