APT Main Event - Day 3 - KRW 2,000,000,000 GTD

Sergei Kim

Day 3 of Korea's largest-ever poker tournament has concluded with Russia's Sergei Kim sitting atop the counts with 7,350,000 chips after going on a heater and eliminating multiple people on his way to Day 4. Just 15 players managed to survive Day 3 of the APT Main Event from the 96 that started with some big names still in contention.

All of the remaining players are guaranteed a payout of at least KRW 21,410,000 (~$15,550) but it's the KRW 429,292,500 (~$311,735) top prize that everybody has their eyes on.

It took ten levels of poker to whittle down the field with the likes of Dicky Tsang (89th), Thanisorn Saelor (77th), Hua-Wei Lin (70th), Jeffrey Lo (54th), Hon Cheong Lee (47th), Yu-Chung "Nevan" Chang (43rd), Zhendong Li (34th), Kannapong "Tent" Thanarattrakul (31st), Jun Hao Wu (18th), and Christian Harder (17th) all falling short of Day 4.

The original plan for the day was to play ten levels or reach the final table but the tournament directors made the decision to play to the final sixteen as that is when a seat redraw would have taken place. The simultaneous eliminations of the aforementioned Harder in 17th, and Jingyao Yan (16th) meant that just 15 players made it to the final day.

Kim's journey to the summit saw him eliminate Wei Lin in brutal style after backdooring two pair against the Chinese player's flopped top pair. The very next hand Kim sent Li Jiang Lu to the rail by winning a flip with ace-king against pocket deuces which sent him into the chip lead. The Russian player was staring elimination in the face during the later levels but managed to bink a two-outer at the expense of Wu which catapulted him back to the top of the leaderboard where he remained for the rest of the day.

Xixiang Luo

Xixiang Luo started the day in third and used his stack wisely to finish second in the counts with a stack of 5,550,000. The Chinese player eliminated Fei Gao early on and later sent countrymate Meng Wu to the rail which brought his stack to the four-million mark after the half-way stage. Luo also delivered the knockout blow to Thanarattrakul to add more chips to his stack which leaves him in a good position to make a run at the title.

Phanlert Sukonthachartnant will bring an even stack of 3,000,000 chips into the fourth and final day of play and will be looking to use his experience to navigate himself to the final table and beyond. The Thai player currently sits fifth on Thailand's All-Time Money List and will jump up to fourth with a podium finish here in Jeju.

Jason Wong (2,650,000), Kyung Min Lee (2,480,000), and Kai Hsu (2,300,000) all bagged up respectable stacks but the man with the most work to do will be China's Chuanshu Chen (830,000) as he will only have eight big blinds when play gets underway.

The top ten stacks can be found below.

A full APT Main Event Day 3 Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

A full APT Main Event Day 4 Seat Draw can be found by CLICKING HERE.

The final day will start at 11:15am on Saturday, May 4, and play down to a champion.

There will be a feature table that will be streamed live (with a 30-minute delay), which you can access via the APT social media channels or by following the links below.

Youtube

Twitch

Day 3 of the APT Main Event has ended.

A recap of the day's action will follow shorty.

Jingyao Yan

Just as everybody was about to pack up for the day, another all-in-and-call situation arose on the outer tables.

Jingyao Yan shoved all in from under-the-gun for 820,000 and Phanlert Sukonthachartnant made the call from the big blind.

Yan 5♥ 5♣

Sukonthachartnant A♦ J♠

Play had already halted on the other tables which meant this was the last hand of Day 3 regardless of the outcome.

Yan's chances of making Day 4 were dashed when the A♠ 2♥ K♣ flop improved Sukonthachartnant to top pair.

Yan did pick up some equity on the 3♥ turn as he added a gutshot wheel draw but the 9♦ river meant he was eliminated a few seconds after Harder.

Christian Harder

Sergei Kim shoved all in from the button into two shorter stacks. Christian Harder was in the small blind and he called off his stack of around 600,000.

Kim A♦ 8♦

Harder K♠ J♣

Harder needed to connect with the board otherwise his Main Event run would be over, which would also end play for the day.

The American player did pick up a lot of help on the 9♠ 8♠ 3♠ flop as he improved to a flush draw to go along with his pair outs.

Unfortunately for Harder, he had arrived at his destination of Brick City as the 3♥ turn and 4♥ river meant he was eliminated

Jun Hao Wu opened to 300,000 from under-the-gun, Jian Han and Jianfeng Sun made the call from the blinds.

On the 7♣ 2♦ 3♥ flop, Han checked and Sun fired a bet of 250,000. Wu shoved all in with his short stack of 25,000. Han folded his hand and Sun made the call.

Sun 7♠ T♠

Wu A♥ 5♠

Sun hit a pair of sevens and Wu had the straight draws. On the K♠ turn, didn't change anything.

When the 9♠ landed on the river, Wu was eliminated in 18th.

Players are now on a 15-minute break.

Play will end when the next level concludes or when there are 16 players remaining, whichever comes first.

Kai Hsu Cheng opened to 160,000 and Kyung Min Lee shoved all in for 1,370,000 from the next seat. When it got back to Cheng, he made the call.

Lee A♦ J♦

Cheng Q♠ Q♥

Cheng was a big favorite to eliminate Lee but the tables turned on the 2♣ A♥ T♥ flop as Lee paired his ace and took the lead.

Cheng needed a queen to win the pot but the 4♠ turn and K♣ river didn't change anything and Lee stayed alive.

Jian Han opened to 200,000 from the hijack and Jun Hao Wu made the call from the button.

On the 5♣ T♦ 8♣ flop, Han fired a bet of 350,000 and Wu folded his hand after using a time-bank chip. Han flipped over the A♣ J♣.

Kai Cheng Hsu

Kai Cheng Hsu opened to 160,000 on the button and Chuanshu Chen three-bet to 400,000 from the big blind. Hsu applied maximum pressure with an all-in shove for 2,700,000, and Chen quickly gave it up.

Kyung Min Lee shoved his stack of 695,000 into the middle and Feng Chen made the call.

Lee Q♠ J♦

Chen A♦ 9♦

Chen was screaming for an ace and celebrated when he saw the A♥ in the window. Unfortunately for Chen, the T♠ and K♣ followed which gave Lee Broadway.

The 4♣ turn and Q♥ river completed the board which doubled up Lee.