APT National Cup - Flight B - TWD 10,000,000 GTD

It’s only Day 1 of the APT Taipei Classic 2024 and the series is breaking records already. Throughout the day, people were queuing to jump into the APT National Cup at Asia Poker Arena. Day 1B drew 597 players, of which *84 were lucky enough to have made into the money. Together with the Flight A and C survivors, these players return on Saturday at 11 AM local time to battle it out for the prestigious APT trophy.

Taiwan's Sheng Hung Lo came out on top of the Day 1B flight with an impressive chip stack of 907,000. With this stack, he has a strong chance of surpassing his best live poker result, which he set earlier this year in Taipei with a TWD 50,000 payout.

Japan's Takashi Matsumoto finished second in this flight with a chip count of 689.000, followed by Chunkit Wong and Mao-Lun Yu, who both ended the day with 658,000.

Familiar names that survived the Day 1B flight were Taiwan's Carlos Chang (218,000), Thailand's Sumpatha Jadee (123,000), USA's Eric Kennedy (73,000) and the Netherlands' Thijs Hilberts (42,000).

The top ten stacks in Flight B can be found below:

A full APT TPC 2024 National Cup Flight B Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Be sure to tune in to the APT Blog for the Final Day tomorrow as the APT National Cup plays down to a winner.

This live reporting blog was brought to you by Life of Poker.

Unlike Flight A, this bubble did not take long to burst in Flight B. Early position opens, Yiwei Wu called in middle position, as well as Yu on the button.

Flop came Jx 2x 4x. It checked around to the button who put out a small bet. The original raiser folded, but Wu stuck around. Turn brought the Qx and it was checked around. On the Kx river, Wu tried to get to a cheap showdown by betting one big blind, however, Yu did put all the pressure on Wu and jammed all-in. Yu used up all his time banks before deciding to call. Wu showed Kx Qx for two-pair, however, this was not enough to beat Yu’s straight with Tx 9x. This means Yiwei Wu is our Day 1B flight bubble, while the remaining 84 players all made it to Day 2 and are guaranteed of a min-cash. Congratulations players!

A full recap of Flight B's action will follow shortly.

We are currently on hand-for-hand play at the Flight B of the National Cup.

With around ten players remaining before the bubble, table chip leader Takashi Matsumoto opened to 20,000 from early position. Mao-Lun Yu, another big stack, called, and they went heads-up to the flop.

The flop came down Q♦ 5♦ 4♥. Matsumoto made a continuation bet of 25,000, which Yu called. The turn brought the 6♦, completing a flush draw, and both players checked.

The river revealed the 6♣. Matsumoto then placed a hefty bet of 70,000, applying significant pressure on Yu. After a minute of deliberation, Yu decided to call, only to see Matsumoto reveal 8♥ 7♥ for a turned straight.

Herry Lian shoved all-in for his remaining 82k with A♠ Q♥ from under-the-gun, and the table folded around to Yuasa Tatsuki in the cut-off. Yuasa wasn’t messing around and rejammed for slightly more with J♥ J♠, setting up a classic flip.

The flop came A♦ 8♦ 7♦—great news for Lian, as he hit his ace, but with neither player holding a diamond. The 3♦ turn added some chop potential, but Yuasa was down to just one lonely jack to win outright.

And wouldn’t you know it, the poker gods delivered on the river with the J♣! Yuasa spikes his set, sending Lian packing in the cruelest of ways. Tournament life can be rough, and Lian just got a front-row seat to that harsh reality.

Naoto Takemura open jams his remaining 45,000 from the cutoff with A♥ 8♣, Sakunchai Keng-anantanon in the small blind re-jams slightly less with T♣ T♦ and big stack Chun Po Shen also came along with K♥ Q♦.

A T♥ in the window secured Keng-anantanon a triple up, as the board ran out T♥ K♣ 3♠ 8♠ 6♣. Additionally, the K♥ sent the Japanese Takemura home.

Chiu Hung Yi opened the action from early position and got not one, not two, but three callers from the hijack, button, and small blind. We headed to the flop: K♦ 8♣ 2♣. Yi continued strong, firing 19k, with the hijack and button tagging along. The player in the small blind decided enough was enough and folded.

The turn brought the 4♥, and Yi wasn’t slowing down as he fired 45,000 to put the hijack and button all in. After serious deliberation, the hijack, Tess Ying Wong, tank-called her last 22,000, while the button, Kang Wong Yu, snap-called his last 9k.

The cards hit the table, and we saw something you don’t see every day—no one had a pair! Yi showed A♥ 9♥, the hijack had A♣ 9♣ for a flush draw, and the button was hanging on with 6♣ 7♣—7-high and a worse flush draw.

Then, boom! The river dropped the 6♦, and in a shocking turn of events, the button Hung Chiu scooped the main pot with a pair of sixes! Hijack Wong managed to chop the side pot with her ace-high, keeping her tournament dreams alive.

With the blinds on the rise, the action is heating up! Japanese player Riku Motegi opened to 8,000 from middle position, and sitting next to him, Chao Din decided to go all-in for his 45,500 chips. It folded back to Riku, who, with a comfortable chip stack and not much more to call, made the call with Q♥ J♣.

Din flipped over A♣ K♥ and was looking pretty solid after the flop came down K♠ 9♦ 9♣. The T♦ on the turn however turned the tables as Motegi spiked a straight!

The river Q♠ sealed the deal, sending Chao Din to the rail. Din chuckled and shrugged, and said, “That’s poker!” Can't argue with that.