HomeAfter eight grueling 60-minute rounds, Day 2 of the APT Main Event closed with 20 players left in the running. At the helm with the largest stack is Malaysia’s Choong Kian Weng with a towering 852k stack. We will be posting a recap of the day’s events in just a bit.
Congratulations to all the players who made it through! They will return tomorrow at 1pm for the race to the Final 8.
Vinod Megalmani may have staged an incredible return but Wang Ye also deserves some recognition for doing the same. Ye was all in with just 68k and was up against Wu Jui Song.
Ye 9♠ 9♦
Song A♦ J♦
The board bricked and Ye doubled up.
On his next winning hand, Ye raised to 15k preflop and big stacked Choong Kian Weng called. On the flop of 8♠ 4♠ 10♣, Ye bet 15k and Choong called. On the 2♠ turn, Choong changed it up and led for 33k, Ye called. Then on the 4♣ river, Choong slowed down but not Ye who fired out 62k. Choong tanked then gave up his hand.
Ye also won the next hand, another pot against Song, though smaller than his earlier double up. Ye finished Day 2 with 240k.
With the bubble just one bust out away, players are very careful on picking their spots lest they fall in that unfortunate position. At 20 players and two to the money, the last three hands was announced. During that time, Vinod Megalmani had a whirlwind run to stay in contention.
Megalmani was all in with 8♠ 8♦ and Xu Dong Hui with less chips was up against him holding 9♠ 9♦. The board drew blanks and Hui celebrated a happy double up while Megalmani fell to only 5k in chips.
With his remaining stack, Megalmani couldn’t even meet the big blind. It was time to go for gusto or bust. He was all in again with Hui there to try and finish him off. Megalmani had K♣ 7♦ and Hui with A♣ Q♦. The board ran J♥ 7♣ 6♠ 10♠ 4♥ for a winning pair and a double up to Megalmani.
The next shove by Megalmani was with pocket fives and Chan Ying Kit on the big blind felt obliged to call the non threatening all in. Chan’s 5-2 could not put away Megalmani who landed another double up.
Megalmani’s final push was another successful one with his A♦ J♠ up against Chan’s A♣ 5♦. The board ran A♥ 4♦ 3♠ 8♣ 6♦. Megalmani finished Day 2 with 102k. What an impressive run to stay alive!
With only 20 players remaining which is two spots to the money, short stacks are in dire need of a double up. Zixiao Zhang and Jaydeep Dawer, both of them well below average, found themselves up against each other.
Zhang – pocket queens
Dawer – pocket kings
While it was looking that Zhang was on his way out, a queen spiked on the board to improve him to a set for a double up.
Short stacks are getting desperate, shoving at every turn. Keisuke Hirosaka was all in with A-Q but lost the flip to Zurvan Tumboli’s pocket fives; Shravaw Chhabria all in with pocket sixes and survived against Saul Oliver’s ace-jack; Tetsuya Tsuchikawa all in with pocket sixes loses the flip against Saul Olivera’s AJ with both high cards turning up.
On a flop of 4♠ 2♦ 9♦, Kilian Loeffler bet 35k and was check-called by Song Zhenyu while one player folded. On the turn 5♦, Song checked again, Loeffler moved all in, and Song tossed in the call.
Song J♣ J♠ overpair
Loeffler K♦ J♦ flush
The A♦ river further improved Loeffler’s already winning hand to the nut flush.
Gu Jian Chen moved all in with pocket kings and needed to get very lucky against Peng Fei Liu who opened up pocket aces. But it was not meant to be. The board ran 2-7-7-A-K for a dominating full house to Liu.
Three players were in on a hand that we caught on the turn of 2♥ A♥ 5♥ J♠. Choong Kian Weng bet 20.5k, Jaydeep Dawer called, and the third player folded. On the 7♠ river, Choong fired out 37k, and Dawer snap-called.
Choong A♣ J♣ winning two pair
Dawer A♠ 2♣ two pair
Michael Soyza may have lost a bunch of his chips when he doubled up Chan Ying Kit earlier but he has been making up some ground. We just saw him win a pot on a board of J♠ 3♠ J♣ A♣ 9♠. Chan bet 30k, Soyza raised to 80k, one player folded, and Chan folded after tanking for a short bit.
Several hands later, Soyza railed Collin Ho to bring his stack over 200k in chips.