HomeWei Guoliang delivered the bubble but he couldn’t go any further than an 18th place finish. He three-bet all in with A♥ J♥ and Austin Walton tossed in the call with 6♠ 6♥. The board bricked.
Wei Guoliang earned HKD 27,900 for his deep run at the Main Event.
The first big pot during the money round began with Edward Yam Chun Ho raising to 14k, Michael Soyza on the small blind three-bet to 50k, big blind Jack En-Ching Wu four-bet to 130k, and Ho got out of the way. Soyza called.
On the flop 8♥ K♠ 2♠, Soyza checked to Wu who fired out an 80k bet. Soyza folded and Wu picked it up. He now has 810K and is the uncontested leader.
Despite being very short-stacked all day, Yoshitaka Okawa has been difficult to eliminate. His run however just ended with Wei Guoliang taking the gamble by calling the all in while defending his big blind.
Okawa A♠ Q♣
Wei 9♦ 7♦
The board came 7♥ J♦ 5♠ 5♦ 6♦ for a winning flush to Wei and Okawa out as the bubble. Okawa was bubble-protected so he leaves with a consolation prize of one free seat to any APT Main Event of the same value or the equivalent in tournament credits.
Everyone is now in the money! Race to the Final 8 begins!
Kunal Patni is one of two players protected on the bubble. He moved all in with 53k and faced the big stack Kai Paulsen for his tournament life.
Patni A♥ J♣
Paulsen Q♥ 10♥
The board ran A♦ J♥ 6♣ 5♦ 3♥ for two pair and a double up.
Naohito Tamaya has just been delivered his last hand of the day with Kai Paulsen claiming all of his chips. Tamaya was all in with A♠ 10♣ and Paulsen was ahead with A♥ K♦. The board 2♦ K♥ 3♥ 3♣ J♦.
We have now entered the bubble round with 19 players remaining. We are going hand-for-hand.
Yoshitaka Okawa has had only one move for the past level, either fold or shove. He has just doubled up twice, paid a double up, then tripled up to stay in the running.
First double up he had 5♠ 5♦ and Kai Paulsen with A♦ J♠. The pair held with no hits for Paulsen. After doubling up, Okawa called Andrew An’s all in. An A♥ 2♠ and Okawa A♠ Q♠. The board landed K♠ J♥ 2♠ K♣ 7♣ and An doubled up sending Okawa’s chips down to 12k.
Next time Okawa had his chips in, he had A♣ 8♦ and was up against Paulsen 10-9 and Varun Gupta K-2. The board ran 5-7-Q-Q-3 for ace high good for a triple up. Okawa now back up to 30k.
With the bubble nearing, we’ve been so focused on the short stacks that we haven’t keeping up on the leaders. We just noticed that Jack Wu is now at 600k. He earned a few more chips after raising to 15k preflop and finding no callers, then three-betting Lim Shyh Chyn’s 10k raise to 30k and no getting the call.
We now have the story on how Wu eliminated Du Ming Tsai. Wu had A-A and Tsai with Q-Q.
Zong Chang Lee has been very active at his table. There were two occasions where we saw him shove and win both. The first one was up against Ryo Naito. On a full board of A♥ Q♣ K♣ 3♥ 6♦, small blind Naito bet 37k onto a 60k pot then faced Lee’s all in. Lee won with no challenge.
The next one we caught was much more significant against Shiqiang Lin. The flop showed 6♠ 10♦ 10♠, both players were all in. Lin J♦ 10♠ trips and Lee with A♠ K♠ nut flush draw. The turn came 5♣ and with the river 7♠, Lee’s gamble was successful and he doubled up to nearly 400k. Lin spiraled down to 107k.
Yang Zhang is now well above average after shipping in a sweet double up through Kosei Ichinose. Zhang raised to 12k preflop, the Korean pro jammed, Zhang with the quick call for his 120.5k stack.
Zhang A♥ K♥
Ichinose K♠ Q♣
The board drew blanks J♦ 6♦ 3♦ 2♦ 6♣. Zhang now around 245k and Ichinose dropped to 131k.