Last chance to enter the Main Event; 295 total entries, 142 into Day 2; Chen Chi Jen wins the NLH Single Day

Here we go! APT Finale Taiwan 2019 opens today with Day 2 of the MAIN EVENT! Action has been underway at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association for three days, attracting 295 entries. Only 142 advanced to today’s round.

Good news for late-comers, fence-sitters, short stacks, and anyone wanting to jump in, registration is open for one final hour, it will close at the start of Level 11. We will post the official prize pool and payouts at the close of registration. Currently it is in the ballpark of NT$ 8.5 million (~US$ 278,400). 

Day 2 info

Day 1A: 49 advanced out of 83 entries
Dayy 1B: 30 advanced out of 70 entries
Day 1C: 63 advanced out of 142 entries

Day 2 qualifiers 

Total entries: 295
Day 2 qualifiers: 142 players

Total chips in play: 7,375,000
Average stack: 51,936
Opening blinds:  400 – 800 ante 800 (Level 10)
Time: 1pm
Bagging time: end of Level 17 

Live Updates starting at Level 11

For late-entry players:

Buy-in: NT$ 33,000
Starting stack: 25,000
Level duration: increases every 60 minutes 
Registration: closes at the start of Level 11

Top 10 players 

Rank Name Country Chips Table  Seat
1 Peter Chien (Day 1C leader) Canada 162,300 15 2
2 Yuan Shyang Ting (Day 1A leader)  United States 155,200 6 1
3 Ben Lai Hong Kong 145,300 19 7
4 Thomas Lind (Day 1B leader) Sweden 135,000 13 1
5 Max Benjamin Menzel Germany 131,500 16 5
6 Co Chung Chuen Hong Kong 130,000 17 1
7 Lok Gino Hong Kong 124,000 4 8
8 Takao Shimizu Japan 122,000 20 1
9 Hsu Ming Kai Taiwan 121,400 13 7
10 Jeff Davis United States 119,500 9 8


Chen Chi Jen wins the NLH Single Day

The first NT$ 7,700 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Single Day event was the appetite of 106 runners to build a pot of NT$ 719,700 (~US$ 23,500). 18 players got a piece. Taiwan’s own Chen Chi Jen overcame a roller coaster battle at heads up to ship the lion’s share of NT$ 183,500 (~US$ 6,000) and the his first APT title. 

Recapping the action from the bubble round, Shinya Nakai knocked out a very short stack with A-9 dominating K-Q. From there eliminations were quick. Nakai missed the final table, falling in 10th place.

Shinya Nakai

Final 9 players

In command of the final table was Sweden’s Thomas Lind (seat 8) with a stack that dwarfed most of the players. He collected more by railing Kwok Keong Wong (9th) and Tominari Kobayashi (8th). Low Zi Cheng earned a sizable pile by eliminating Jaewan Park (7th), then Peng Hsin Hui‘s trips was rivered by Chen Ji Chen‘s flush to finish 6th.  

Five-handed quickly became three-handed on a double bust delivered by Lind. Song Daewoong was all in preflop, called by Lind and I-Le Lee. When the flop ran A 3 6, Lee check-called Lind’s shove. 

Song 8 6 mid pair
Lee A J top pair
Lind A 3 two pair

The turn was 2 and river 9. Lind shipped it.

Thomas Lind

Cheng busted next to Chen with K-J losing the flip against pocket sixes to bring about heads up with Lind ahead in the count. After numerous hands, leadership switched when Chen called with trips kings to deny Lind’s bluff attempt to steal. 

Battle between the two continued to be quite fierce. Chen created a bigger gap on a successful bluff showing K 6 on an ace-high board after Lind tank-folded on the river showing K K. Lind continued to drop then went on a shoving spree, all of them uncalled. He then called a river bluff bet by Chen 10 5 with 4 6 pair on a board 9 6 3 8 2. This sent him back to the top where he resumed shoving to grind Chen down to just 25  percent of the chips in play. 

However, Lind’s shoving caught up to him. He shoved with A 2 only to run into Chen’s A A. And just like that they were even. Chen surged upwards again with 7 7 over A 10. And like previous, Lind resumed his shoving spree. He was finally called. Lind 7 8, Chen K 7, the board ran 9 A J 3 Q. Chen shipped it and was cheered on by the rail. 

Payouts
1st Chen Chi Jen – Taiwan – NT$ 183,500
2nd Thomas Lind – Sweden – NT$ 122,300
3rd Low Zi Cheng – Singapore – NT$ 85,000
4th I-Le Lee – Taiwan – NT$ 61,400
5th Song Daewoong – Korea – NT$ 45,900
6th Peng Hsin Hui – Taiwan – NT$ 35,400
7th jaewan Park – Korea – NT$ 28,100
8th Tominari Kobayashi – Taiwan – NT$ 22,900
9th Kwok Keong Wong – China – NT$ 19,100
10th Shinya Nakai – Japan – NT$ 15,900
11th Nien Hao Wen – Singapore – NT$ 15,900
12th Logan Chi Hung Ho – Taiwan – NT$ 13,300
13th Ko Kim Hong – Singapore – NT$ 13,300
14th Kim Jitae – Korea – NT$ 13,300
15th So Yuichi – Japan – NT$ 11,100
16th Anthony Hope – Australia – NT$ 11,100
17th Chow Yuen Ting – Hong Kong SAR – NT$ 11,100
18th Luke Kuang Hung Lee – Taiwan – NT$ 11,100

Players in the money in this event earned points towards the APT Player of the Series race. You can view the standings via the link below. 

APT Player of the Series

APT Finale Taiwan 2019 Event Results