HomeAik Chun is taking some hits to his stack however with his commanding arsenal he seems to easily earn them back. His two recent losses were against Mitsuru Sano and Paphawin Laodee.
The hand versus Sano began with Chuan raising to 12k, called by Liu Yi, then three-bet to 36k by Sano. Chuan called and Yi got out of the heat. On the flop of 8♥ 6♦[4d}, Sano fired out 33k and won it with no challenge from Chuan.
The next pot Chuan lost went to Laodee. On a flop of A♣ 4♠ 8♣ and a raised pot generated preflop, everyone checked. On the 2♥ turn, Chuan led for 27k and only Laodee joined him. On the J♦ river, it was check-check and Chuan showed 10♣ 5♣ miss while Laodee won with his A♠ 7♠ top pair.
After several frustrating moments, Liu Yi finally won a hand against the leader Aik Chuan. As in most hands, Chuan began his action with a raise, this time to 13k and Yi limp-called. On the flop of 2♠ 3♠ 7♠, Yi checked an Chuan fired out a continuation bet of 14k. Yi called. On the turn K♦ and river 8♠ both checked and Yi won with his 3♣ 3♦.
Hailong Huang moved all in on top of Aik Chuan’s raise. Chuan called for a showdown.
Chuan Q♣ 6♣
Huang K♠ J♣
The board ran 5♦ 4♠ Q♥ 4♣ K♦ for a higher pair spiked on the river. He lives to continue the fight but is still very low at around 80k.
Liu Yi is running second in command to Aik Chuan but hasn’t been able to grow much past his starting stack today. He recently won a couple of pots but against the leader, he seemed to have a tougher time. He also lost one to Mitsuru Sano.
The hand against Chuan saw a raised to 12.5k by the leader and found two callers but when action was at big blind Yi, he told Chuan, “not this time”. Yi re-raised to 35k. Action moved to Chuan who called, and was joined by short stacked Hailong Huang while Paphawin Laodee folded up.
The flop ran 4♠ 8♦ Q♣, Yi checked, Chuan bet 45k, Huang folded, and after a seemingly tough decision, Yi folded.
The next hand he lost was in a battle of the blinds against big blind Sano. Yi raised to 12k preflop and Sano called. The flop came 7♣ 7♠ Q♠, Yi led for 10k and Sano called. On the 6♣ turn, Yi checked while Sano fired out 25k and Yi called.
On the 5♦ river, Yi checked once more, Sano bet 54k, and after sizing up Sano, Yi called. Sano won with his J♠ 7♦ trips.
Despite the losses, he is still above average stack.
Several hands after losing to Liu Yi, Paphawin Laodee moved all in on top of Hailong Huang’s 12.5k bet and won the pot to help boost his stack.
After several small pots went to different player’s stacks, a fairly big one came down. The hand saw Liu Yi raise to 12k and Paphawin Laodee called on the big blind. When the spread came A♠ 9♣ 7♣, Laodee checked to the raiser Yi who sent out 19k. Laodee called. On the 3♠ turn, action took a break and the river 4♥ was felted. Taking the helm was Laodee with a 33k bet but then faced an all in from Yi. Laodee folded and Yi earned the first sizable pot of the money round.
With the bubble bursting, we are down to the Final 5 players. Here are their chip counts:
Aik Chuan – Malaysia – 462,000
Liu Yi – China – 312,000
Mitsuru Sano – Japan – 170,500
Paphawin Laodee – Thailand – 158,000
Hailong Huang – China – 147,500
Japanese pro Tetsuya Tsuchikawa had a rough time getting chips after losing some costly pots. He eventually moved all in on the second hand of this level and got called by Aik Chuan.
Tsuchikawa K♥ 3♥
Chuan 9♦ 9♥
The board drew blanks Q♠ 7♣ Q♥ 10♦ 3♦ and he was out as the bubble.
They have just entered a new round and we are still at the bubble stage. It began with Hailong Huang raising it up to 12k and Sano called on the small blind.
At the flop A♥ 7♠ Q♦, bothe checked. On the K♠ turn, Sano led for 11k, and Huang called. On the 5♣ river, it was back to checking and Sano won with his J♥ J♦.