On the river of a 7♠4♠8♣A♥2♠ board, Wei Jen Wang bet 145,000 out of the big blind and was reluctantly called by Shicheng Gu. Wang tabled the 8♠5♠ for a flopped gutshot straight flush draw which rivered an eight-high flush, and it was good to win the pot.
Wang soared up the leaderboard and joined the likes of Benjamin Mages and Dongchen He near the top two spots away from the money.
On a flop of 7♣6♦2♣, Taiwan's Yi Chieh Hsieh bet-called all-in for 111,000 against Shibendu Saha and the latter showed the A♠K♥ for just ace-king high.
Hsieh had paired up with 9♠7♥ and held thanks to the 6♠ turn and 4♠ river.
Dongchen He had been responsible for the elimination of overnight chip leader Yanpeng Song to soar up the leaderboard and the next bigger stack was Shaoji Wang, who scored a big pot near the bubble.
Prior to that, Wang had raised and folded when Minming Du jammed for 158,000 and Phet Pannoi called all-in for 145,000 in the next seat.
Phet Pannoi: A♠K♣
Minming Du: J♣10♣
The board ran out 10♦7♣5♠2♦Q♥ and ace-king went down in flames, too.
The action had been tense for a couple of minutes as everybody realised that the bubble was only one elimination away. Phyo Oakar then bowed out over on table 34 when he could not beat the 10♦10♣ of Amit Ashkenazi on a board of Q♣Q♠3♠9♦8♥ to bow out in 68th place.
"If you don't have kings, you are in trouble," Gang Liu was told when he had jammed the Q♦J♠5♦ flop for around 165,000 in the hijack and was called by Wei Jen Wang on the button. Once all other tables were finished, the cards were flipped over.
Gang Liu: J♣J♥
Wei Jen Wang: 10♣9♣
The open-ender instantly arrived on the K♥ turn and the 10♠ river failed to pair up Liu to burst the bubble.
Full chip counts will be provided shortly, with a recap at the end of the night once Day 1b has finished.
The first-ever government-approved live poker series in the Kingdom of Thailand has seen the vast tournament area at UOB LIVE on the sixth floor of the Emsphere Mall in Bangkok filled to the brim with three different tournaments taking place. Only a few days after the card game was officially recognised as a sport in the country, the timing could not have been better for the highly-anticipated series in cooperation between WPTGlobal and PokerTalk Thailand to kick off and poker enthusiasts from near and far brought the capacity of 70 tournament tables into full swing.
To comply with the official regulations in the newest legal live poker market in the world, players have to purchase travel packages to compete in the inaugural WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition. The Championship Event comes with a price tag valued at 37,000 Thai Baht (~USD 1,100) and the first of four starting days already reached nearly half of the 37 Million Baht value guarantee thanks to 525 entries, which emerged on Friday August 1, 2025.
By the time the play was halted at the completion of 15 levels of 20 minutes each to comply with the six-hour allowance as per Thai regulations, the field had already been trimmed down to only 119 players. However, almost half of those who bagged up chips and returned to their seats would have to leave empty-handed as Day 1a of the 2025 WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship Event needed to reach the top 12.5% of the field. In this particular case, that happened to be the top 66 players and when the bubble had officially burst, four contenders had been fighting for the overnight lead.
Two participants became chip millionaires and led the way in Dongchen He (1,029,000) and Wei Jen Wang (1,017,000). He was responsible for the elimination of the chip leader upon restart Yanpeng Song to reach seven figures while Wang burst the bubble to get there. Shaoji Wang (950,000) and Benjamin Mages (940,000) are however only a few big blinds behind and on the verge of taking over the top spot.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1a ITM
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dongchen He
China
1,029,000
51
2
Wei Jen Wang
Taiwan
1,017,000
51
3
Shaoji Wang
China
950,000
48
4
Benjamin Mages
Germany
940,000
47
5
Raja Puttamsetty
India
642,000
32
6
Makhmud Evloev
United States
615,000
31
7
Nicolas Ragot
France
587,000
29
8
Chenxiang Miao
China
579,000
29
9
Chi-Hsien Lu
China
540,000
27
10
Amit Ashkenazi
Israel
536,000
27
Other notables to advance were Raja Puttamsetty (642,000), Chenxiang Miao (579,000), Lili Tang (489,000), Konstantin Lichagin (420,000), Kush Kataria (367,000), Frederik De Linde Farrington (302,000), and Yiyu Zhou (130,000).
Wei Jen Wang burst the bubble on Day 1a
Both Wang's were involved in several big pots when the action resumed and Gang Liu was the last player to leave empty-handed in the opening flight when his flopped set of jacks were cracked by an open-ended straight draw that got there. His fellow namesake from China had been surging up the leaderboard prior and the rise was kickstarted by a bad beat when the aces of Dragomir Ivanov Lechev were cracked by pocket kings.
Other notables to bust on the short-lived conclusion for Day 1a were Chenxu Zhang, Ming Huang, Adrien and Maxime Tantaro, Anton Widjaya, as well as Andrew Leathem. The latter originally hails from Scotland but has already cashed in 58 different countries including 11 in the current year. Leathem's bid to add the Thai flag in the first possible attempt has not been successful yet, but he advanced from Day 1b with a playable stack to try and do better in the second flight.
While 66 players have already secured their Thai flag and travel funds by reaching Day 2 which is set to continue at 6 p.m. local time on Monday, August 4, 2025, the 154 players that bagged up after the end of level 15 on Day 1b still have the same task ahead with the top 83 finishers set to achieve it. They will return at noon local time to their same tables and seats to play down to the top 12.5% of the field and then enjoy an early finish on a sunny Sunday in Bangkok.
Another two starting days are scheduled for the very same day with Day 1c set to commence at noon as well, while the final heat Day 1d is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time. Since local regulations allow play from noon to midnight, both of these flights will be able to reach the money stages the same day with the late registration open for the first nine levels and following break.
Whether or not the field size will double by then remains to be seen and the PokerNews live updates team will be on the floor to try and capture as much of the action as possible. Furthermore, PokerTalk will also be streaming the action on their social media channels in multiple languages as well.
