Korea National Cup - Flight B - KRW 200,000,000 GTD

Baiyu Ni

Flight B in the KRW 800,000 buy-in Korea National Cup has come to a close with just 29 players from the original 203 entries (170 unique) making it through to Day 2 tomorrow. Combined with the earlier Flight A, the total number of entries stands at 404 (268 unique) with the prize pool sitting at KRW 282,153,600 (~USD 205,150). Together with the 29 players that made it through Flight A, there will be a total of 58 players returning to play down to a winner tomorrow at 11:15 am local time.

China's Baiyu Ni took the chip lead from today, amassing 513,000 chips to bring into Day 2. This is Ni's first-ever APT cash, and he has set himself up perfectly to make a deep run in the Korea National Cup. Second in chips is Manato Goto of Japan, who bagged 387,000. He double-barreled a queen-high board three-way near the bubble to propel himself into one of the top chip counts in the room.

Thailand's Kiwanont Sukhum managed to bring through a healthy stack of 233,000, which was good for eleventh in chips at the end of Flight B. Sukhum already has three APT titles, one of which that is from the APT Myster Bounty - Sponsered by Natural8 during the APT Taipei 2023. Sukhum is definitely a player to watch out for when play resumes tomorrow.

Kiwanont Sukhum

Taiwan's Teng-Kuei Hsu managed to bring the shortest stack of 26,000 through from Flight B. Hsu has three APT titles to his name, along with a string of final table appearances. He won the APT Mystery Bounty during APT Taipei 2024 last month and a No Limit Hold-em Freezeout event just two days later. Hsu knows how to close out tournaments in the late stages but will have to spin up his short stack if he is to make a surge for the final table tomorrow.

The unfortunate player who earned the title of bubble boy for Flight B was China's Zhong Zheng, whose ace-jack ended up second best to the queen-ten of Tsz Him Chan.

Other notables to make it through Flight B were Taiwan's Tsz Him Chan (267,000), Malaysia's Josh Tan (128,000), Jaemoon Seok (30,000), and Yangkai Zhang (30,000)

The top ten stacks for Flight B can be seen below.

A full Korea National Cup Flight B Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE

Join us tomorrow from 11:15 am local time as the remaining players from both flights meet for the first time and play down to a champion.

Zhong Zheng Bubbles Flight B of the Korea National Cup

With one final elimination needed to conclude Flight B of the Korean National Cup, Tsz Him Chan opened from the cutoff to 20,000 and got jammed on by Zhong Zheng for around 125,000, Chan made the call to put Zheng at risk.

Zhong Zheng A♦ J♠ Tsz Him Chan: Q♠ T♠

The board ran T♥ 5♣ 3♥ 4♥ 6♦ which meant Chan sent Zheng to the rail, guaranteeing the survivors a pay day.

The remaining 29 players will bag their chips and come back tomorrow for the Day 2.

When we got to the table the cards were already on their backs and it was Hao Wang at risk for his last 73,000 with A♥ T♥ against the 9♣ 9♠ of Zejun Liu.

The K♠ K♣ 6♦ flop didn't change anything until the K♦ turn improved Liu to a full house. But when the K♥ came on the river, the whole table let out a gasp of astonishment as Wang secured the double up with an unlikely quad kings with an ace-kicker.

Tae Hoon Han

Togtokhbaya Shinekhuu opened from the button to 20,000. Tae Hoon Han shoved all in from the big blind for 140,000 total. Shinekhuu only had 80,000 chips behind and made the call to put his tournament life at risk.

Shinekhuu A♥ 2♦

Han Q♦ Q♣

The ladies held up for Han as the board ranout 2♣ 3♠ 9♦ K♣ J♥, and Shinekhuu was sent to the rail.

Bo Li opened from Lj to 16,000, and Cong Ya Zhang made the call in the Big blind. Heads up to the flop of 3♥ Q♥ K♦, Li continued with 15,000, Zhang made the call quickly.

The turn was 2♥, action checked to Li who fired big with the bet of 100,000 applying pressure on Zhang.

Zhang did not wait for long and lay down her hand quickly.

Fumiyoshi Makino

Fumiyoshi Makino opened for a minimum-raise from the cutoff and was called by Manato Goto on the button and Shaojun Shen in the big blind.

Shen and Makino checked the Q♦ J♣ 6♣ flop to Goto, who fired out a bet out 15,000. This was met by a fold from Shen but a call from the initial raiser Makino.

Makino checked again on the 4♠ turn only to face a bet of 25,000 from Goto. This time Makino folded and Goto dragged in the pot

Hairong Ma had just 50,000 chips left, and when it folded to him on the button he moved them all across the line. He didn't even get through the small blind though, as Junhua Li made the call to put him at risk.

Li A♠ J♠

Ma T♦ 9♦

Li only had around 70,000 chips to start the hand, so it was a crucial hand for both players. The flop came out 9♠ 5♥ 7♠ to give Ma the lead, but Li picked up a flush draw to go with his overcards. The turn 8♣ and river K♥ meant Ma doubled to over 100,000, while Li was left crippled in the event.

Ikeda Fumitaka open-shoved for 64,000 and Zhong Zheng made the call to put him at risk.

Ikeda Fumitaka: A♣ Q♣ Zhong Zheng: A♦ K♣

The board ran 2♥ J♠ K♠ 2♠ 6♣, did not save Fumitaka and he will be eliminated by Zheng.

Players are now on a 15 minutes break.

Action folded around to Xin Zhao who limped in the small blind and got raised by Yu Jung Lo to 15,000 in the big blind. After one minute of thinking Zhao decided to shove all-in to put Lo – who had around 134,000 chips in play –at risk.

Lo did not look happy facing the limp jam and tanked for a long time, but made the call eventually with K♦ Q♥.

Zhao flipped over J♥ T♥ for a ballsy bluff shove with jack high.

The board ran 3♥ 3♦ 7♣ 4♦ A♣, a pretty smooth runout for Lo's King high and secured his tournament life, leaving Zhao with 21,000 behind.