PokerStars Team Pro Naoya Kihara watched as the player seated under the gun opened to 650. Another player in the cut off made the call before he casually bumped it up to 2,500 in chips. The bet was enough to see his two opponents muck their hands as he raked in the small pot.
Kihara now has 28,000 in chips and is moving along quite nicely in the tournament.
We arrived at the table to see the board spread out and just over 15,000 in the middle.
Toan Nguyen moved all in for his remaining 12,450 from the small blind and was called by Ben Wilinofsky in the hijack moments later.
Nguyen then turned over his for the nut full house. Wilinofsky tabled his for the second best hand and watched as the large pot was pushed to his opponent.
Wilinofsky took a hit but still has 20,000 in chips following the hand. Nguyen moves up to 40,000 in chips.
We just spotted Yaxi Zhu sitting next to Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, and the latter got involved in a pot right away.
From the button Grospellier raised to 600 and Romain Dours three-bet from the small blind to 1,650. Grospellier made the call after the big blind folded and the flop came down .
Dours bet 1,600 on the flop and Grospellier made the call. The turn was the and Grospellier gave up when Dours bet 3,800.
Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang just played two massive pots that took place almost back-to-back. We missed the first one, but Huang was kind enough to explain it after we had written up the second one.
"The same guy limped under the gun," Huang started, as he spoke about Lkhagvaa Dugarbaatar.
Huang opted for a raise to 850 and the player in the small blind called before the action was back on Dugarbaatar. The Mongolian player moved all in for 14,000 chips and Huang tanked for quite a long time before making the call with kings. Huang was in great shape against , but unfortunately for him the board brought out .
Huang lost a big portion of his stack, and then the following hand came up.
Bernard Geoum raised under the gun to 625 and Yves Molin called. Dugarbaatar called from the button and Huang three-bet from the big blind to 1,850. Geoum four-bet to 3,250 and Molin folded quickly. Dugarbaatar called again and Huang quickly moved all in for 9,900.
"Oh man," Geoum sighed, "I just wanted to isolate you."
After a while of going back and forth Geoum folded and Dugarbaatar went into the tank. Finally he called and the showdown went as following.
Huang:
Dugarbaatar:
The board ran out and Huang won this big flip to chip up to well over the starting stack. Meanwhile Dugarbaatar also has plenty of chips to play with, so we could see another big clash between the two.
The action started with Yuguang Li raising to 600 and getting called by the player in the cut off as well as Ben Wilinofsky on the button and Chin Kampanatsanyakorn in the big blind.
The flop came down and the action checked around to WIlinofsky who bet out 1,250. It only interested the player in the cut off as the two other players got out of the way.
Both players then checked the on the turn before the completed the board. The player in the cut off then quickly led out for 4,000. WIlinofsky sat up from his chair and studied his opponent’s stack before bumping it up to 13,000 in chips. A minute passed before the bet was called only to see Wilinofsky muck his hand when his opponent tabled his for two pair.
In the very next hand, Kitty Kuo raised to 700 from under the gun and was called by Wilinofsky in the cut off.
The flop came down and both players checked. The on the turn saw Kuo check once again prompting Wilinofsky to bet out 1,100 of his remaining 4,600 in chips. Kuo made the call and both players watched as the dropped on the river. Kuo checked for the third time but snap called when Wilinofsky committed the last of his chips on the river.
Kuo then tabled her for quad tens much to the surprise of Wilinofsky, who could just smile as he stood up from the chair and made his way out of the room.
The action folded around to Tom Alner in the cut off who raised it up to 625. His opponent on the button bumped it up to 1,500 as the blinds got out of the way. With the decision back on Alner he raised once more to 3,500 and was called.
The flop came down and Alner check called a bet of 2,000 before both players opted to check as the fell on the turn.
The on the river prompted Alner to splash out 5,200 in chips and was called shortly after. Alter then smiled to himself and mumbled a few things before mucking his hand as he relinquished the pot to his opponent.
Alner drops down to 20,500 in chips following the hand.
Defending champion Chane Kampanatsanyakorn has started out quite well on the first day, as his stack's already up to 34,000 right now. Just the Thai pro was involved in another pot that went as following, as we picked up the action on the flop.
The flop showed when Kampanatsanyakorn bet 900 and the player on the button made the call. On the turn the hit and this time Kampanatsanyakorn check-called 1,800. The river brought out the and both players opted to check.
Kampanatsanyakorn showed and his opponent tabled , and both players received half the pot.