Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2017 PokerStars Festival Korea
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Festival Korea
Buy-in
1,650,000 KRW
Entries
285
Level
27
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
10,000
Late Sparrow Gets the Chips: Cheung Buys in Late but Spins Up a Big Stack
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Sparrow Cheung wasn't the early bird at all on Day 1a of PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event, but that didn't make much difference. After buying in just before registration closed, Cheung made the time he did spend in the Main Event count as he bagged 158,100 to rank second in chips.
Cheung was one of a handful of notables who entered after bagging in the High Roller event, which started a couple of hours earlier and played a shorter day. Pete Chen (41,900) and Alan Lau (38,600) also double-bagged.
Neither player is very far above the 30,000 starting stack, but it wasn't for lack of trying from Lau, who came in and pushed the action hard right away, running up to nearly 90,000. He was down to about half of the starting stack when he got pocket kings in and received a call from Stuart Brodie, holding ace-six. That double propelled him to bagging time.
Lau, Cheung and Chen are all atop the Asia Player of the Year leaderboard in that order.
The only player with more than Cheung is inexperienced Russian player Dmitrii Kovalevskii, who finished with a monstrous 201,000. Others bagging after the 12-level day included big stacks Yutaro Sukegawa (148,000), Martin Gonzales (146,700) and Roman Tsoyi (133,000), as well as Bryan Huang (90,200).
Overall Day 1a of the first PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event drew 54 runners and 17 of them survived. Jack Wu, Brodie and Xuefeng Huang were some of the players eliminated during the course of play.
Brodie looked like he'd be one of the stars of the day after running up a room-leading stack at the dinner break. However, a tough beat started a slide he was never able to stop, as he lost all in preflop in a five-bet pot with pocket aces against the pocket tens of Weihsun Lu.
The remaining players have a couple of days off now as three more starting flights to this event will play out over the next two days. Survivors return Sunday for Day 2, with coverage here on PokerNews continuing until and through that time.
End of Day 1a Counts (full)
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
201,000 | -9,000 |
|
158,100 | 3,100 |
|
148,000 | 25,000 |
|
146,700 | 146,700 |
|
133,000 | 3,000 |
|
126,000 | -3,000 |
|
|
117,900 | 117,900 |
|
104,900 | -5,100 |
|
99,000 | 18,700 |
|
90,200 | -7,800 |
|
|
66,900 | 66,900 |
|
45,200 | 45,200 |
|
44,100 | 18,600 |
|
41,900 | -100 |
|
38,600 | 600 |
|
|
32,200 | 9,700 |
|
|
31,000 | 31,000 |
Brodie Finished Off
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Stuart Brodie got his last 5,000 or so in preflop with 
against a player with 
. The flop brought both an ace and a queen, and Brodie went bust after he couldn't find a five.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Lau Doubles, Leaving Brodie Short
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Alan Lau shoved from middle position with a stack of 17,100, and Stuart Brodie put him at risk in the small blind.
Lau: 
Brodie: 
The board ran out 
, and Brodie was forced to send a double over.
The tournament director announced five more hands will be played.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
38,000 | 24,000 |
|
|
5,800 | -34,500 |
Tsoyi's Set is Good
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Roman Tsoyi was staring at an all-in shove for about 25,000 when we got to his table. The flop had come 
, and Tsoyi made the call with 
. His opponent had 
and wasn't thrill about Tsoyi taking some time to call. The turn was a 
and the river a 
, so Tsoyi added to his stack with a boat.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
130,000 | 57,000 |
Updated Chip Counts
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Alan Lau had his stack pumped up to about 90,000 a bit ago, but it appears Dmitrii Kovalevskii may have taken most of his stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
210,000 | |
|
|
155,000 | |
|
|
129,000 | 19,000 |
|
|
123,000 | -3,300 |
|
69,000 | 30,600 |
|
|
40,300 | -34,100 |
|
|
25,500 | -22,000 |
|
|
14,000 | -46,000 |
Hong Signals for the Triangle
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
A player in the cutoff opened to a little over 5,000 and got action from Hyunil Hong, on the button. The opener checked the 
flop, an Hong bet 7,000. The opener made it 20,000, and Hong called. Both checked the 
, and the 
made two pair on board. The first player checked and Hong made a triangle with his hands, signaling to the dealer he wanted the all-in triangle. Hong had about 27,000 left and that was enough to take it down.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
85,000 | 85,000 |
Level: 12
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 300
Huang Gets a River Raise Paid
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
A player under the gun bet 3,500 on a 
flop, and Bryan Huang called on the button. On the turn, both players checked, bringing a river. The first player bet 5,000 and Huang made it 18,700. After about 90 seconds, the early player called but mucked upon being shown .
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
98,000 | 40,500 |