Safwane Bahri
The record-breaking APT Taipei Main Event has reached the final table with France's Safwane Bahri holding the chip lead going into the final day of play after he bagged up 11,925,000 chips. From the 1,182 entries, just nine remain in their quest to take home the monstrous TWD 12,944,020 (~$409,730) winner's purse — the largest first prize ever offered in a poker tournament in Taiwan.
There were 40 players that started the penultimate day and it took eight levels of play to reach the final nine with a lot of action in between. Lester Edoc (22nd), Dicky Tsang (19th), and Mike Takayama (15th) were the three former Main Event champions left in the field but they all fell just shy of making the final table which means a new name will be etched in APT's history books come tomorrow.
Several other high-profile players were still in contention at the start of the day with Wing Po Liu (37th), David Erquiaga (34th), Yan Shing "Anson" Tsang (31st), Jun Obara (29th), John Perry (27th), Kevin Choi (21st), Asa Smith (17th), Junzhong Loo (16th), Jin-Hoon Lee (14th), and Quang Thai Ha (10th) all failing to make the final table.
Bahri raked in chip after chip in the early stages of the day and scooped a big pot which eliminated two players in level thirty to send his stack north of ten million chips. Rui Lu shoved all in with king-seven, and Bahri reshoved behind with pocket nines. Yung Bing Chu was sitting in the big blind and he called off with ace-king to put himself at risk. An ace on the flop looked to have won Chu the pot but Bahri improved to a set on the turn to eliminate Lu (13th) and Chu (12th).
Xi Guo Zhang
Xi Guo Zhang won a crucial pot in the last level of the night which crippled the stack of bracelet winner Ha, who sits second on Vietnam's All-Time Money List. Zhang shoved all in after rivering a flush with king-jack and Ha, after taking a lot of time, made the call with trips holding ace-nine. That left just five big blinds in the Vietnamese player's stack and despite doubling up once, his run in the Main Event came to an end at the hands of Daisuke Ogita. The two players got the chips in on the flop with Ha having flopped a pair with four-deuce, but Ogita had a huge lead holding nine-four after he flopped two pair. Ha was drawing dead by the turn which meant he was out in tenth and brought an end to the day's action.
Taiwan's Chi-Jen "Justin" Chu sits fifth in the counts and will bring 3,260,000 chips into the final table as he looks to add a third APT title to his resume. Chu already has a trophy from this series after he won the Single Day High Roller Mystery Bounty for TWD 1,341,300 ($42,500). The Taiwanese player currently sits ninth on Taiwan's All-Time Money List and would overtake Natural8 Ambassador Yu-Chung "Nevan" Chang with a finish of sixth or better. A top-four finish would also see him bag a career-best score which currently sits at $120,980.
South Korea's Seungmook Jung bagged up 2,305,000 chips and will come into the final table with the second-shortest stack. Just like Chu, Jung is also seeking his third APT title after he won his first two at APT Manila two years ago. A podium finish would lock up a new career-best score for Jung who sits eleventh on South Korea's All-Time Money List.
Day 3 chip leader Li Wei Sun had a rollercoaster day but managed to make the final table with the shortest stack of 1,960,000 chips. Late in the day, Sun's pocket kings were cracked by the king-six of Steve Ng who turned a flush. Sun was left with just two big blinds but two quick double-ups brought him back into contention.
Jung Chuan Liao, Pitipong Posri, and the aforementioned Zhang, Sun, & Ng, are all guaranteed a career-best score.
The stacks for the final table can be found below.
The payouts for the final table can be found below.
Join us tomorrow for the final day of the APT Taipei Main Event where we will crown a new champion. The action gets underway at 1pm local time and live updates will be posted here. The action will also be streamed live (with a 30-minute delay) and you can tune in by clicking through the following channels.