HomeIt was a big day for the Japanese contingent as they topped all three side events on offer at the APT Korea Incheon 2017 in Paradise City. Grabbing the main spotlight was Iori Yogo after his dominating victory at the NLH Welcome Event which he then followed up with the largest stack bagged at the No Limit Hold’em 1 event with eight players remaining. Also making huge waves was fellow countryman Motoki Jinno for his commanding presence at the High Rollers 1 event.
Iori Yogo bulldozes to victory at the Welcome Event
There is a reason Iori Yogo is the reigning APT Player of the Year champion and at today’s final race for the NLH Welcome Event title, he demonstrated exactly why. Yogo entered the final table running second in command then proceeded to demolish the field, eliminating six of his opponents to ship in the KRW 7,604,000 (USD 6,600 approx) first place purse.
NLH Welcome Event Champion, Iori Yogo
The Welcome Event began with the final 8 players out of the 96 entry field back at the felt. After a few rounds seeing no casualties, the first elimination finally arrived with Jeremy Alan Graves falling in 8th place. Graves initially lost a sizable portion of his stack when his ace-king failed to improve against Genki Nakano’s pocket sevens. He proceeded to lose the rest of it to Zhou Hongming, the day’s entering chip leader.
With seven players remaining, it was time for the demolition job. Yogo bulldozed his way through the field with short stacked Yam Chun Ho Edward getting mowed down first. Out next was Aya Ryoke, the only female player at the table. She shoved with ace-ten but ran right into Yogo’s pocket aces. Dave Shepherd and Nakano also met the same fate, unable to get past the pro to quickly join the others at the rail. With four eliminations now under his belt, Yogo had amassed well over half of the chips in play.
Throughout the day, one of the players unable to muster up any momentum was Zhou. His commanding presence yesterday fell flat today. On his final stand, he challenged the leader Yogo with a three-bet shove, but like the others before him, the result was not to his favor. Yogo turned up K♦ K♣ to easily defeat his 5♥ 6♥.
With Zhou’s fall, this set up the final duel against Eric Ahn. Yogo had a huge advantage, up nearly 2.5:1 in chips. After a series of exchanges and no big dents to Yogo’s stack, the final hand was delivered. Ahn three-bet shoved with J♥ 10♥ and Yogo snap-called with a dominating A♦ A♥. While the flop of K♥ 6♥ K♦ and the J♦ turn all seemed very promising for Ahn, the Q♣ river quashed his hopes to end his day as runner-up. Yogo was awarded the Welcome Event trophy and claimed the biggest cut of the KRW 27,936,000 prize pool.
Final 8 Payouts
1st Iori Yogo – Japan – KRW 7,604,000
2nd Eric Ahn – USA – KRW 4,643,000
3rd Zhou Hongming – Singapore – KRW 3,358,000
4th Genki Nakano – Japan – KRW 2,756,000
5th Dave Shepherd – USA – KRW 2,213,000
6th Aya Ryoke – Japan – KRW 1,911,000
7th Yam Chun Ho Edward – Hong Kong – KRW 1,659,000
8th Jeremy Alan Graves – USA – KRW 1,195,000
No Limit Hold’em 1 halts with the final 8 players
The No Limit Hold’em 1 event had a brigade of 65 entries with each one ponying up the KRW 550,000 buy-in. By the time it was down to the last ten players, it was very clear that the Japanese fully dominated with everyone but two hailing from the country. However with only nine players guaranteed a piece of the KRW 31,520,000 (USD 27,500 approx) prize pool and two eliminations needed to close the day for a final 8, two of them fell out of the running. Junichi Nakagiri fell on the bubble while Shimizu Masato took 9th place for a KRW 1,640,000 payout.
Bagging up the largest stack of the night was Iori Yogo who entered the game late, joining in immediately after his victory at the Welcome Event.
No Limit Hold’em 1 Final Eight
Final 8 Chip Counts:
Iori Yogo – Japan – 115,000
Michiru Teranishi – Japan – 105,100
Tomio Yoshimura – Japan 103,500
Reo Hayano – Japan – 87,500
Paphawin Laodee –Thailand – 80,000
Shota Hirao – Japan – 70,000
Takuya Matsuda – Japan – 58,000
Loo Junzhong – Malaysia – 31,000
Game resumes at 12:15pm tomorrow for the race to the trophy and the KRW 8,720,000 first place cash.
Motoki Jinno leads the High Rollers 1
The High Rollers 1 event with an advertised buy-in of KRW 1,100,000 attracted 19 players to the felt for a prize pool of KRW 18,430,000 (USD 16,100 approx). After the scheduled 12 rounds, only six players kept their seats warm with Motoki Jinno in the driver’s seat with his monstrous stack. Jinno bagged up nearly 100K more than his closest competitor. They will resume at 1pm tomorrow however only 3 of them are guaranteed a payout with the eventual winner shipping in the KRW 9,210,000 first prize.
Final 6 Chip Counts:
Motoki Jinno – Japan – 245,500
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan – 152,000
Tsuji – Japan – 148,500
Yuki Ko – Korea – 123,000
Tyler Tan – Singapore – 47,500
Masakazu Okamoto – 43,500
Monday, August 14th Events
In addition to the two events resuming tomorrow, another popular side event will be joining on the floor, the Head Hunter event which kicks off at 1pm. This is one of the most thrilling events in the lineup with players gunning for that instant KRW 100,000 bounty reward for each player eliminated. Buy-in is KRW 440,000.
Details
Starting stack: 10,000
Opening blinds: 25-50
Blinds duration: increases every 30 minutes
Registration/Re-entry: closes at the start of round 7
At 6pm, there will be another Main Event Mega Satellite with a buy-in of KRW 120,000. One seat will be awarded for every ten players. Important reminder, seats won via this satellite can only be played on Day 1A.
Full details tournament including structures can be found in the APT Korea Incheon 2017 event page.