Main Event Day 1b | PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Seoul

04-04-2014 10:51 UTC+9

Welcome to Day 1b of The 2014 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul

[user250068]

It’s Day 1b here at the 2014 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul. Yesterday, the Paradise Casino Walkerhill welcomed 118 players and after losing 73 of them, the most common question of the day was around the subject of rebuys. Unfortunately for those players, there are no rebuys and that means only 45 players will be coming back Day 2, scheduled to get underway tomorrow.

Masato Yokosawa ended yesterday as our day 1a chipleader, bagging 146,800 chips. Other notable survivors moving on to day 2 are Pokerstars Team Online Naoya Kihara (39,200), Sam Razavi (37,300) and last year’s champion Aaron Lim (23,900).

Our coverage is sure to feature Team Pokerstars Pros Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and Raymond Wu, as we expect to see them in the field today. We will be bringing you all of the action when play resumes at noon local time. Make sure and keep your browser open to PokerNews.com for updates throughout the day.

While you’re waiting for the action to get started, take a tour of Seoul with our own Laura Cornelius. We will see you back here soon.

Tags: Aaron Lim Bertrand Grospellier Masamoto Yokosawa Naoya Kihara Raymond Wu Sam Razavi

04-04-2014 12:16 UTC+9

Enter Elky

Happy_Freaked

Level 1 : 50/100, 0 ante

One of the biggest stars in the game of poker, and formerly Starcraft, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, has just entered the tournament. The Team PokerStars Pro, easily recognizable because of his pink colored spiky hair and blingy sunglasses, sat down at the table and he was immediately recognized.

The player in Seat 1 asked where the Frenchman currently lives, and he said, "London, but I spend most of my time on the road."

"So are you at my table or am I at yours?" the friendly gentleman joked.

Elky smiled and replied, "Well, you were here first so I guess I'm at your table."

Grospellier has a stunning $10.8 million in live tournament earnings including a PCA Main Event victory for $2,000,000 and a WPT Festa a Lago victory for $1.4 million. On top of that Elky also has a World Series of Poker bracelet win in the 2011 $10,000 Seven Card Stud event making him one of the select few with a Triple Crown under his belt.

The number 19 on the all-time money list is without a doubt the biggest star in today's field and everyone in the room is buzzing with excitement to follow the Frenchman on his way to perhaps another amazing run.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bertrand Grospellier	20,000 20,000	20,000

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier

04-04-2014 14:37 UTC+9

Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu's Here Too

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 150/300, 0 ante

Taiwanese Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu made his way to the APPT Seoul Main Event and we just spotted him relaxed and calm at one of the tables.

Wu burst onto the scene in Europe when he finished eighth in the European Poker Tour Main Event in London back in 2009 for £87,000 ($138,500). That event ultimately had a heads-up battle between Aaron Gustavson and Peter Eastgate, won by the former for $1.35 million.

Wu's been a star ever since in Taiwan, as alluded to in the PokerStarsBlog this year at the Aussie Millions.

Player	Chips	Progress
Raymond Wu	20,000

Tags: Aaron Gustavson Raymond Wu

04-04-2014 14:51 UTC+9

ACOP Runner Up Andy Chan Sits Down

Happy_Freaked

Level 3 : 150/300, 0 ante

Zhou and Chan during the blind all in for the title in the first ever ACOP Main Event

Ying Kit 'Andy' Chan, runner up in the first ever Asian Championship of Poker Main Event in Macau, just sat down to join the fun here in Seoul.

Chan finished second for a grand total of $457,712, or 3.5 million Hong Kong dollars after an epic six-hour heads up battle with Xing Zhou. This heads-up, covered by yours truly, will forever be remembered due to its crazy finish. Both Chan and Zhou played small pots for over six hours before they ultimately decided to go all in blind on the final hand. The money was split evenly, despite Zhou having a big chip advantage, and he was fortunate enough to take home the title after that final all in.

We'll see if Chan is up to big things here today, but it will be a while before he can be in a similar position again like back during that glorious day in Macau. Interestingly enough Chan is seated to the immediate left of Michael Kanaan who finished third in that exact same event back in 2012.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andy Chan	20,000

Tags: Xing Zhou Ying Kit Chan

04-04-2014 16:07 UTC+9

Pignatelli, A Grinder Abroad

Happy_Freaked

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

Ryan Pignatelli, who's known as piggysnipz on both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, has made a name for himself in the online poker world with close to a million dollars in cashes. Pignatelli, originally from Ontario, Canada currently resides in Australia where he enjoys the sun, beaches and ability to play online poker.

While Pignatelli could obviously still play from his home country the same cannot be said for his American friends Patrick 'PSCProdigy' Crivell and Jordan 'JWPRODIGY' Westmoreland who he shares a house with. It's safe to say that the amazing climate in Australia was a big factor for Pignatelli to move from the rigid Canadian climate, but it's not just online where Pignatelli tries his luck.

"I've been to Macau about five times to play and after this event I'm going to Manilla for an event before flying back to the Gold Coast to play the SCOOP on PokerStars," Pignatelli said.

