APT Super High Roller - Day 1 - KRW 500,000,000 GTD

Anson Ewe

Malaysia's Anson Ewe bagged up the biggest stack on Day 1 of the KRW 13,500,000 APT Super High Roller with 3,720,000 chips which gives him the chip lead going into the final table. A total of 67 entries (53 unique) were recorded with nine players surviving the day and making it into the money each with a score of KRW 24,960,000 (~$18,120) already locked up.

The prize pool of KRW 831,872,000 (~USD 603,900) sets a new record as the richest APT Super High Roller to take place in South Korea and the first prize of KRW 242,492,000 (~$176,030) is also the largest the event has seen in the country (assuming no deal is made).

Ewe had built his stack to one of the biggest in the tournament before he sent Hon Cheong Lee to the rail in the penultimate level. Lee had shoved sixteen big blinds with ace-nine but couldn't overcome the pocket queens of Ewe to leave just twelve players remaining.

In the sixteenth and final level of the day, Ewe was the player to burst the bubble in a brutal hand that saw China's Song Xue become the last player to leave empty-handed. Ewe had opened the button with ace-three suited and shoved all in over Xue's three-bet, who held ace-king. Xue decided to make the call but saw Ewe backdoor the nut flush which ended the Chinese player's run in tenth.

Weiran "Kevin" Pu

Bracelet winner Weiran "Kevin" Pu will take the second-biggest stack into the final table with 3,185,000 and was only one of two players to break the three-million chip milestone. Pu added a chunk of chips to his stack late in the day when his ace-queen send the UK's Asa Smith to the rail after the British player's ace-eight couldn't improve.

Thailand's Thanisorn Saelor has the chance to become the only person to win two of the APT flagship lion trophies after he triumphed in the APT High Roller at APT Incheon last year. Saelor went on a heater in level fourteen and eliminated Natural8 Ambassador Danny Tang, Phillippines number one ranked tournament player Marc Rivera, and China's Lin Zhou all in quick succession to bring his stack up around the two-million mark.

Yuzhu Wang managed to make it to the final table albeit with a little help from lady luck after he shoved all in with nine-four from the button and managed to hit a pair of on the turn against Anson Tsang's king-jack.

Hong Kong's Jeffrey Lo has some work to do with his stack of 305,000 but has already locked up his biggest cash of the year so far. The short stack coming into the final table is China's Xixiang Luo with just 122,500 - around four big blinds.

The final table chip counts can be found below.

The payouts for the final table can be found below.

A full APT Super High Roller Day 2 Seat Draw can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Join us tomorrow for Day 2 of the APT Super High Roller from 11:15am local time. Live updates will be posted here for you to follow along or you can watch the action unfold live on the stream on the APT social media channels - two of which can by following the links below.

Youtube

Twitch

With just nine players remaining, the day has come to an end. The finalists are currently bagging up their chips and will come back to battle it out for the trophy tomorrow.

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

Song Xue

Song Xue has just been eliminated on the bubble of the APT Super High Roller in brutal fashion.

Anson Ewe opened to 60,000 from the button and Xue three-bet from the small blind to 300,000. When the big blind got out of the way, Ewe four-bet shoved for around 1,550,000 effective, which put Xue to the test for the remainder of his stack. After thinking it over for a while, Xue decided to put himself at risk on the bubble and made the call.

Ewe A♣ 3♣

Xue A♦ K♣

A pot of over 3,000,000 chips was on the line as the dealer fanned a flop of 5♣ 7♥ 4♥. Xue maintained his lead but Ewe picked up a double-gutshot straight draw meaning any two, three, or six would give him the lead.

The turn brought Ewe yet more outs as the 8♣ improved him to the nut flush draw to go along with his pair and straight draw outs. Xue had one more card to sweat and had to fade a lot of outs if he wanted to remain in contention.

All eyes were firmly locked on the dealer as he revealed the T♣ river, which improved Ewe to the nut flush and delivered the knockout blow to Xue. The stacks were counted down to verify the elimination and once it was confirmed, Xue walked away from the tournament area wondering what could have been.

We are now hand-for-hand in the APT Super High Roller.

As far as we can remember, this tournament has never made it into the money on Day 1 but now it's a real possibility.

Dong Chen

Chih Wei Fan shoved all in from the button, covering the two players in the blinds. When the action got to Dong Chen in the big blind, he made the call for around 600,000.

Fan 8♦ 5♦

Chen 9♠ 9♥

Fan didn't seem too impressed with himself after that shove but his attitude quickly changed after the 3♦ 7♦ T♦ flop gave him a flush. Chen couldn't believe his eyes and now needed running cards to stay alive otherwise he would be out in 11th.

The 6♦ turn left Chen drawing dead as the Q♥ river completed the board.

Level sixteen has just begun which is the last level of play today.

Just 11 players remain which means we are just two eliminations away from the money and the final table.

Wei Zhao

Song Xue min-raised the button to 50,000 and Wei Zhao shoved all in for around 750,000 from the small blind. When the action got back to Xue, he made a quick call.

Zhao K♣ J♣

Xue A♦ J♥

Zhao hopes of staying alive were dramatically increased on the A♣ K♠ 4♣ flop but he never found the outs he needed as the 3♦ turn and 5♥ river kept Xue's flopped pair of aces in the lead.

Hon Cheong Lee shoved his short stack of 395,000 from the small blind and the big blind Anson Ewe made a call.

The board showed up 8♣ K♠ 4♠ 8♥ 6♠.

Hon Cheong Lee A♣ 9♦

Anson Ewe Q♦ Q♥

Ewe sent Lee to the rail. Only 12 players left.

A new chip leader has emerged after a brutal hand that destroyed the stack of Punnat Punsri.

In a pot that had around a million chips in it on the river with the board reading 3♠ 3♥ 3♦ Q♦ 5♣, Punsri had shoved all in for 880,000 and Zhendong Li snap-called.

Punsri tabled 5♠ 5♦ for a full house but was behind to the Q♣ Q♠ of Li, who had a bigger full house.

Daisuke Ogita

Daisuke Ogita and Song Xue got into a preflop-raising war which ended with both player's stacks in the middle of the table.

Ogita Q♣ Q♦

Xue A♥ K♥

It looked as if Ogita was going to double up but Xue connected with the river on the 7♥ 7♦ 8♠ 9♦ K♣ runout.