Svein-Jorgen Kristensen made an opening raise that only Filipino poker legend Wally Sombero called.
The flop fell and both players checked. Sombero fired 3,000 at the turn, but could not shake Kristensen.
Finally, the river came the and after Sombero checked, Kristensen made it 6,000. Somebero folded, but Kristensen showed regardless, pushing past the 200,000 mark as he stacked the chips.
Thanh Ha Duong raised to 2,300 and the action folded around to Ben White, who moved all in for 13 big blinds out of the small blind. From one seat over, Wally Sombero reraised and the 2014 APPT Manila champion mucked his cards. White's got there against on a board of and both players changed their roles on the table as mid and short stack.
One hand later, Duong opened again to 2,300 and chip leader Svein-Jorgen Kristensen flat-called. Sombero shoved for 15,400 out of the small blind, which Duong called and Kristensen folded. The Norwegian said in table chat he folded pocket fours and that would have been another juicy pot for him:
Sombero:
Duong:
The board ran out and again, the player at risk survived.
The action started with a raise by Dong Il Kim from under the gun for 2,300 just before the end of the penultimate level. Weiyi Zhang three-bet to 6,000 out of middle position and Kim asked the Chinese if he had any yellow 5,000 chips left. That was denied and then the Korean opted for the call.
On the flop, Kim check-raised all in and Zhang called quickly after having made a continuation bet of 6,000 with a stack of around 25,000. Zhang flipped over the while Kim held top pair and the flush draw in . The turn brought exactly said flush, but the win wasn't guaranteed yet as the Chinese had the higher heart in his hand.
The dealer burned and turned the river and Zhang quickly left the table. Kim was congratulated to "feel the rush" and complained that he had been rather card dead before and his best hand had been ace-queen.
Less than 60 minutes remain and the field has been cut into one third. The clock works out almost perfectly with the start of the players party at 11 pm local time, roughly 100 meters away from the Grand Ballroom at the "Chaos". From the bagging and tagging most of the players can head directly to the buffet and drinking part to end the day in style.
So far it looks like a two-horse race for the chip lead with Svein-Jorgen Kristensen and Dong Il Kim as biggest stacks.
The poker couple from Australia and China both had seen an upward trend to their chip count in the last two levels and Aaron Lim is in fact a contender for a top 10 stack at the end of Day 1b. Yaxi Zhu had been maneuvering a short stack for some time after getting into the tournament around level four, but the Chinese is only one
Within the last half an hour, Franklin Acfalle had spiked bottom set with while his opponent had flopped a flush only for the board to deliver a second seven on the turn. The chip went in and the American Live Satellite winner bumped up his stack to six digits.
Only a few minutes before the clock was stopped, Yaxi Zhu led the river of a board after the Chinese and Seung Soo Jeon had both checked the turn. The betting amount was 4,800 and Zhu faced a quick check-raise to 20,000, sending her into the think tank. Ultimately it resulted in a muck and Jeon flipped over .
Dong Il Kim has moved firmly into the chip lead with just a few hands remaining before the end of play.
Heads-up in on a board with about 14,000 in the middle already, the action was checked to Kim and he bet 13,400. His opponent check-raised all in for some 26,000 more and after about a minute in the tank, Kim made the call.
Kim's was behind his opponent's , but he had tons of outs. The river was certainly one, making Kim a flush.
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and both players checked. Sombero fired 3,000 at the 
turn, but could not shake Kristensen.
and after Sombero checked, Kristensen made it 6,000. Somebero folded, but Kristensen showed 
regardless, pushing past the 200,000 mark as he stacked the chips.
on a board of 
and both players changed their roles on the table as mid and short stack.
and again, the player at risk survived.
while Kim held top pair and the flush draw in 
. The 
turn brought exactly said flush, but the win wasn't guaranteed yet as the Chinese had the higher heart in his hand.
flop. Duong checked and Ye fired again, making it 9,000.
board after the Chinese and Seung Soo Jeon had both checked the turn. The betting amount was 4,800 and Zhu faced a quick check-raise to 20,000, sending her into the think tank. Ultimately it resulted in a muck and Jeon flipped over 
.
board with about 14,000 in the middle already, the action was checked to Kim and he bet 13,400. His opponent check-raised all in for some 26,000 more and after about a minute in the tank, Kim made the call.
was behind his opponent's