Fei Wang

Flight A of the KRW 800,000 buy-in Korea National Cup has come to a close, with China’s Fei Wang leading the way after he ended the counts at the top of the leaderboard with a staggering 519,000 chips, and the only player to have surpassed the half-a-million chip mark. A total of 201 entries (162 unique) were recorded, with just 29 players managing to make the money and bring a stack through to Day 2 tomorrow.

Fei’s journey to the top of the leaderboard was helped significantly by a hand against Cezar Quiambao of the Philippines during level 8. Fei spiked a higher two pair on the turn to send Quiambao to the rail. Fei put his big stack to good use around the money bubble, as his pocket kings were enough to shower Song Xue in 31st place, just shy of the money.

Ki On Chan of Hong Kong bagged up the second-biggest stack with 465,000 in chips. In third place on the leaderboard was Jie Xu of China, finishing with 391,000 chips. Xu already has one APT title, which came back in 2019 from a high roller event during APT Icheon. He will be looking to use his vast experience to navigate his way to the final table tomorrow.

Alan Lau

Alan Lau managed to scrape into Day 2 with just 40,000 chips. Lau boasts over $2.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings and is in the top 10 on the Hong Kong all-time money list. He won a crucial race early in the day with pocket queens against his opponent's Big-Slick. With his largest cash nearing $700,000, he certainly possesses the expertise to make a deep run in this event tomorrow.

Zhong Zheng earned the unfortunate title of Flight A bubble boy after being forced all in from the big blind with just 6,000 chips remaining. His nine-four offsuit couldn’t beat Jie Zhang's queen-eight, and he was eliminated on the money bubble, much to the delight of the remaining players.

Other notables left in the field are France's Alexandre Viard (184,000), Australia's Matthew Ginn (98,000), and 2019 APT Incheon Main Event Winner Dicky Tsang (53,000).

The top ten stacks can be seen below.

A full day's write up will follow shortly.

Zhong Zheng

Jie Zhang opened to 16,000 from early position and Jie Xu called from the hijack. Zhong Zheng was forced to be all in from the big blind with just 6,000 remaining.

Both Zhang and Xu checked the monotone flop of 8 3 6 to see the A fall on the turn. This was checked again by both players and the 5 came on the river. This time Zhang put out a bet of 13,000 into the 20,000 side pot. Xu folded and the cards were revealed.

Zhang turned over Q 8 for a pair of eights to at least win the side pot. Zheng, who hadn't looked at his cards, turned over 4 9 for nine-high, meaning he was the bubble boy for Flight A of the Korea National Cup.

Song Xue shoved all in for 85,000 from the cutoff and Fei Wang made the call from the big blind.

Xue 8 8

Wang K K

Xue needed to find a snowman to survive but never managed to do so as the board ran out 3 A Q 9 2 which kept the Cowboys of Wang in the lead.

With just 31 players remaining in Flight A of the Korea National Cup, and only 29 making it through to Day 2 tomorrow, Shinya Nakai of Japan opened to 16,000 from middle position. Zhuoqun Zhang moved all in for 29,000 from the button and Nakai made the call to put him at risk.

Zhang A K

Nakai 3 3

The board of 9 6 Q 2 T was clean for Nakai as he moved every player just one more elimination from Day and the money.

Jie Zhang opened to 18,000 from early position and got called by Matthew Ginn on the button and Hao-Shan Huang in the big blind.

The flop came J 7 5 and both Huang and Zhang checked to Australia's Ginn, who put out a bet of 21,000. Only Huang made the call.

Both players checked the board-pairing 5 turn to see the K on the river. Once again, both players checked and Huang turned over J T to take down the pot

Tian Ke opened from under-the-gun to 12,000 and got three-bet immediately to 33,000 by one of the current tournament chip leaders Fei Wang. When it folded to Chou Yuying in the small blind he announced all in for 63,000 total. Ke got out of the way but Wang slid in the call to put Yuying at risk.

Yuying Q Q

Wang A T

The T in the window followed by the 3 8 meant Yuying had to avoid a few more outs to stay alive. When the 5 fell on the turn Yuying was just one card away from securing a much-needed double-up. The Q improved Yuying's hand to a set of queens as he scooped in a pot of close to 150,000 chips.

Xiaotong Yu

Chao Ting Cheng had shoved all in for his last 27,000 from early position and was encouraging Xiaotong Yu to call from the big blind. Yu obliged, and the cards were on their backs.

Cheng 7 7

Yu 8 8

Cheng was in awful shape, but he managed to hit the jackpot on a flop of 7 J 2 , propelling him into the lead with a set of sevens. The T on the turn gave Yu some more outs to eliminate Cheng, but the A on the river secured the double for Cheng.

When we got to the table a flop of 5 J 5 was already out and Naranchimeg Tumurbaatar of Mongolia had fired out a bet of 10,000. Her opponent was Yen-Han Chen, who check-raised to 25,000. This was met by an instant three-bet shove all in for around 55,000. Chen made the call to put Tumurbaatar at risk.

Tumurbaatar A A

Chen J 8

Chen needed a lof help if he was to send Tumurbaatar to the rail, but it didn't come as the 4 turn and 6 river secured a much-needed double-up for Tumurbaatar.

Edward Yam

Hao-Ting Chao shoved all in from the button for 34,000 and got called by Edward Yam in the small blind. After the big blind folded the cards were on their backs.

Chao K T

Yam A 2

After the board ranout 8 3 7 7 J Yam pulled in the pot and sent Chao to showers in the process.