APT Super High Roller - 8 Max - KRW 250,000,000 GTD - Day 1

Milos Petakovic

Serbia's Milos Petakovic brought through the biggest stack in Day 1 of the KRW 7,000,000 APT Super High Roller after he bagged up 3,750,000 chips and will lead the 16 players coming back for Day 2. A total of 84 entries (63 unique) were recorded which created a prize pool of KRW 529,620,000 (~$399,950) with the winner taking home a cool KRW 145,650,000 (~$109,990).

Petakovic got off to a flying start in level one after he called the river shove of Darko Svesko holding pocket jacks for a straight with his countrymate rolling over ace-queen for top two pair. Just moments later he would knockout six-time APT title holder and Natural8 Ambassador Phachara Wongwichit when his pocket kings crushed the pocket jacks of the Thai player. It was one of the last hands of the day that saw the Serbian surge to the top of the pack after he turned a set with pocket sevens and check-called two streets against Hong Kong's Wing Po Liu who had missed a flush draw holding king-ten.

Thailand's Thanisorn Saelor brought through 2,920,000 chips after an explosive day that saw him eliminate a handful of players on his way to Day 2. The Thai player picked up some chips after his ace-king was too good for the king-queen of China's Powen Fang then never looked back as he eliminated Natural8 Ambassador Danny Tang, China's Zhanhui Zheng, and GG Poker's Jeff Gross on his way to second place on the leaderboard.

Thanisorn Saelor

Japan's Shimizu Nozomu pulled through the fourth-biggest stack with 1,780,000 as he seeks his first APT title. The Japanese player flopped a set of fives to eliminate Bojan Berberovic during level four after the Serbian couldn't find a fold with his pocket aces. Nozomu was then on the right side of a three-way all-in situation after his pocket queens emerged victorious against Marc Rivera and Tien Loon Ling who both held ace-king which sent the Japanese player's stack well over the one million mark.

Natural8 Ambassador Yu-Chung Chang also found himself amongst the chip leaders after bagging 1,395,000 chips. The Taiwanese player eliminated Jun Hao Wu with pocket eights after the Singaporean had cold four-bet shoved all in with ace-five and couldn't find his ace. Chang scored another knockout during level fourteen when his ace-nine proved to be too good against the queen-jack of Milos Skrbic. The four-time APT title holder will be looking to lean on his experience and certainly will be a threat come Day 2.

Other notables to make it through were Yan Shing "Anson" Tsang (1,385,000), Abraham Ceesvin (1,190,000), Asa Smith (1,090,000), Joseph Cheong (850,000), Wing Po Liu (590,000), Sparrow Cheung (465,000), and Calvin Lee (385,000).

The top ten stacks can be found below.

A full APT Super High Roller Day 2 Seat Draw, which includes chip counts, can be found by CLICKING HERE.

A full APT Super High Roller Payout List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Join us for Day 2 from 12:15pm local time as the final 16 players come back and play down to a champion.

Day 1 of the APT Super High Roller is wrap.

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

Milos Petakovic

There is a new chip leader in town and he goes by the name of Milos Petakovic!

Wing Po Liu opened the action with a button raise to 65,000 which was called by Milos Petakovic in the small blind. Yu-Chung Chang was in the big blind and he squeezed to 285,000 which was quickly called by Liu and Petakovic - creating a pot of almost 900,000 before the flop was dealt.

Despite the heavy preflop action, the 8♦ 4♦ 3♠ flop was checked through.

On the 7♥ turn, both Petakovic and Chang checked and Liu fired a bet of 250,000. Petakovic announced a call and Chang quickly folded leaving two players in the hand going to the river.

Petakovic checked once again on the 6♥ river and despite there being four to a straight on the board, Liu slid forward a stack of chips that totaled 445,000. It took less than ten seconds for Petakovic to make a decision and he did so by putting a single chip into the pot.

Liu, as he had been guilty of on a few occasions today, was caught bluffing and turned over K♦ T♦ for a missed flush draw with Petakovic showing he turned a set with 7♣ 7♦. A huge pot goes the way of the Serbian player in the final minutes of the day which sends him to the summit of the leaderboard.

With 16 players left there will now be a table redraw.

When the redraw is complete there will be 27 minutes left on the clock of this level, and with 15 minutes left there will be a draw to see how many more hands will be played before players bag up for the night.

Christopher Park

Kokwai Sim opened up the action to 30,000 and was shoved on by Christopher Park for 215,000. It took a while but Sim did eventually make the call to put the American player at risk

Sim K♥ J♠

Park 9♠ T♠

Nobody connected with the 2♣ 7♥ Q♣ flop but the T♥ turn sent Park into the lead but gave Sim an open-ended straight draw to go along with his overcard outs.

One of those outs would reveal itself on the river as the A♠ gave Sim the nut straight to eliminate Park.

Jeff Gross

Jeff Gross had been nursing his short stack since he registered late and despite doubling up a few times to stay alive, he has finally been eliminated by the bounty hunter himself Thanisorn Saelor after the two got the chips in preflop.

Saelor T♠ T♦

Gross A♥ Q♦

"I win" said Saelor.

The dealer fanned a flop of 6♣ 4♥ 3♦.

"See!" said Saelor again.

The player from Thailand was extremely confident in his ability to win this flip and he had every right to be with the amount of knockouts he has accumulated throughout the day.

Gross was looking for an ace or a queen to survive but it never came as the 5♠ and 4♦ filled out the board which ended his run in the APT Super High Roller.

Asa Smith got his last few big blinds into the middle and was put at risk by Shimizu Nozomu.

Smith A♦ A♥

Nozomu K♠ Q♥

A great time for Smith to get aces and he held on to the lead on the 4♦ 3♣ 9♥ 3♠ J♥ runout to give himself a lifeline going into this last level of play.

Abraham Ceesvin opened up with a min-raise to 50,000 from under the gun and Tsz Him Chan made a button three-bet to 125,000. The action was back on the Singaporean and he four-bet to 260,000 which forced a quick fold from Chan.

Joseph Cheong fired a bet of 225,000 into Wing Po Liu on the river with the board reading 7♠ T♠ 8♥ 5♠ 6♣. Liu counted out his chips before pushing them all into the middle, a bet of around 450,000 and despite the great price he was getting, the American player quickly folded his hand.

Thanisorn Saelor probably wishes this was a bounty tournament as he has just added another name to his elimination list after sending Zhanhui Zheng to the rail. The two got the chips in preflop and it was Zheng who was behind and at risk,

Zheng K♣ Q♣

Saelor Q♠ Q♥

There would be no assistance from the dealer as the board ran out T♠ 4♦ 3♦ 7♣ 8♦ to keep Saelor's pocket queens in the lead.