Lin Pushes The Level 1 Action

The first few levels of a tournament like this are usually reserved for taking names and getting to know the players. There isn't usually a whole ton of action of to report in the pre-ante stages.

One player who has certainly pushed the action in the opening level is Shiqiang Lin. In fact, we spent most of the level watching him, as these two hands took a long time to play out.

First, with two limps in front of him, Lin three-bet squeezed to 600 on the button. He picked up three callers, and when it checked to him on a flop, he was able to take it down with a continuation bet of 1,500.

Onto the next hand. Wei Guo Liu had limped and when it folded to Lin in the cutoff he raised to 475. The small blind called, and Liu made the call too to see a flop. It checked to Lin and he continued for 625, which got a call before Liu raised it up to 1,625. Both players called.

The turn was the and it checked to Liu. He now fired 3,125, only for Lin to move all-in for his last 12,000. The small blind folded, and back to Liu, he went deep into the tank. He counted his chips several times, and after around three minutes he eventually made the call.

Shiqiang Lin:
Wei Guo Liu:

Lin had the goods with top set, up against Liu's open-ended straight draw. That draw would brick with the river, giving Lin a full double up. He's back above starting stack with 32,000, while Liu drops to 14,000.