Level: 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
Level: 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
The third starting flight of the Main Event is now underway. This is a Turbo flight, with 30-minute levels, as opposed to the 40-minute levels playing out here on Days 1a and 1b. This will be running concurrently with Day 1b so any player who busts the second starting flight can try their chances in the third flight should they so desire. You can follow all the Turbo action here.
Despite the Turbo flight running at the same time, players are still coming into Day 1b with High Roller finalist Wenling Gao coming in on the feature table, and garrulous businessman Shan Huang also taking part in the action.
Of the two, it is Huang who has got off to the best start, running his 30,000 start stack up to the giddy heights of 72,000 in the space of the last level, while Gao is still on close to starting stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Shan Huang | 72,000 | |
Wenling Gao |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Stacks are rising and falling with increasing frequency as the action heats up here in the second starting flight of the Poker King Cup Main Event. All the high-octane action means that it is all change at the top, with China's Hua Huan Feng winning a gigantic pot from a tablemate to edge into the chip lead.
We arrived in the aftermath of all the carnage with cards and chips scattered all over the place just as stacks were being counted down. The board was an ace-high one, reading and Feng's opponent revealed .
However, top pair top kicker was nowhere near enough to best Feng's flopped set and the massive pot was shipped his way as his opponent headed for the exit, possibly to try his luck in the Turbo flight, while Feng stacked up to 125,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Hua Huan Feng
|
125,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
The tournament clock reads 180 out of 235 entries, but this is no indication of how many players are actually left in the field. Hopefully, we'll have a better idea about who's still in when play resumes after the 60-minute dinner break, which all current Day 1b competitors are off on.
Players have returned from dinner and have got right back into the action. There are two more 40-minute levels, then a 10-minute break, then a final 40-minute level and then the PKC second starting flight is in the books.
There have been some more late arrivals, with High Roller Liang Xu joining the field, along with the USA's Benjamin Hamnett and China's Nan Li, Kyung Sik Jung, Minjie Li, Seo Jeong Won and Yuefeng Tang. This brings the total number of Day 1b entrants up to 244, with all 180 Day 1b seats in use.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Nan Li |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Kyung Sik Jung |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Minjie Li
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Seo Jeong Won
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Yuefeng Tang
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Level: 9
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Sparrow Cheung is in the building having flown in from playing another tournament series in Korea and has not long taken his Day 1b seat.
Quan Zhou could not recover from losing that earlier pot to Bin Xu and is now out of the running, but Xu is doing just fine with a stack of 95,000.
The USA's Benjamin Hamnett has not long joined the field and we caught him in action in the big blind on a flop of with close to 3,000 in the pot. Hamnett checked the action over to the pre-flop raiser, who checked it back and the came in on the turn.
The action went check, check, and repeated on the river. Hamnett's opponent turned over and that was enough for the pot when the US player folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bin Xu
|
95,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
Sparrow Cheung |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Benjamin Hamnett |
23,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
||
Quan Zhou | Busted |
Zhang Chao has been busy since the dinner break and has edged back into the lead with a stack of 125,000, while Hua Huan Feng has dropped some chips, but not all that many, to fall to 120,000.
Shan Huang's stock has also fallen, but not by much and he still has an extremely playable 65,000. Another High Roller in the mix is China's Ye Wang, though things have evidently not been going his way as Wang only has 12,000 in front of him.
Player's whose stacks are trending in the upward trajectory include Portugal's Antonio Martins (50,000), Ireland's Mark Gruendemann (41,000) andHong Kong's Alan Lau (38,000) and all are close to average or above with the average stack coming in at 44,500 and change.
Another player who's stack is moving in the right direction after a less than stellar Day 1a is Hong Kong's Ben Lai whom we caught scooping in a pot with with his opponent's cards already in the muck. That pot puts Lai on 52,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Zhang Chao |
125,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
||
Hua Huan Feng
|
120,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
Shan Huang |
65,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
Ben Lai |
52,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
Antonio Martins | 50,000 | |
Mark Gruendemann
|
41,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Alan Lau |
38,000
11,800
|
11,800 |
Wing Kei Chan |
27,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
Hong Jun Zhao |
26,000
-4,000
|
-4,000 |
Ye Wang |
12,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100