APT Main Event - Flight B (45 Mins) - KRW 2,000,000,000 GTD

Norihide Tanaka

After ten 45-minute levels of play, Flight B of the APT Jeju Main Event - KRW 2,000,000,000 Guaranteed has come to a close. The second of four flights received a total of 289 entries (233 unique) and saw a total of 130 players managing to survive the day and make it through to Day 2 on Thursday, May 2nd.

Japan’s Norihide Tanaka ended up at the top of the leaderboard after accumulating a total of 261,000 chips by the day’s end. Tanaka was seated in Flight B from the first hand dealt, and after winning a pot early in the first level with ace-jack, he seemed to never look back. Tanaka has one APT final table to his name and has now maneuvered his way into a fantastic position, perhaps to make another final table, or even better, to lift the trophy.

Coming second on the leaderboard is Taiwan’s Hao-Ting Chao with 230,800 chips, with third place going to China’s Haisheng Bi with 197,000 chips. Bi got involved in a huge pot during level seven when he managed to hit runner-runner trips, outdrawing the top pair of a stunned WenChao Liu.

Fresh off a 4th place finish for KRW 118,990,000 in the Superstar Challenge earlier today is Thomas Ward of New Zealand. Ward has close to $1,500,000 in live tournament earnings so far in his poker career. With his only APT title coming back in Macau over ten years ago, he will be on the hunt for a deep run here in the Main Event, and with 126,300 chips going into Day 2, he most definitely has the chance to do so.

Thomas Ward in the Superstar Challenge

Another accomplished player who made it through to Day 2 is Thailand's Natural8 Ambassador Phachara Wongwichit with 162,800 chips. Wongwichit already has six APT Titles to date, one of which was in the 2023 APT Taipei High Roller 8-Max where he topped a record-setting field of 302 players to claim a career second-best score of TWD 4,800,900 (~USD 156,700). He should be feared at any table he sits at on Day 2 of the Main Event.

Coming through with 91,100 chips is Singapore's Feng Zhao. Zhao has been a regular on the APT Circuit for many years, boasting five APT titles to date and numerous final table appearances. With his consistently solid performances in his poker career, he currently holds the eighth position on Singapore’s All-Time Money List. With a deep run here in Jeju’s Main Event, he could potentially rise as high as fifth in those rankings.

Other notables to make it through include Japan’s Hiroyuki Noda (196,300). ATP Jeju Mystery Bounty - Sponsored By Natural8 third place finisher Che Chun Chu (161,100), Germany’s Samuel Tebege (115,300), and China’s Feng Chen (103,000)

Che Chun Chu during the Mytery Bounty Hunter - Sponsored By Natural8

The top ten stacks can be found below.

All Flight B survivors can be viewed HERE.

Join us tomorrow for Flights C & D which will kick off at 11am and 6pm respectively and is the last chance that players have to run up a stack to bring into Day 2, which will play out on Thursday, May 2nd.

A full write-up of today's action will follow shortly.

When we got to table we saw the board came out A♥ 9♠ 4♣ K♣ K♠ and there was around of 26,000 in the middle.

Chi Hung Lam fired a bet of 22,000 from the lojack and Juncai Han made the call from the hijack. Lam flipped over A♦ Q♥ for a pair of aces and Han mucked his hand.

There will be five more hands of play for Flight B of the APT Main Event.

Zhongxian Li opened to 2,500 from middle position and got called by Japans Hiroyuki Noda on the button. Difei Wu shoved all in from the small blind for 7,300 and only Li made the call to put him at risk.

Li Q♥ T♣

Wu 7♥ 9♥

When the window card came the 9♣ Wu let out a gleeful sound, but that quickly changed to a sigh of disappointment as the J♠ and K♦ followed, giving Li the nut straight. The K♥ on the turn offered Wu a glimmer of hope, but the 3♣ on the river ended that hope as he was sent to the rail near the end of the day.

The complete action was missed but when we got to the table we saw Zhendong Li and Ka Chun Tsui got all the chips into the middle with Li at risk.

Li A♦ 5♦

Tsui A♥ Q♠

Li was huge underdog and the board ran 4♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♦ 8♥ did not save him and he will be eliminated by Tsui.

Shingo Horikoshi opened to 2,500 from early position and got three-bet to 7,300 by Chun Ting Chu. When the folded back around to Horikoshi he made the call and they headed to the flop.

Both players checked the montone flop of A♠ K♠ 2♠ to see the 6♣ fall on the turn. After Horikoshi checked for a second time, Chu put out a bet of 6,000. Horikoshi instantly called, and they went to the river.

The 2♥ river was checked for a final time by Horikoshi. Chu now bet 10,000 and got a quick fold from Japan's Korikoshi.

When we got to the table with the board of Q♠ 7♠ T♣ 6♣, Hao Shan Huang was firing 12,500 into the pot of around 24,500 and Xiao Liu made the call.

The river came 2♠, Liu lead-shoved the river for 51,300, putting Shan to the test, after long time of thinking, shan decided to fold.

Thomas Ward during the APT Superstar Challenge

Wan Yu Zhang opened to 2,500 from under-the-gun and Thomas Ward made the call from the seat next to him. Kwun Wah Simon Ngan also came along from the big blind.

On the K♣ 6♣ 2♦ flop, Ngan and Zhang checked, Ward fired a bet of 3,000, and only Zhang called.

When the 5♠ landed on the turn, Zhang checked again only to face another bet from his opponent. Ward bet 11,000 which again was met with a call.

The board-pairing K♠ landed on the river, Zhang checked, and Ward turned up the aggression and shoved all-in. It was around 29,500 and Zhang was deep in the tank. Eventually, he made the call.

Ward flipped over K♦ 9♦ for trips to win the pot. Zhang had to carve out a large portion of chips and give them to Ward.

Jing Zhu opened under-the-gun to 2,500 and Huixiang Xia shoved all in for 14,900 from a few seats to her left. Sitting next to him was Kai Cheng Hsu of Taiwan, he cold-called the all-in which encouraged Zhu to call also and give Xia the chance to triple up.

The 7♠ 6♠ 5♥ flop got checked through by both players to see the 7♣ come on the turn. Once again this got checked for the dealer to peel off the 8♠ river. Both Zhu and Hsu checked and the card were revelaed.

Zhu showed J♥ for just jack-high. Hsu flipped over A♣ Q♣ for ace-high, and Xia showed 8♥ 8♦ for a rivered boat to scoop the entire pot and triple up to almost 40,000