Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan
Buy-in
27,500 TWD
Entries
306
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
60,000
Opening Flight of the Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event Draws 55 Entrants; Edwin Gerard Leads
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Boasting a TWD 5 million (~US$160,000) guarantee, the opening flight of the 2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event, Day 1A, saw a total of 55 entrants (46 unique) ante up the TWD 27,500 (~US$875) entry fee and fight it out at the felt, with 20 players able to bag up chips at the conclusion of the twelve 40-minute levels.
The man leading the charge is the USA's Edwin Gerard, who bagged up a massive 267,900 stack — giving him over 133 big blinds with which to return for Day 2.
Gerard has over $100,000 in live tournament cashes on his poker resume, three of them coming at final tables in countries ranging from the US, Macau, and Taiwan and looks to be in great shape at taking a shot at winning his first live tournament title.
The US player flew under the radar for much of the day before tangling with Taiwan's Hsiao Yun Yang on the second to last level of the day. Yang had held the top spot for the vast majority of the day's action with an aggressive play style that saw him steamroll all three tables he competed at and become the first player to reach and breach the 100,000-chip mark, but Gerard managed to get the best of him in two sizable pots to usurp his position at the top of the counts.
It was the second of the two pots that proved the most costly for the Taiwanese player; with both players sitting on top three stacks of over 125,000 apiece Gerard rivered the nut flush holding ace-trey of clubs to take a second big bite out of Yang's once-proud stack, leave him reeling like a punch drunk prizefighter and bring his chip count below the 100,000-mark. While Yang was able to make it through to Day 2, he was unable to reach his previous high, bagging up 56,300.
Others to bag big on Day 1A include Hong Kong's Howard Sun (116,200), Singapore's Si Yang Phua (116,600), China's Jieming Xu (104,300), Taiwan's Yu You Ci Tsai (102,500) and Hong Kong's Gabriel Fung (101,900), with the rest of the field all bagging up below the six-figure chip mark.
Other notables in the running included Taiwan's fifth most successful tournament player Chen An Lin and Singapore's Graeme Siow, though of the two only Lin managed to make it through with a stack of 45,000.
However, with the format offering players unlimited re-entry, any player unable to make the Day 2 cut can try their luck again tomorrow with both remaining starting flights playing out on Saturday, August 17. Day 1B gets underway at 1:00 p.m. local time and will follow exactly the same structure as Day 1A. Day 1C has a slightly later start time of 6:00 p.m. and will feature slightly shorter 30-minute levels.
The 21 Day 1A survivors will return for Day 2, which takes place at 1:00 p.m. local time (GMT+8) on Sunday, August 18 and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the tournament thrills and spills as the 2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan plays down to a scintillating conclusion.
End of Day 1A Chip Counts (full)
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
267,900 | |
|
116,200 | 31,200 |
|
116,100 | 86,100 |
|
104,300 | -10,700 |
|
102,500 | 7,500 |
|
|
101,900 | -35,100 |
|
|
89,300 | -700 |
|
87,300 | 87,300 |
|
84,100 | 54,100 |
|
|
80,500 | -14,500 |
|
77,400 | |
|
77,400 | 25,400 |
|
|
74,600 | 44,600 |
|
64,900 | -10,100 |
|
61,400 | 31,400 |
|
|
56,300 | -38,700 |
|
45,000 | -5,000 |
|
28,600 | -1,400 |
|
|
21,400 | |
|
|
12,500 | -17,500 |
Day 1A Concluded
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Provisionally, it appears that 21 players made it through to Day 2 out of the 55 initial entrants, with the USA's Edwin Gerard putting on a last-minute burst of pace to cement the chip lead and bag up 267,900 for the day. Chip counts and end of day wrap to follow shortly.
Lee and Gerard Close Out the Action With Big Hands
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
The last two hands of Day 1A both proved to be exciting ones, with Toh Soon Lee and Edwin Gerard both finding big hands to rail an opponent each.
In the first, it was Lee and a short-stacked player who got all the chips in pre-flop, Lee's 
leading his opponent's speculative 
and staying in front the whole way on the 
runout to bag up 77,400 and send the short stack crashing out, right at the close.
In the second, a sizable three-way pot developed between chip leader Edwin Gerard, Zong Ping Yang, and another short-stacked player. It was Gerard the man driving the action with a middle position open to 4,500, with Yang making the call in the cutoff, and the short-stack making the call from the big blind to take the action three-way to a flop of 
.
Following a check from the player in the big blind, Gerard fired out a 4,500 continuation bet and was called twice to bring the trio to the 
turn. This saw Gerard slow down and check it over to Yang, who reached for chips and made it 11,000 to go. The player in the big blind made the call, leaving himself 19,500 behind and Gerard had a decision to make.
After quite some time in the think tank, by which time the rest of the table not in the hand had bagged up, Gerard made the call, swelling the pot to a sizable 60,800.
The river was the bringing in four to a flush. The big blind jammed in the rest of his stack, Gerard made a quick call, Yang bowed out and the cards were turned over.
The at-risk player in the big blind rolled over 
for a pair of eights that had improved to a ten-high flush, but that was not enough to best Gerard's 
nut flush and the US player scooped a sizable pot to end the day's play and climb to 267,900, giving him a sizable lead to bring back on Day 2 on Sunday, August 18.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
267,900 | 92,900 |
|
|
77,400 | 52,900 |
|
|
21,400 | -8,600 |
Last Four Hands
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
The tournament clock has been paused with 15-minutes until the end of the level and 22 players left in contention. The last number of hands has been drawn, with four more until play is done for the day.
Jacks Good for Yang, Tens Good for Ho
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Hsiao Yun Yang has returned to his winning ways and has chipped up once again, though he still remains under the 100k mark. Yang was the initial aggressor, making it 3,700 to go from early position and picking up just the one caller two seats over.
The 
flop saw Yang continuation bet for 4,200, which his opponent called and it was off to the 
turn, pairing the board.
That killed all further action in the hand, with both players checking, and then checking again on the 
river. Yang turned over 
and raked in the pot when his opponent folded.
Choy Wing Ho is another player whose fortune is on the rise at the right time, winning a sizable pot with 
on a board reading 
after leading out for close to half pot on the river and finding a caller, who could only muck when Ho turned over his overpair to the board.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
95,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
95,000 | 45,000 |
Play Tightens Up
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
As the end of the day approaches the players appear to be tightening up and while several pots have changed hands and one of the remaining short stacks has bitten the dust, there have been no monster pots played in the last 20-minutes as the 22 survivors look to make it to the end of the day.
Last Level of the Day
Level 12
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
This is it folks, the last level of Day 1A. Currently 23 players remain in contention out of a starting field of 55 and just one more 40-minute level remains between them and a chip bag.
Level: 12
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 1,600