Welcome to PokerNews' Day 2 coverage of the 2015 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul.
After eight levels, the starting field of 241 players to down to just 91 hopefuls following both Day 1 sessions. On Day 1b, online heads up No Limit Hold'em phenom Dong Kim entered, and he survived the day with 82,700 chips. Kim grinded his way up from the lowest stakes and now belongs in an elite category of heads-up specialists that including Dan Cates, Doug Polk and Team PokerStars Pro Online Ike Haxton, but a big tournament score is still lacking from on his poker resume. Kim has expressed his desire to do well in tournaments, and coming into today we like his chances.
On top of the chip counts is Takihiro Nakai with 186,700, well out in front of his nearest competitor. Rounding out the top seven (and the only seven players with six-figure stacks) are Hajime Iwakura (153,900), Hirotoshi Nakabo (135,200), Day 1a end-of-day chip leader Alex Ward (133,800), Masato Yokosawa (106,100), Tyler Jennens and Yunye Lu (101,100) who is currently sitting in second place in the race for the Asia Player of the Year title.
Notables still in the field include PokerStars Team Pros Bryan Huang (79,900), Aditya Agarwal (34,500) and Celina Lin (33,400), the past two APPT Seoul champions Chane Kampanatsanyakorn (17,100) and Aaron Lim (62,200), Australian regulars Toan Nguyen (91,200), Minh Nguyen (49,100) and Jesse McKenzie (37,600) as well as a contingent of female pros including Yu Kurita (57,500), Juicy Li (41,600) and Kitty Kuo (27,400).
Play is set to resume at noon local time, about an hour from now, and we will play twelve more levels today. Be sure to keep it here at PokerNews throughout the day for updates on all of the action.
The start of Day 2 has been a complete disaster for Tyler Jennens so far, as he just lost another very big pot with a strong holding. A player raised to 2,400 after which Kitty Kuo threw in the call and Jennens three-bet to 7,500 from the cutoff. Juicy Li, who was seated in the big blind, paused for a bit before making it 16,200 and the initial raiser went into the tank.
Meanwhile, Kuo folded her cards as she had not seen the other player. Kuo was under the impression she had raised to 2,500, but in the end it made not difference as the initial raiser folded and Jennens moved all in. Li snap-called for 32,400 and the showdown went as following.
Li:
Jennens:
The board ran out and Li more than doubled up. Jennens was left with 40,000 after having started the day with more than 100,000 chips.
Lkhagvaa Dugarbaatar played some very interesting pots with Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang on Day 1a, and just now he clashed with Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin. Dugarbaatar limped before the flop and the action folded to Lin in the big blind, who opted to move all in for 23,400.
Dugarbaatar tanked for quite some time, but eventually he made the call.
Lin:
Dugarbaatar:
The board ran out and Lin managed to double her stack up leaving Dugarbaatar with very little chips.
Junichi Nakagiri was down to just a few big blinds not too long ago, but right now he's soaring after winning a three-way all in. Nakagiri moved all in before the flop for 45,500 and Kitty Kuo called all in from the small blind for just a few thousand chips less.
The action was then on Eric Yim, and he made the call as well to put both players at risk.
Yim:
Kuo:
Nakagiri:
The flop brought and Kuo took a commanding lead in the hand with a set. Nakagiri needed running cards to make a straight, Yim needed a king or running spades for a flush. The turn was the and this gave both Kuo's opponents a chance at filling up their runner-runner draw.
And then the hit on the river to give Nakagiri a straight, and both the players at the table and on the rail exploded in excitement. Kuo had been knocked out, Yim a hit and Nakagiri tripled up when it was all said and done.
The action folded around to Hiroyuki Tanaka in the hijack who moved all in for around 60,000 in chips. Bryan Huang was seat to his left and made the call forcing a fold from the player on the button as well as the two in the blinds.
Huang:
Tanaka:
The board ran out to see Huang hold with the higher kicker and send Tanaka home just one place short of the money.
The remaining 27 players are all guaranteed at least KRW 5,050,000 for their efforts.
It wasn't going to take long for two monster stacks to clash.
The action started when the option folded to Mike Woo on the button. He raised it up to 14,000 and was called by Jason Mo in the big blind.
The flop came down and both players checked. When the fell on the turn Mo checked. Woo reached for his chips and bet out 13,000. Mo thought for a moment before bumping it up to 40,000. Woo eyed off his opponent before making the call.
After the dealer produced the on the river Mo sat motionless for a minute before sliding out a bet totalling 105,000 in chips. He then watched as Woo announced all in for 265,000 in chips.
“I have the second nuts,” said Mo, assessing the situation.
“This is brutal,” he added.
“I think you have the king-eight of diamonds,” he finished with.
Mo eventually talked himself into calling with an additional 24,000 in his stack and was relieved when Woo tabled his for just a pair. Mo then rolled over his for a flush and took down the massive pot.
Juicy Li was down to her final 68,000 chips when she moved all in before the flop. Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin called from the big blind and the showdown went as following.
Lin:
Li:
The board ran out and Li was knocked out by her friend in 22nd place. The two exchanged some words before as Li exited the room and Lin raked yet another pot.
and Li more than doubled up. Jennens was left with 40,000 after having started the day with more than 100,000 chips.
and Lin managed to double her stack up leaving Dugarbaatar with very little chips.
and Kuo took a commanding lead in the hand with a set. Nakagiri needed running cards to make a straight, Yim needed a king or running spades for a flush. The turn was the 
and this gave both Kuo's opponents a chance at filling up their runner-runner draw.
hit on the river to give Nakagiri a straight, and both the players at the table and on the rail exploded in excitement. Kuo had been knocked out, Yim a hit and Nakagiri tripled up when it was all said and done.
to see Huang hold with the higher kicker and send Tanaka home just one place short of the money.
for a flush and took down the massive pot.
and Li was knocked out by her friend in 22nd place. The two exchanged some words before as Li exited the room and Lin raked yet another pot.
and Yim had his kings cracked to get knocked out.