HomeTAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – Unlike in previously conducted Main Events of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) wherein registration stretches into the early portion of Day 2, here in this edition buy-ins are no longer accepted after Level 9 and the remaining runners play down to ITM in an exhausting yet exhilarating climax to Day 1A of the 2022 APT Taiwan Main Event here at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club).
A total of 138 entries marked an auspicious beginning to this much-awaited portion of the series where NT$3M (US$94,562.00) is the guaranteed prize pool.
Today (29th September), participants enjoyed NT$500.00 (US$16.00) off from the regular buy-in prize as Day 1A was the “early Bird Special” wherein everyone who played in this session availed of this great value–even in the re-entries.
So eager was a group of people who arrived that the APT Bubble Protection was applied to two full tables that began the day. Each of those who were at their seats when the cards flew at 1:00PM (UCT+8) would get their buy-in ack should they become the Main Event or Championship Bubble person. This was the case for Japan’s Yosuke Nazakawa when he took advantage of this privilege during the APT Championship in the recently concluded Philippines leg.
The prime directive, however, is to first reach ITM and after a grueling grind that took over half the day to complete, the Bubble was finally breached approaching 2:00AM when Lin Heng Chang battled Belgium’s APT side event titlist Kristof Segers in an all-in preflop (AIPF) situation.
Lin showed 10♣ 10♦ while Segers tabled no less than A♣ A♠.
The Flop immediately handed Segers an almost insurmountable lead when it came: A♥ 2♠ 3♥ giving the Belgian Top Set and Lin needing running cards just to chop.
The local bet was then Drawing Dead on the Turn when the 7♦ arrived and the inconsequential River card turned out to be the K♠.
The final hand of Day1A where Segers eliminated Lin to bring the 17 remaining to guaranteed cash
The remaining 17 players are now all ITM with the payouts announcement pending the completion of all Day 1s.
Day 1A saw international campaigner Wu Hao Kai leading with 579,000 in chips while Kuo Li Wei was a distant second with 386,000. Third place is presently held by Chang Yu Chung with 354,000.
Day 1B also begins today (30th September) at 1:00PM along with (Event #6) the first of the two Deep Stack Turbo (DST) tilts while (Event #7) the second of the three NT$27k (US$852.00) single-day High-Rollers, plus another satellite for Day 1C of the Main Event.