Main Event
Day 1a Started
PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Seoul
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Seoul
Buy-in
2,760,000 KRW
Entries
256
Level
27
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
10,000
Welcome to Seoul and The Asia Pacific Poker Tour
![[user250068]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Welcome to PokerNews' coverage of the 2014 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour. Coming to you from The Paradise Walkerhill Casino in Seoul, South Korea, the next four days should prove to be filled with some action-packed poker.
Last season, Aaron Lim outlasted the field of 222 players to claim the KRW 121,700,000 first-place prize. We are looking forward to seeing Team PokerStars Pros Betrand "Elky" Grospellier, Celina Lin, Vivian Im, Raymond Wu and Bryan Huang today. Another familiar face rumored to be about is Australian Mathew Wakeman.
Players are starting to filter in as play for day 1A is set to begin in about 30 minutes from now, at noon local time. According to the structure sheet we will be playing eight, 60-minute levels and after breaks the day is expected to end around 8:30 PM local time. Keep it here for all the latest news from the field. See you back here in a bit.
Shuffle Up and Deal!
The cards are in the air for the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Main Event in beautiful Seoul. APPT President Danny McDonagh spoke a few words before play started and pointed out there will be no dinner break, but a variety of foods will be provided for the players throughout the day.
Kevin Song, Paradise Casino poker room manager, announced the shuffle up and deal and that means the cards are in the air.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante:
Japan's Golden Boy is Here
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
PokerStars Team Online Naoya Kihara made his way to South Korea and he's playing in today's event. Kihara burst onto the scene back in 2012 when he won the first ever World Series of Poker bracelet in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-max event for $512,029. Ever since Kihara has been an ambassador of the game and we're looking to follow the PokerStars sponsored player throughout this event.
Last year Kihara finished 11th in this event and he just missed out on a place at the final table.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
Who's Here
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
|
20,000 |
Quiet Start
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
There are currently 12 tables under way and players are still filtering in.
It seems as if players are getting settled with few pots making it to showdown. We have been observing Australian Ken Demlakian, who has managed to grow his stack to 32,000 without a showdown that we have seen. In fact, he won the last pot with a check raise from UTG to 2,500 on a flop of 
. We will be keep watching.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
32,000 | 12,000 |
Picture Time!
Chan Looks To Make a Splash
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Ping San Chan's been known to play some of the biggest buy in tournaments in the world and the Hong Kong native came down to Seoul for another shot at a big title. Chan came really close to winning the APT Manilla Millions, as he finished third for $531,139 behind Richard Yong and the eventual winner, Joseph Cheong.
Recently, in October 2013, Chan finished 10th in the ACOP Main Event in Macau for $47,876 as well.
Chan's had some good results but a big win is missing from his poker resume so we're looking forward to see how he'll do here in the Paradise Casino Walkerhill.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 |
In Contention
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Two of the top ten players from the APPT Leaderboard are also in the field today, Buyanjargal Bold and Chenxiang Miao.
Bold, currently 2nd on the leaderboard, secured his first major tournament cash when he took down the Macau Poker Cup 20 Red Dragon this past January.
Maio, currently in 5th place will be looking to move up with a great result here. He has had a good start to his 2014 with a two 1st-place finishes, a second and a fifth.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 |