Keiji Takahashi With Commanding Lead After Day 1 of the 2019 PokerStars APPT Korea High Roller

The 2019 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea festival went from strength to strength thus far with bigger field sizes in all major events at the Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea, and it came as no surprise that the final ₩4,000,000 ($3,525) High Roller Event turned out to be an overwhelming success.

One year ago, the very same event drew a total of 82 entries for a buy-in of ₩5,000,000 and the field size was shattered in the 2019 edition with 155 entries after 11 levels, consisting of 119 unique players and 36 re-entries. That number may still rise further, as the registration and re-entry period remains open for the first 40-minute level on Day 2 as of 1.30 p.m. local time. A prize pool of ₩556,295,000 has emerged so far, which equals approximately $490,249.

Out of the 155 entries, only 72 players advanced and Japan's Keiji Takahashi has bagged up an enormous stack of 509,500, nearly or more than two times as many chips as his nearest followers Michael Soyza (264,000), Yasreel Praveen Doddaiavar (255,000) and Daniel Smiljkovic (247,000). In level six, Takahashi was down to fewer than half the starting stack and got it in for 20 big blinds with four-two suited against ace-queen suited. Takahashi hit a deuce and doubled once more to get back into contention.

What followed in the final level of the night was the far biggest pot of the tournament so far when he scored a double knockout with a middle set against top pair and the bottom two pair of Xiaosheng Zheng. That pot catapulted Takahashi into the top spot and he will enter Day 2 at blinds of 1,000-2,500/2,500 with a sizable lead over the rest of the field.

Other big stacks and notables that advanced include Ming Huang (195,500), Linh Tran (160,500), Pete Chen (160,000), Konstantin Pogodin (160,000), Natalie Teh (136,500), Randy Lew (121,500), Oleg Titov (115,500), Ken Okada (91,000), Short-Deck Champion Phachara Wongwichit (66,500, Chin Wei Lim (62,500), two-time festival champion Yan Li (61,500), and Danny Tang (41,000). Hideki Izutsu, who final-tabled the Super High Roller, eventually made it through to Day 2 with 74,500 on his fifth bullet.

As far as Soyza is concerned, the Malaysian is having yet another stellar festival. He triumphed in the Super High Roller and went on to bag the second-biggest stack on his starting day of the Main Event after. While his title defense in that event fell short in 20th place (₩6,400,000/$5,640), he bagged up the second-biggest stack once more.

Celina Lin was the only one to represent the Red Spade in the High Roller Event and joined after she had bowed out in 22nd place in the APPT Korea Main Event. Unfortunately for Lin, she ran out of chips in the final two levels of the night and will have to re-enter in the first level of Day 2 for another shot at a deep run in Incheon.

Other notables that came and left without anything to show for on Day 1 were Christopher Park, Jun Obara, Single-Day High Roller champion Toshiyuki Onda, Jack Wu, Norihiro Otani, Yuki Ko, Robert Glasspool and Alex Lee. All of them may or may not give it another try after a good night's sleep, as Day 2 recommences at 1.30 p.m. local time. The event is scheduled to play down to a champion on Sunday, April 14th, 2019, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be your one-stop-shop until the conclusion of the tournament.

Day 2 Seat Draw

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	1	Nan Hong	China	83,000	33
1	3	Michael Soyza	Malaysia	264,000	106
1	5	Yasreel Praveen Doddaiavar	India	255,000	102
1	6	Tsun Ming Chan	Hong Kong	75,000	30
1	7	Hideki Izutsu	Japan	74,500	30
1	8	Huijie Zhou	China	125,000	50

2	2	Wayne Heung	Hong Kong	92,000	37
2	3	Hisashi Yamanouchi	Japan	32,000	13
2	5	Natalie Teh	Malaysia	136,500	55
2	6	Graeme Siow	Singapore	96,000	38
2	7	Hiroshi Nishiyama	Japan	98,000	39
2	8	Sano Koichi	Japan	37,500	15

3	1	Wayne Zhang	China	46,500	19
3	3	Keiji Takahashi	Japan	509,500	204
3	4	Kenny Shih	USA	210,000	84
3	6	Konstantin Pogodin	Russia	160,000	64
3	7	David Kwong Man	UK	41,000	16
3	8	Ken Okada	Japan	91,000	36

4	2	Chuanshu Chen	China	85,000	34
4	3	Jiaqi Chen	China	103,000	41
4	4	Dong Chen	China	179,000	72
4	6	Chin Wei Lim	Malaysia	62,500	25
4	7	Tamon Nakamura	Japan	176,000	70
4	8	Masaharu Tomita	Japan	57,500	23

5	1	Danny Tang	Hong Kong	41,000	16
5	2	Lei Yu	China	54,000	22
5	3	Yunye Lu	China	131,500	53
5	4	Yan Li	China	61,500	25
5	6	Lu Chen	China	75,000	30
5	7	Oleg Titov	Russia	115,500	46

6	1	Shigeji Kusakabe	Japan	66,500	27
6	2	Jamie Lee	USA	96,000	38
6	4	Yunlong Jin	China	59,500	24
6	5	Pete Chen	Taiwan	160,000	64
6	7	Yusuke Kotake	Japan	108,500	43
6	8	Yilu Yuan	China	39,000	16

7	1	Huahuan Feng	China	36,500	15
7	3	Yilong Wang	China	45,500	18
7	4	Linh Tran	Canada	160,500	64
7	5	Phachara Wongwichit	Thailand	66,500	27
7	7	Yanfeng Wang	China	79,000	32
7	8	Reo Hayano	Japan	204,500	82

8	1	Changyang Liu	China	100,200	40
8	3	Guoliang Wei	China	116,500	47
8	5	Jie Xu	China	64,000	26
8	6	Daisuke Ogita	Japan	134,500	54
8	7	Daniel Smiljkovic	Germany	247,000	99
8	8	Kengo Sakurai	Japan	87,000	35

9	1	Jian Yang	China	126,500	51
9	3	Shinryo Nonin	Japan	184,000	74
9	4	Changyang Liu	China	52,500	21
9	6	Masafumi Iijima	Japan	83,100	33
9	7	Daniel Lee	United States	93,000	37
9	8	Kensaku Takagi	Japan	51,000	20

10	1	Yongwei Mo	China	50,900	20
10	3	Ting Shum Kwok	Hong Kong	53,400	21
10	4	Yuichi Sumida	Japan	73,000	29
10	6	James Won Lee	USA	136,500	55
10	7	Randy Lew	USA	121,500	49
10	8	Yuanchao Li	China	128,100	51

11	1	Hiroyuki Noda	Japan	94,500	38
11	2	Minh Le	Vietnam	104,000	42
11	4	Irshat Shaykhov	Russia	61,600	25
11	5	Tianyuan Tang	China	129,000	52
11	6	Dong Guo	China	60,500	24
11	8	Jiayi Jin	China	120,500	48

12	1	Calvin Lee	USA	33,000	13
12	2	Jwahyoung Kim	Korea	92,000	37
12	3	Yake Wu	China	37,000	15
12	4	Ming Huang	China	195,500	78
12	6	Vincent Li	Hong Kong	182,500	73
12	7	Kosaku Akashi	Japan	45,000	18