Dmitrii Kovalevskii shoved all in from the cutoff for 179,000. Scott Janik reraised to 400,000 to isolate, and the blinds folded.
Kovalevskii:
Janik:
Janik's best hope was a chop after hit the felt. Anything above a seven would result in a chop, but the river was a . That gave Janik a winning pair, and he winced at the beat he'd handed Kovalevskii.
Taehoon Han raised to 60,000 from middle position, Scott Janik called from the hijack, Mitsuru Sano called from the small blind, and Yuki Ko called from the big blind.
The flop came and action checked to Janik who bet 110,000. Sano and Ko both folded and Han called.
The turn brought the and both players checked.
The fell on the river and they checked again.
Although there were four spades on board, neither player held a flush. Han tabled for flopped top two pair but Janik showed for kings and queens to take the pot.
Mitsuru Sano opened to 60,000 in middle position and called a three-bet to 145,000 from Taehoon Han, who was on the button. Sano check-called 100,000 on the flop. Both players checked the and . Sano opened for a flush, but Han had for the nut flush.
Harunobu Kojima raised to 60,000 from middle position and Mitsuru Sano, who was next to act in the hijack, three-bet to 130,000. Yuki Ko then four-bet to 350,000 from the cutoff and action quickly folded back around to Sano who jammed for a total of 578,000. Ko called to put Sano at risk and the two players tabled their hands.
Sano:
Ko:
Sano was way behind with the worse ace and needed help from the deck to preserve his tournament life. The flop paired Sano's queen to give him a big lead and leave Ko in bad shape. The turn and river changed nothing and Sano took the pot to double up.
Scott Janik opened to 55,000 in the cutoff in one of the last hands at the previous level. Weikuo Hsiao gave him action from the button. The flop came and Janik bet 40,000. Hsiao made it 90,000. Janik came back with 210,000, and Hsiao released after about a minute of thought.
Taehoon Han began the day third in chips and just spun up his stack a fair amount in two back-to-back hands.
In the first, action folded to Han on the button and he raised to 48,000. Scott Janik three-bet to 144,000 from the big blind and Han came over the top for 280,000, sending Janik into the tank. He ultimately folded and Han took the pot.
In the next hand, Mitsuru Sano raised to 48,000 from early position and Han called from the cutoff. The flop came , Sano bet 40,000, and Han called. The turn brought the and Sano bet again, 75,000 this time, and Han called. The river was the and Sano check-called a bet of 130,000 from Han who flipped over for a flopped set of tens. Sano mucked and Han took the pot.
Out of the 285 entries drawn to the felt in the Main Event at the first-ever PokerStars Festival Korea, just eight players remain. They'll return for one last day at the beautiful Paradise City Hotel & Resort in Incheon to play down to a winner starting at noon local time.
Leading the way is well-known Korean player Yuki Ko, who will take a huge stack of 2,820,000 out of the bag. No other player has a stack anywhere near that big; the next two behind him are American Scott Janik with 1,367,000 and Kiwi Taehoon Han with 1,345,000. Ko has been a force to be reckoned with on the Asian tournament circuit as of late with over $250,000 in career live earnings, and that number could grow by as much as just over $74,000 if he were to bank the top prize of ₩83,130,000. All remaining players are guaranteed to cash for at least ₩10,450,000, the approximate equivalent of $9,328.
There will be just under 19 minutes on the clock left in Level 23 (12,000/24,000/4,000) when cards fly. When that level ends, the structure will consist of 75-minute levels with 10-minute breaks every two levels until a winner is determined. Here's what the final will look like at the start of Day 3 action:
Seat
Player
Stack
1
Mitsuru Sano
865,000
2
Yuki Ko
2,820,000
3
Jwahyoung Kim
509,000
4
Taehoon Han
1,345,000
5
Dmitrii Kovalevskii
403,000
6
Scott Janik
1,367,000
7
Weikuo Hsiao
722,000
8
Harunobu Kojima
456,000
Keep it here for updates on the action from the PokerNews live reporting team as the inaugural PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event plays down to a winner.
hit the felt. Anything above a seven would result in a chop, but the river was a 
. That gave Janik a winning pair, and he winced at the beat he'd handed Kovalevskii.
and both players checked.
fell on the river and they checked again.
for flopped top two pair but Janik showed 
for kings and queens to take the pot.
and 
for a flush, but Han had 
flop paired Sano's queen to give him a big lead and leave Ko in bad shape. The 
turn and 
and Janik bet 40,000. Hsiao made it 90,000. Janik came back with 210,000, and Hsiao released after about a minute of thought.
and Sano check-called a bet of 130,000 from Han who flipped over 