Registration is now closed and there have been no more late arrivals, meaning the total number of Day 1A entries stands at 25. With 5 players left in contention, four of them will make the money, meaning we just need to lose one last player to conclude the day’s action.
The four survivors will all lock up their Day 2 seat and earn themselves an HK$6,000 payday while the next man out will be leaving empty-handed.
Level: 10
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
The five remaining players are now on a 40-minute dinner break, but not before Yao Jin Chen managed to earn himself at double up at the expense of Sio Fat Lau.
We picked up the action on the river in a battle of the blinds between the two players with the community cards spread 
and over 50,000 in blinds and antes in the middle.
Lau, sitting in the small blind, decided to put Chen to the test and moved all-in, with the Chinese player calling immediately. Lau flashed a jack with a king kicker, but could not best Chen’s 
rivered two pair.
Chen climbed to 75,500 while Lau dropped to 68,500 with the rest of the field stacking up as follows:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
123,600 | 15,600 |
|
76,700 | 31,200 |
|
75,500 | 20,500 |
|
68,500 | -37,500 |
|
31,000 | 13,000 |
There have been two more quick eliminations with Bos Wim and Atanas Kavrakov both hitting the rail in quick succession.
While we missed the Dutchman’s bust out we caught Kavrakov’s with the Bulgarian player moving the last of his chips in from the big blind pre-flop over the top of a Yao Jin Chen button raise. The Chinese player made a quick call and the cards were turned over.
Yao Jin Chen: 
Atanas Kavrakov: 
Unfortunately for Kavrakov, the board ran out 
and he hit the rail for the second time today and did not seem keen on firing a third bullet. Chen stacked up to 55,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
55,000 | 12,500 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
We are not sure how it happened, but Antonio Martins has become the latest casualty to bring the field down to seven.
"The field is amazing, I just couldn't get the luck today," said Martins, who seemed upbeat on his way to the exit.
"Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow..."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Nine quickly became eight with Oliver Cartwright and Keisuke Hikosaka duking it out in a hand that saw the former’s tournament come to an abrupt end.
It was Hikosaka who was the initial aggressor, opening the action from the cut off before Cartwright moved all-in from the big blind with the Japanese player making a speedy call.
Oliver Cartwright:
Keisuke Hikosaka: 
Cartwright may have pulled the trigger first but was also the at-risk player and would need to hit to survive. As you can clearly tell from the title of this post, that did not happen with the board running out 
meaning Hikosaka’s pair of fours was enough to win a huge pot and snag the chip lead.
The Japanese player edges slightly in front of Sio Fat Lau with a stack of 108,000 with the remaining players stacking up as follows:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
108,000 | 80,800 |
|
|
106,000 | -3,000 |
|
|
45,500 | -200 |
|
|
42,500 | 25,425 |
|
|
19,700 | -11,800 |
|
|
18,000 | 2,000 |
|
|
15,200 | -2,100 |
|
|
9,000 | -10,300 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Players are dropping like flies and we are now down to a single nine-handed table with Andrew An and Guangli Liu hitting the rail.
They won’t get lonely though as Keng Po Wong has recently joined them and it was Sio Fat Lau who was wielding the executioner’s axe once more, defending his big blind against Wong’s pre-flop button shove.
Keng Po Wong: 
Sio Fat Lau: 
Both players missed the flop by miles and with no paint in sight, Lau’s ace-high was enough to send Wong to the rail and Lau stacked up to a sizable 109,000 further cementing his lead and making him the man to catch.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
109,000 | 52,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 9
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
