HomeAnother elimination round took place today at APT Korea Seoul 2019 with 60 players returning for Day 2 of the CHAMPIONSHIPS EVENT held at Grand Walkerhill Paradise Casino. The two starting days drew 102 runners; 22 signed on during today’s last hour of registration for a combined total of 124 entries. With buy-in at KRW 1,980,000 each, this more than eclipsed the advertised guarantee for a healthier prize pool of KRW 216,486,000 (~USD 183,000). Although we are still two days away from crowning a champion, first prize is a sweet KRW 60,430,000 (~USD 51,000).
At the end of the scheduled eight rounds of play, the field trimmed to 18 players which meant the money wasn’t reached. Only the top 13 are bound to get paid. Emerging as chip leader was Japan’s Shoma Ishikawa with a very large 1,023,000 in chips. Shoma was the only player that bagged up over a million. To give you an idea of how enormous his stack is, Shoma will enter Day 3 with 128 times the opening big blind.
Shoma Ishikawa
The starting day chip leaders, China’s Peng Meng Dian (Day 1A) and Japan’s Masaki Fujitani (Day 1B) also advanced to the next heat. Peng had another strong showing with 910,000 in chips collected. This earned him second rank in the chip rung. As for Fujitani, he closed with 162,000 giving him roughly 20 big blinds at the start.
On the flip side, amongst the day’s fallen warriors were the three decorated APT champions: Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Albert Paik, and Jaepil Goeffrey You. With no APT major title-holders remaining, the upcoming champion will be a first-time major winner at the APT. Here’s a look at the final 18 players below.
Day 3 chip count
| Name | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Shoma Ishikawa | Japan | 1,023,000 |
| 2 | Peng Meng Dian | China | 910,000 |
| 3 | Andrew An | United States | 527,000 |
| 4 | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | 513,000 |
| 5 | Kainang Ye | China | 380,000 |
| 6 | Dawi Yar | Kazakhstan | 371,000 |
| 7 | Shoichi Horio | Japan | 303,000 |
| 8 | Yusuke Kotake | Japan | 294,000 |
| 9 | Philiemon Ip | Hong Kong | 289,000 |
| 10 | Weiran Pu | China | 243,000 |
| 11 | Daniel H. Lee | United States | 241,000 |
| 12 | Suh Seong Hyun | Korea | 205,000 |
| 13 | Kengo Sakurai | Japan | 201,000 |
| 14 | Masaki Fujitani | Japan | 162,000 |
| 15 | Lim Peng Yu | China | 159,000 |
| 16 | Zentaro Nakayashiki | Japan | 147,000 |
| 17 | Masato Shimizu | Japan | 117,000 |
| 18 | Wayne Heung | Hong Kong | 40,000 |
Day 3 info
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2019
Game time: 1pm local time
Opening blinds: 4000-8000 ante 8000
ITM: 13 places
Day 3 duration: players bag up once the Final 8 is reached
Total chips in play: 6,222,700
Average stack: 345,705