THB 37,000 Championship
Day 1b Completed
THB 37,000 Championship
Day 1b Completed
The second of four starting days for the inaugural WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship Event attracted an even bigger field of 663 entries at UOB LIVE yesterday and 154 players returned to their seats on the sixth floor of the Emsphere Mall to try and secure their spot in the money for the 37,000 Thai Baht buy-in equivalent. It had brought the total for the first-ever legal live poker tournament on Thai soil to four figures already and made sure that the prize pool guarantee was surpassed with another two starting days to follow.
At noon local time, the action recommenced and it wouldn't take long for the eliminations to pile up in the flagship tournament hosted in cooperation between PokerTalk Thailand and WPTGlobal. Nearly half of the field had to leave empty-handed with the top 83 finishers set to advance and secure the precious Thai flag for their The Hendon Mob profile.
When the dust had settled, it was a close-knit race for the Day 1b chip lead and the UK's Ciaran Farrell snatched the lead from China's Haoran Sun at the very end with 888,000 in chips. Sun followed in second place with 869,000 while Che-Lun Liu accumulated 860,000, which was good enough for third place.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciaran Farrell | United Kingdom | 888,000 | 44 |
| 2 | Haoran Sun | China | 869,000 | 43 |
| 3 | Che-Lun Liu | Taiwan | 860,000 | 43 |
| 4 | Philippe Clerc | Switzerland | 810,000 | 41 |
| 5 | Jianwei Lin | China | 788,000 | 39 |
| 6 | Sebastian Mornhinweg | Germany | 787,000 | 39 |
| 7 | Chi Wei Lo | Taiwan | 734,000 | 37 |
| 8 | Chengcai Pan | China | 667,000 | 33 |
| 9 | Feng Xu | China | 667,000 | 33 |
| 10 | Jugal Java | India | 638,000 | 32 |
In the final stages of the second flight, Liu and Sun clashed in a large pot when the former flopped a set of nines against the top pair of Sun to scoop one of the largest pots of Day 1b. However, Sun bounced back at the very end by bursting the money bubble when he turned trips eights and had Jong Hyun Song from South Korea drawing dead because two players had folded the other aces already.
Other notables with big stacks from Day 1b include Philippe Clerc (810,000), former EPT Barcelona Main Event finalist Jianwei Lin (788,000), Jugal Java (638,000), Jiajun Liu (512,000), Shaoming Li (343,000), Raiden Kan (291,000), Clement Cure (265,000) and Pierre Mothes (265,000).
Not as fortunate were the likes of Mikael Andersson, Michael Falcon, Neng Zhao, Jonty O'Brien, and Jaryd Jardien as they all bowed out without securing one of the travel fund prizes just yet. All of them have another two flights to make up for their shortcoming thus far with Day 1c and 1d taking place throughout the Sunday evening.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
888,000
328,000
|
328,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
869,000 | |
|
|
860,000 | |
|
|
810,000
502,000
|
502,000 |
|
|
788,000
431,000
|
431,000 |
|
|
787,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
|
734,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
|
667,000
92,000
|
92,000 |
|
|
667,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
|
638,000 | |
|
|
603,000
128,000
|
128,000 |
|
|
592,000
456,000
|
456,000 |
|
|
584,000
234,000
|
234,000 |
|
|
572,000
172,000
|
172,000 |
|
|
559,000
311,000
|
311,000 |
|
|
526,000
468,000
|
468,000 |
|
|
516,000
84,000
|
84,000 |
|
|
512,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
|
490,000
148,000
|
148,000 |
|
|
471,000
350,000
|
350,000 |
|
|
469,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
462,000
366,000
|
366,000 |
|
|
460,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
442,000
48,000
|
48,000 |
|
|
434,000
257,000
|
257,000 |
With 83 players left and all having bagged their chips, Day 1b has concluded and the survivors will return the next day at 6 p.m. local time to continue their journey to become the next WPT Prime Exhibition Championship winner. All chip counts and a recap of the action will be published later today once the bubble has burst for Day 1c.
The cards were flipped over already and then turned back when Jong Hyun Song had jammed the A♠K♣8♥8♦ turn and was snapped off by Haoran Sun, as not all other tables had completed their hands.
In the meanwhile, Guillem Segarra already said that Song was drawing dead since he and another player had folded an ace after seeing the showdown cards. When it was then time to proceed, the following cards were exposed.
Jong Hyun Song: A♣J♥
Haoran Sun: 9♠8♠
The turned trips of Sun locked up the elimination prior to the 10♣ river to let the Day 1b bubble burst. David Chidraoui then lost his marbles two tables over after he had locked up the min-cash with a fraction of a big blind.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
869,000
244,000
|
244,000 |
|
|
860,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
|
Busted |
David Chidraoui was literally and figuratively sweating when he had only 12,000 left and folded while Khant Naing was all-in from under the gun for fewer than eight blinds, looked up by Jugal Java in the big blind.
Khant Naing: K♥Q♥
Jugal Java: A♣3♣
The board ran out Q♠9♠4♦6♥10♣ and Naing doubled on the bubble, having come into the day with a very short stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
638,000
338,000
|
338,000 |
|
|
383,000
337,000
|
337,000 |
|
|
12,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Ilias Aliev was eliminated and several other tables were still going on when the floor announced that the action was to be stopped for the money bubble.
Jong Hyun Song earned a double during that time against Zhjiyi Feng when he held up with 9♣9♠ versus A♠J♣ on a board of Q♦Q♣10♠2♦6♠ for his last 85,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
185,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
135,000
124,000
|
124,000 |
|
|
Busted |
On the stone bubble, Haoran Sun applied pressure with his large stack and clashed against Taiwan's Che-Lun Liu when the latter was all-in from the button for more than 200,000 on the K♣9♣6♥3♥ turn.
Che-Lun Liu: 9♥9♦
Haoran Sun: K♠Q♥
The 6♠ river was already meaningless as Liu's set had locked up the big double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
750,000
523,000
|
523,000 |
|
|
625,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
Linh Nguyen moved all-in from under the gun for 69,000 and Taras Bayda was in the big blind with very few chips behind.
"Sixty nine was my table number yesterday," he said and then called all-in without looking at his cards three spots away from the money.
Taras Bayda: 5♦4♥
Linh Nguyen: A♥10♥
The board ran out 9♣6♥4♣J♥3♥ and Nguyen rivered the flush to score the knockout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
|
Busted |