Randy Lew Stumbles Late but Finds a Bag on Day 1c
After the two opening flights of PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event drew 120 players total, Day 1c nearly matched that amount with 118 runners, pushing the three-flight total to 238.
PokerStars Team Online's Randy "nanonoko" Lew was one of the 38 players who found bags at the conclusion of 12 levels of play, but it didn't come easily for Lew as he had to overcome a major pitfall late.
It looked like it was going to be a good day for Lew, who chipped up early and seemed to hold an above average stack much of the way. However, on Level 12, he got in a big all-in preflop pot for a huge pile of chips, about 200,000. Lew held ace-king against pocket jacks of Yang Zhang, but a short-stacked player also got in there with king-queen, blocking some of Lew's equity. A brick-tastic ten-high board hit the felt and left Lew with less than 20 big blinds.
Lew recovered a bit from there to bag 52,700. He's coming off of a strong showing at the WSOP Main Event, where he finished 159th for $53,247. He also came in hot here in Korea, showing up and immediately cashing for fifth place in the High Roller for $17,552. He'll be just a bit over 20 big blinds when play resumes on Day 2, so despite the late stumble, he's still got a pulse in the Main Event.
Lew and everyone else who bagged is looking up in the counts at Scott Janik, one of the few American players participating in the tournament. Janik, who doesn't have any documented live results to his credit, bagged 215,800.
Naohito Tamaya (204,800), Masatoshi Tanaka (162,000), Hiroyuki Noda (153,400) and Zhang (152,500) round out the top five.
With just under $1 million in live cashes, Zhang is one of the more accomplished players to fire here in Korea. He spent much of the summer in Las Vegas, where he notched four cashes at the WSOP and another at Venetian.
Lew's fellow PokerStars-sponsored player, Team Pro Celina Lin, was not as successful as her teammate. She made a thin call with ace-king on a ten-high flop against a player holding jack-ten, costing her most of her chips early on. She was unable to recover, running pocket queens into aces to lose the last of her stack.
Lin and anyone else yet to make it on to Day 2 still has one more chance as a turbo Day 1d is already under way. With 20 minute levels, it figures to be a fast-paced sprint over the next few hours, and we'll see who else can punch a ticket to Sunday.
