Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
The first of two starting days for the PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour in the Paradise Casino Walkerhill Seoul drew a crowd of 118 players. After eight levels of play, Masato Yokosawa came out on top.
The tournament action was fast-paced as just 45 players managed to make it through to Day 2. Team PokerStars Pros Bryan Huang and Celina Lin did not make it, while Japanese World Series of Poker bracelet winner and PokerStars Team Online member Naoya Kihara bagged up 39,200 in chips.
The start of the day, unlike at many other events around the world, was fast and furious. The players in the Main Event mainly hail from China, Australia, and Hong Kong and it became apparent they did not come here to sit around. After Director of Poker Operations and WSOP bracelet winner Kevin Song spoke the most famous words in poker, "shuffle up and deal," the action started and it was interesting all the way throughout.
Among the high rollers that showed up for today's flight were Ping San Chan, who finished fourth in the APT Manilla Millions for over $530,000, but his experience in bigger buy-in events did not help him today. Chan was knocked out, which could not be said for his friend Winfred Yu. Yu, who's known as the host of some of the biggest cash games in the world, played a patient game and managed to make it through to Day 2 with 36,900 in chips.
One of the most successful players in the Asia-Pacific region of the last couple of years has been Sam Razavi, and he came to play. Razavi, who won the APPT Grand Final in 2012, had a swingy day, but managed to survive with 37,300 in chips. Bernard Geom wasn't as lucky, and he got knocked out during the fifth level of play after losing a big hand with jacks to queens. Interestingly, Geom was left with chips behind after he ran out of the room upon seeing his jacks had lost, and the rest of his stack was eventually blinded out.
Huang, a regular on the APPT, had an unsuccessful day as he was knocked out. Huang lost the hand for his tournament life with ace-queen to pocket fours that sent him packing. Huang will have plenty of opportunity to redeem himself this week in one of the many side events, or at the cash-game tables, which have been jam packed all day. Day 2 also wasn't reached by Lin, who ran two pair into a set, ultimately busted out holding ace-eight to the ace-ten of her opponent.
In the meantime, Japanese player Yokosawa was stacking up chips left and right, and his smart play got him the overnight chip lead. One of the players looking to challenge Yokosawa on Day 2 is PokerStars Team Online's Kihara. Kihara had a great day and he eventually bagged up a little under average.
Last, but certainly not least, there was defending champion Aaron Lim. Lim had a day filled with swings and eventually he bagged up 23,900.
That's it for Day 1a, and please make sure to tune back in with us tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time for the second and final starting day of this event. Once again, PokerNews.com will bring you all the live updates.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Masato Yokosawa
|
146,800 | 37,800 |
Artem Lobus
|
116,200 | 116,200 |
An Tai Young | 114,300 | 114,300 |
Kelvin Beattie | 107,000 | 87,000 |
Stepan Lavrin | 103,500 | 103,500 |
Quan Zhou | 99,400 | 99,400 |
Bartlomiej Machon | 93,200 | 21,200 |
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa | 88,500 | 68,500 |
John Marshall | 87,400 | 87,400 |
Sid Kim
|
75,100 | 75,100 |
Eric Eng | 68,800 | 68,800 |
Bjoern Tvedt
|
68,400 | 68,400 |
Olivier Tessier
|
67,900 | 67,900 |
Bian Hong Yang | 65,300 | 65,300 |
Jing Gao | 60,000 | 60,000 |
Ken Demlakian | 59,800 | -9,200 |
Ziyang Zhao | 57,400 | 57,400 |
Yencheng Huang | 57,000 | 57,000 |
Lin Ping
|
49,300 | 49,300 |
Minh Hau Nguyen | 44,800 | 44,800 |
Kevin Petersen | 41,000 | 41,000 |
Jacques Guerrand
|
40,000 | 40,000 |
Naoya Kihara | 39,200 | 2,200 |
Alvan Yifan Zheng | 38,700 | 38,700 |
Sam Razavi | 37,300 | -4,700 |
We didn't see the preflop action but it resulted in a pot of about 18,000. The flop on the board read . Bartlomeij Machon led for 9,000 and Naoya Kihara called.
The came on the turn and Machon led for 15,000. It looked as if Kihara was going to call and he even cut out his chips. Eventually though, he decided against it and reluctantly folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bartlomiej Machon | 72,000 | 16,000 |
Naoya Kihara | 37,000 | -29,000 |
With 50 players remaining the average stack is 47,200 or 47 big blinds. While the average stack is still at a very comfortable level there are so many short stacks all over the place. Recently we've been catching tons of preflop action without it going to showdown, and it's likely this trend will continue as we are getting closer and closer to the end of the day.
A player in early position raised to 2,200. It folded to Percy Yung who reraised to 5,600. Bartlomiej Machon and the original raiser both called.
The player in early position checked the flop and Yung went all in. Machon also went all in for slightly more. The player in early position looked to have a tough decision and ultimately folded and the two hands were tabled.
Yung:
Machon:
The turn and the river did not provide any help to Yung and she was eliminated from the tournament.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bartlomiej Machon | 56,000 | |
Percy Yung | Busted |
The blinds are up for the final level of the day.
Level: 8
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
The defending champion is still alive after he just managed to double up holding pocket aces. Aaron Lim moved all in for 10,200 after a raise to 1,600 and his opponent called with two nines.
Lim's aces held up and therefor he now sits on 22,000 chips as he day filled with big swings continues. There's a little over a level left to play and there's still a good chance Lim will have a real shot at defending his title on the second day of play.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Aaron Lim
|
22,000 | -7,000 |
Pokerstars Team Online Naoya Kihara raised to 2,100 from under the gun +1. A middle position player, John Hashem in late position and the small blind came along.
The small blind checked over to Kihara on the flop, who bet 3,700. The middle position player folded and Hashem called. The small blind also folded and the turn was dealt. Kihara checked and Hashem took the opportunity to bet 5,000. Kihara followed that with a raise to 15,000 which would put Hashem all in. Hashem called and the hands were tabled.
Kihara:
Hashem:
The river provided no help to Hashem and he was eliminated from the tournament giving Kihara a healthy bump to his stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Naoya Kihara | 66,000 | 24,000 |
John Hashem | Busted |