HomeNovember 12, 2011 – The much-anticipated INR 50,000 APT Asian Series Main Event got off to a solid start yesterday with 73 players making their way to the felt at Casino Royale’s poker room for Day 1A. Amongst the many local players sitting down at the tables were a contingent of big names – all vying for a deep run in India’s first international poker tour event. But the player who proved most worthy was Rahul Byraju after bagging up 149,200 in chips at the end of play.
Main Event Day 1A Chip Leader: Rahul Byraju
Things began well for Byraju when he knocked out the first player of the tournament. Up against China’s Wang Er Chuan, the two players went to a raised pot and saw a flop of Q♥ J♥ 4♦ before getting all their money in. Chuan flipped over Pocket Jacks to have hit a set but needed to dodge some outs from Byraju’s A♥ 10♥ Royal Flush draw. The A♠ turn didn’t change much but the 8♥ river gave Byraju his flush and railed Chuan.
However, after amassing one of the big stacks in the room, it was only in the last hand of the day that Byraju made his dash to seize the chip lead and bust out two shorter stacks in the process. He overtook the next biggest stack of China’s Yun Xiang Gao on 133,800 and seasoned poker pro Mel Judah on 107,000, who, in fact, held the chip lead for much of day.
APT Asian Series Goa Main Event Day 1A
Those players unable to make it through Day 1A included Wang Ke Yue, Tom Hall, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal, Amit Varma and top poker pro Nam Thien Le.
The APT Asian Series Goa Main Event Day 1B kicks off at 4pm today where those players who were busted out yesterday can re-enter to get their second bite of the cherry.
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