"I always play some online satellites for big live events but unfortunately I didn't mange to win one of this event since we decided very last minute we were going to play."

Crivell, who did qualify for this event, was knocked out yesterday and it's now up to Pignatelli to make this trip a success for the online grinders. When we asked him if he's considering coming out to the World Series of Poker this summer his logical response was, "Well, all the top players will be in Las Vegas then so I'll stay in Australia to grind online."

Right now Pignatelli sits on around 15,000 chips and he seemed very confident when we asked if he liked his table. After cashing in this event last year Pignatelli could have an extra edge on the field, as many of the players from last year returned to Seoul for another shot at the title.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan Pignatelli	15,000 15,000	15,000

Tags: Ryan Pignatelli

04-04-2014 17:06 UTC+9

Lucky Five Keeps ElkY Alive

Happy_Freaked

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier just moved all in for 10,050 after someone had raised to 1,000. About 20 seconds went by before the call was made and the showdown went as following.

Grospellier:
Opponent:

The board ran out and Grospellier doubled up to just over the starting stack. Grospellier has about 50 big blinds right now and he'll be a serious force again in this tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bertrand Grospellier	21,500 12,700	12,700

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier

04-04-2014 17:25 UTC+9

Here Are The Payouts!

Happy_Freaked

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Win all the chips and get all the money!

The APPT Seoul Main Event attracted 256 players creating a prize pool of ₩685,363,200 ($650,409) and here's what the payouts look like.

Place	Payout in KRW	Payout in USD
1	₩185,000,000	$175,565
2	₩116,500,000	$110,558
3	₩65,110,000	$61,789
4	₩49,69,0000	$47,155
5	₩41,120,000	$39,022
6	₩32,550,000	$30,889
7	₩25,700,000	$24,389
8	₩20,560,000	$19,511
9	₩15,433,200	$14,646
10-12	₩10,280,000	$9,755
13-16	₩8,570,000	$8,132
17-20	₩6,860,000	$6,510
21-24	₩5,485,000	$5,205
25-28	₩4,800,000	$4,555

04-04-2014 19:20 UTC+9

Kampanatsanyakorn Ends Pan's Run

Happy_Freaked

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante

Kampanatsanyakorn looks to make another run

Jimmy Pan, a former APPT Macau runner up, raised to 1,800 and he was called by last year's runner-up in this event, Chane Kampanatsanyakorn. Another player joined the action and the flop brought out .

Pan bet and Kampanatsanyakorn called, according to the Thai player, and on the turn, when a popped up, the remainder of the chips went into the pot.

Pan tabled for a straight and flush draw, but he was already drawing dead against Kampanatsanyakorn's . Pan was knocked out and Kampanatsanyakorn sits on a good stack heading into the final stages of the day.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chane Kampanatsanyakorn	35,000
Jimmy Pan	Busted

Tags: Jimmy Pan Chane Kampanatsanyakorn

04-04-2014 19:45 UTC+9

Wu Hits The Rail

Happy_Freaked

Level 8 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu has just been knocked out by the hands of the sole Romanian player in today's field, Claudiu Gurau.

Chane Kampanatsanyakorn was very helpful reconstructing the hand as we just caught the board and cards when Wu walked out of the room.

The action started with Wu who raised to 3,000 and a player in late position moved all in for just 4,500. Gurau called the 4,500 from the big blind and Wu tossed in the extra chips as well.

The flop brought out and Gurau check-called 4,000 after which the turn brought the . Gurau check-called another 7,000 and on the river the popped up. Now Gurau moved all in and Wu called off his remaining 17,000 chips with . The third player involved mucked and Gurau showed his for a rivered two pair to take down the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Claudiu Gurau	85,000 85,000	85,000
Raymond Wu	Busted

Tags: Claudiu Gurau

04-04-2014 20:04 UTC+9

Onda Ends ElkY

Happy_Freaked

Level 8 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

"Oh man, I should've played it differently," Chane Kampanatsanyakorn just sighed after he missed out on a massive pot in which Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.

Kampanatsanyakorn was involved in the hand which he raised to 2,500 and Grospellier called from the small blind and Toshiyuki Onda called from the big blind.

The flop brought out and both Grospellier and Onda checked to Kampanatsanyakorn who put out a bet of 5,800. Grospellier gave it some thought before moving all in for 23,200 more and now Onda went deep into the tank. After a few minutes Onda made the call and Kampanatsanyakorn looked back at his cards before, with a pained look in his eyes, folded his cards.

Onda:
Grospellier:

The board ran out , and Onda's pair of sixes held up against Grospellier's flush draw. Kampanatsanyakorn confessed that he folded a queen and if he had pulled the trigger on this big pot he could've been the tournament chip leader.

Player	Chips	Progress
Toshiyuki Onda	95,000
Chane Kampanatsanyakorn	30,000 -5,000	-5,000
Bertrand Grospellier	Busted

Tags: Chane Kampanatsanyakorn Bertrand Grospellier Toshiyuki Onda