There are 122 total Day 1E entries so far, with registration closing once the dinner break concludes. Just 47 of these players remain in contention and here’s how some of them are stacking up:
Yu Zhou started the day well but has dropped right down the chip counts as play has progressed, though he has just added to his stack courtesy of Macau’s Keng Po Wong.
It was Zhou who was the pre-flop aggressor, making it 3,000 to go from middle position and Wong decided to defend his big blind and made the call to take play heads-up to a flop of ]adjsd5].
Wong checked the action over to Zhou, who decided the right amount to continuation bet was 4,000. Zhou’s calculations seem to have been spot on as Wong released his hand instantly and Zhou added a little to his stack, climbing to 24,000 while Wong dropped to 65,000.
Registration for Day 1E is now closed and the official numbers are in. This is by far the busiest of the starting flights so far with 123 entries (including re-entries) and 45 of those players are left in contention for a Day 2 seat.
Only 18 of the remaining 45 players will be successful in that regard so that means 27 of them will be leaving empty handed.
Weizhou Zha currently sits at the top of the chip counts
China’s Weizhou Zha’s ascension to the top of the table is now complete – all he needs to do now is stay there.
Zha was helped in his climb by a player who gave us his name as ‘NBK’ but we’re pretty sure that’s not what his mother calls him.
The fact is irrespective anyway as Mr. NBK is no longer in the running after opening to 2,600 from under-the-gun and getting raised to the tune of 6,600. Mr. NBK moved all-in for 19,300 in total and with chips to spare Zha made the call.
Mr. NBK:
Weizhou Zha:
The window saw NBK get to his feet and the rest of the flop would not see him re-take it anytime soon. The turn was not the eight he needed to survive, and neither was the river and that was that.
Zha raked in the pot and that puts him right at the top of the table with a stack of 113,000.
We caught Damaso Garcia involved in another sizable pot and picked up the action on the river with over 33,000 in bets, blinds and antes in the pot with the community cards spread .
Garcia’s opponent had just checked from the small blind and the action was on Garcia, who after some time thinking it over, decided to bet out 12,200 leaving himself 37,500 behind.
While he did not look happy about doing so, Garcia’s opponent grudgingly let it go leaving the Icelandic player free to scoop a sizable pot and climb to 83,000 without having to show down.
It’s getting closer and closer to crunch time for some of the 38 remaining Day 1E players and a lot of the recent poker we have seen has all been decided pre-flop.
Damaso Garcia opened the action from under-the-gun but no one looked like they wanted to tangle with his beefy stack and he took down the blinds and antes uncontested.
Yu Zhou has recently been moved over to Weizhou Zha and Linh Tran’s table, as has Victor Chong who has taken the seat of the recently departed Bart Luyckx.
We caught Zhou in action in a hand and while it was not a very exciting one it seemed to get under Linh Tran’s skin, but that’s down to the amount of time it took to play out to say that very little happened.
Action folded around to a player in the small blind who chose to test the short-stacked Zhou’s mettle and moved all-in. After Zhou had spent around 3 minutes in the tank Tran had had enough and prompted Zhou to do something.
Eventually, after some more procrastination, the Chinese player let it go, to sighs of relief from the rest of the table.
We’re sure with the rising blinds and antes we’ll be able to bring you some action-packed bust outs soon, it is only a matter of time.
With over US$3.8 million in career tournament winnings, we think that it’s fair to say that Mexico’s JC Alvarado is one of the more accomplished players in the field. Alvarado was one of the late sign-ups not long before the dinner break but he has already managed to run his 15,000 starting stack up to a decent amount.
However, Alvarado has just shipped some chips the way of Weizhou Zha, who does not look like he needs any as he already has a ton.
It was Alvarado who was the aggressor in this particular hand, making it 3,400 to go from the cut off and, with chips to spare, current frontrunner Zha decided to see a flop in position and made the call from the button to take play heads-up to a monochrome flop of .
That brought checks from both players and the dealer burned and turned the , which again produced no betting.
After Alvarado checked the river Zha eyeballed his stack and tossed out a 5,000 bet, which Alvarado eventually called after thinking it over for a few seconds. Zha turned over for two pairs – sevens and queens – and Alvardo mucked.
window saw NBK get to his feet and the rest of the 
flop would not see him re-take it anytime soon. The 
turn was not the eight he needed to survive, and neither was the 
river and that was that.
.
river Zha eyeballed his stack and tossed out a 5,000 bet, which Alvarado eventually called after thinking it over for a few seconds. Zha turned over 
for two pairs – sevens and queens – and Alvardo mucked.