Tetsuya Tsuchikawa is down in chips with roughly around 55k left. He lost a costly pot to Aik Chuan earlier and lost another one against him just moments ago. On a completed board of J-K-K-4-Q Chuan won with his Q-4 over Tsuchikawa’s J-10.
With a very short stack to back him up, Paphawin Laodee has been inactive for the most part, patiently waiting for the moment to get involved in a hand. He did so by defending his big blind.
Aik Chuan raised to 9k and got two callers in the blinds. On the flop 9♦ 10♠ 6♥, all checked it. On the A♠ turn, Laodee bet 11k and was called by small blind Hailong Huang. On the J♠ river, Laodee went all in for 43k. Huang called then paid the double up with Laodee turning over 8♥ 7♠ straight.
The next hand also went to Laodee winning a preflop raise war. He now has around 190k and getting close to average stack.
They have not entered a new round and Aik Chuan continues to dominate the felt with raises at almost every hand. He is sitting with a towering stack of nearly 500k.
In a hand against Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Chuan three-bet Tsuchikawa’s 10k raise to 32.5k, and Tsuchikawa called. The spread 6♦ 10♣ 6♣ brought another 20.5k from the aggressor Chuan and Tsuchikawa check-called. On the A♥ turn, another 45k was sent in by Chuan and this time he won the pot with his opponent folding. Tsuchikawa down to around 70k.
Mitsuru Sano just lost a sizable portion of his stack to Aik Chuan to bring him down to 100k in chips. Chuan raised to 8500 and Sano defended his big blind with a call. On the flop 9♣ 7♠ K♣, Sano checked, Chuan bet 8.5k, then Sano flat-called. On the 7♣ turn, Chuan bet 18.5k, Sano jammed a check-raise to 40k, and Chuan called.
On the Q♣ river, Sano jumped out with a 45k bet pausing Chuan in place. It took some time before he reached a decision, but he did make the call and opened up his 4♣ 6♣ flush. Sano was dominated with his 6♦ 5♣ flush.
These two players seem to be gunning for each other, seeing that they both get involved with big pots against each other. This hand was no different.
Chuan raised to 8k, Huang three-bet to 20k, Liu Yi and Chuan called. At the flop 5♦ 5♠ 5♣, Huang bet 30k and Chuan check-called. On the 10♦ turn, both players slowed it down with no betting action but on the 3♠ river, it resumed with Chuan leading out a 30k bet. Like before, this sent Huang to the think-tank and the decision was to call. Chuan opened up 10♣ 10♠ for a big boat. Huang folded.
The shortest stacked player Paphawin Laodee has been quiet, just waiting for that spot to get his chips in the middle. He found that moment in this hand. Aik Chuan raised to 8k on the button, Hailong Huang called on the small blind and Laodee defended his big blind.
On the flop of 3♠ A♠ 5♠, Laodee moved all in for 42k and won the pot with no callers.
Laodee also won the next hand with a three-bet shove. Chuan folded and lost his 7500 of his chips to Laodee.
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa earned another decent pot this time against Aik Chuan, clearly the most aggressive player in this bubble round. The hand saw a preflop raise of 7500 from Chuan that both Hailong Huang and Tsuchikawa called. On the flop 2♦ 4♠ 6♣, Tsuchikawa checked, Chuan continued with a 9500 bet, Huang folded, then Tsuchikawa raised to 28k. Chuan folded.
Hailong Huang faced another at risk moment in a hand against Aik Chuan. Action preflo began with Chuan raising to 6500 and finding three callers. At the flop 6♣ 8♠ 9♠, the blinds checked, Chuan bet 15k, Huang raised to 30k, and after the blinds folded, Chuan called.
On the J♥ turn, both players checked but on the river A♥, action resumed with Chuan announcing all in with his big stack. Knowing he was well covered, this sent Huang to the tanker. He eventually found the guts to call.
Chuan J♣ 10♠
Huang A♠ 4♠
Huang’s higher pair doubled him up to nearly 270k while Chuan dropped to around 230k.
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa has won a few hands during the previous rounds but not very big ones. He is still carrying a dangerously low stack but was not afraid to use it against the chip leader Liu Yi.
Yi raised to 9k and Tsuchikawa defended his big blind with a call. On the flop of 8♥ 3♥ J♥, Tsuchikawa check-called Yi’s 12k bet. The A♦ turn and Q♣ river slowed them both down and Tsuchikawa won the pot with his Q♦ J♣ two pair.
Tsuchikawa won a few more hands after that with uncalled raises preflop.