Bo Ning limped from under-the-gun, which encouraged Weizhou Zha to come in from the cutoff before Macau’s Ieng Tai squeezed to 3,600 from the small blind. It looked as if this was what Ning was waiting for and he could not get the rest of his chips in fast enough.
Zha folded and while Tai did not look as though he liked it he felt compelled to call of the 8,400 extra and the hands were turned over.
Bo Ning:
Ieng Tai:
Ning found himself in great shape and scored the double up when the board ran out to climb back into contention with a stack of 27,000 while Tai dropped to 23,100.
A short-stacked Tang Jia moved all-in from under-the-gun for his last 9,700 and was looked up by neighbor Dong Huo. Jia, holding was racing for his tournament life against the of Huo and got to his feet as the dealer spread his fate across the felt.
The was a kind one, as was the turn but disaster struck on the river and Jia headed for the sidelines while Huo stacked up to 30,000.
Things are progressing at a rapid pace this level and while the number of entrants has increased from 115 to 117 the number of players still seated has dropped from 83 down to 66.
That’s pretty speedy and several big stacks are emerging from this carnage. One of those belongs to Vincent Tong who has just padded it out at the expense of the unfortunate David Tai.
With three limpers already hoping for a cheap flop, Tong looked down at his cards in the small blind and splashed a chunky raise of 9,300 into the center of the table.
That was a big bet, but it did not deter big blind David Tai from pulling the trigger and getting his 13,600 stack into the middle. Once those pesky limpers folded out Tong wanted to know how much more it would cost him – 4,100 – and seemed happy enough to make the call.
David Tai:
Vincent Tong:
Tai was the at-risk player and lost the race immediately on the flop with the turn hammering the final nail into his coffin and giving Tong an unbeatable full house. The river was just a formality and Tai headed for the rail while Tong stacked up to 85,000, which we believe makes him the chip leader.
Jinqiang’s Day 1E has come to a close with Korea’s Soo Joo Kim the man to send the Chinese player to the rail. We arrived just as Jinqiang moved all-in from the small blind for his last 9,100 in chips over the top of a Kim open and the Korean made a quick call.
Shi Jinqiang:
SJ Kim:
It was not looking good for Jinqiang who held a dominated hand and while the runout paired his ace Kim’s kicker played to win him the hand and send Jinqiang out.
Two of the field’s larger stacks, Malaysia’s Victor Chong and Spain’s Damaso Garcia, have just played a pot that saw Chong emerge the victor.
We picked up the hand on the flop with the community cards spread and 5,500 in the pot just as Garcia (middle position) checked the flop over to Chong. The Malaysian player took his time about it but eventually decided to bet 2,200, which Garcia called and it was off to the turn.
Garcia checked it over to Chong once more and after some deliberation, Chong tapped the table languidly to indicate a check and the dealer peeled off the river.
This brought a third check from Garcia and Chong now fired for 15,000. Garcia looked as though he was thinking about calling, but thought better of it and mucked, leaving Chong to rake in the pot without showdown.
Nevan Cheng is enjoying the rub of the green at the moment and we arrived at the Hong Kong player’s table in time to see him send another unfortunate opponent packing.
Cheng was in the big blind and had called off a short stack’s shove and both players flipped over their cards to see who had what. Cheng’s was in front of the short stack’s and stayed that way when the flop fell .
The turn gave the all-in player pick up some additional outs but the was not one of them and Cheng stacked up to 85,000 while his opponent hit the rail.
to climb back into contention with a stack of 27,000 while Tai dropped to 23,100.
was racing for his tournament life against the 
of Huo and got to his feet as the dealer spread his fate across the felt.
was a kind one, as was the 
river and Jia headed for the sidelines while Huo stacked up to 30,000.
river was just a formality and Tai headed for the rail while Tong stacked up to 85,000, which we believe makes him the chip leader.
runout paired his ace Kim’s kicker played to win him the hand and send Jinqiang out.
and 5,500 in the pot just as Garcia (middle position) checked the flop over to Chong. The Malaysian player took his time about it but eventually decided to bet 2,200, which Garcia called and it was off to the 
. 
turn gave the all-in player pick up some additional outs but the