Ken Okada tops Main Event Day 1B; Stephen Nathan and Andrew Lunde win trophies

Main Event Day 1B roared in with 106 entries and after eight rounds of play, 62 players remained and will move on to Day 2. That completed the last Main Event entry flight of APT Korea Seoul 2018 at Paradise Casino in Grand Walkerhill. Ending the day with the largest stack bagged was Japan’s Ken Okada with 256,200.

Ken Okada, Day 1B chip leader

Finishing in second rank was Kam Ip Yuk. Yuk held the chip lead for a majority of the day, racking up over 300K at one point before settling at 217,100 at bagging. One player having a late game rush was Masaki Fujitani with 212,200. Fujitani railed Artur Gaynanov when his 7-7 improved to a set to bad beat J-J. Fujitani railed another player during one of the final hands of the day with K Q flush on a board of 2 5 2 A J. Okada, Yuk, and Fujitani closed Day 1B as the top three chip leaders.

Other notables making it through were Alex Lee, Andrew An, Yoichi Fujiya, Yoichi Uesugi, Jinwoo Kim, and three APT decorated Main Event champions Albert Paik, Hung Sheng Lin, and Hisashi Ogi.

For those who hit the rail today, no need to fret. You will still be able to enter in Day 2 with late registration open in the first hour of play. Day 2 starts promptly at 1pm.

Stephen Nathan wins first-ever APT title at the NLH 1 Day event

Stephen Nathan has finally done it! After five APT runner-up finishes throughout his career, Nathan finally won an APT event defeating Stephane Blouin at heads up of the NLH One Day Event. This victory comes right after he topped yesterday’s Main Event Day 1A . And to think, Nathan was reluctant to join this tournament. He earned the KRW 4,577,000 first place purse and the event trophy. After his victory, Nathan said “I always make a deal at heads up and then I lose. This time no deal and i won it.”

Stephen Nathan, NLH One Day winner

Picking up the action at the bubble round with 5 remaining, current APT Player of the Series race leader, Blouin, held over half the chips in play. Nathan, on the other, was one of the short stacks however he crawled out of the hole after delivering the bubble then followed it up with a double through the leader.

With the money now guaranteed, Nathan got involved in a series of shoves that led to the fall of Cory Boteur (4th). Nathan’s K K stayed ahead of Boteur’s A J. Nathan shipped in another player’s stack, railing Antoine Meremans (3rd) with A Q straight over K 5 top pair on a board K 6 J 4 10. This brought about the heads up bout with Nathan slightly ahead of Blouin.  

The heads up battle saw both players put the heat on thick. Blouin managed to steal back the lead he once had though just by a small edge. Nathan challenged back finding the spot to cripple down Blouin. Nathan pushed on a flop of 7 3 9 with Q 9 top pair and Blouin committed with 9 8 pair. The turn J and river 7 sealed the win and the final hand soon arrived. Nathan eliminated Blouin with A 5 flush over 8 7 trips on a board of 7 7 J K 10. Hats off to the winner Nathan as well as to Blouin who widened his lead in the APT POS race.

Payouts
Prize pool: KRW 9,312,000 – 24 entries – Buyin KRW 440,000
1st Stephen Nathan – UK – KRW 4,577,000
2nd Stephane Blouin – Canada – KRW 2,440,000
3rd Antoine Meremans – Belgium – KRW 1,405,000
4th Corey Boteur – USA – KRW 890,000

Andrew Lunde wins the WeLoveSport Turbo event

The WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo event saw Canada’s Andrew Lunde capture the victory besting the 35 entry field. Lunde was a force to reckon with at the final table, amassing a monster stack that only grew after he booted out several players before facing Hyunjae An at heads up. 

The final bout didn’t last long. Lunde wrapped up the tournament with K 2 over Q J with the board running 6 3 9 3 2. Lunde pocketed KRW 1,919,000 for his win and his first-ever APT event trophy. 

Andrew Lunde, WeLoveSport Turbo winner

*Due to a 7-way agreement, there was no official bubble for this event. KRW 30,000 was taken from the top 6 spots for a 7th place payout. 

Payouts
Prize pool: KRW 5,092,000 – 35 entries – Buyin: KRW 165,000
1st Andrew Lunde – Canada – KRW 1,919,000
2nd Hyunjae An – Germany – KRW 1,164,000
3rd Eugene Chung – USA – KRW 739,000
4th Kim Sung Ha – Canada – KRW 492,000
5th David Scott Shepherd – USA – KRW 344,000
6th Yoshida Masanori – Japan – KRW 254,000
7th Chung Yoon Jin – USA – KRW 180,000

APT Player of the Series race update

We have now completed 9 side events. You can view the current standings of the APT Player of the Series race here.

Festival winners:

Stephane Blouin: NLH Welcome Event
John Young Lee: Ante Up for Charity
Kelvin Beattie: Main Event Warm Up
Calvin Lee: PLO High Rollers
Andrew An: No Limit Hold’em 1
Artur Gaynanov: Head Hunter
Anthony Trujillo: Super Deep Stack Turbo