APT Kickoff - TWD 2,000,000 GTD - Flight A

Guillaume Bercq

Guillaume Bercq bags up an impressive stack of 813,000 and tops the leaderboard of the TWD 9,000 + 1,000 APT Kickoff - Flight A. A total of 395 entries (289 unique) were recorded for this first of two Flights with 56 surviving to make Day 2, and securing their spot in the money.

Bercq seemed to appear out of nowhere and take down some huge pots towards the end of play, including a hand in which he burst the bubble when his pocket sevens held in a flip against Ian Modder's ace-king.

Patrick Liang takes through 457,000 chips which is good for fifth. Liang has three APT final tables under his belt including a runner-up spot here in Taiwan four years ago, and a sixth-place finish in the Main Event in Manila five years ago.

Singapore's Jun Hao Wu accumulated 426,000 chips in his attempt to clinch his first title after final-tabling eight different APT events over the past few years. Wu has become a regular on the Asian circuit and a championship trophy is surely looming for him anytime soon.

Michael Lech came through the field with a stack of 167,000 chips but will be one to watch on Day 2 as he will surely use his experience to his advantage as we progress toward the final table. Lech has over $1,500,000 in tournament cashes including a victory in a WSOP online event in 2020 where he took home almost $165,000.

Other notables to make it through were Ting Hao Tseng (501,000), Ian Lin (407,000), Hon Cheong Lee (155,000), and Chun Kit Lee (72,000).

Here are the top ten stacks from Flight A:

Bubble has been burst by Guillaume Kevin Bercq with his 7♣ 7♠, winning a flip against Ian Andrew Modder's A♥ K♦. Bercq is now sitting on a monster stack of 800,000 who should be the chip leader on the APT Kickoff flight A.

A total of 56 players from flight A will advance to day 2 starting at 12:30pm tomorrow. In the mean time flight B is still on going with over 300 entries, once that it's all set and done a full chip count and seat allocation for day 2 will be posted on (https://www.theasianpokertour.com/series/apt-taipei-2023).

Check out our live reporting on flight B if you want to follow the action here in APT Taipei.

As we approach the bubble on the first flight of the APT Kickoff, we are seeing more and more all-ins pre-flop.

On table one we saw Chun Kit Ho calling from the big blind with A♦ Q♥ vs Ichiyo Niwa who went all-in with A♣ 5♦. Both player hit a pair on 4♠ Q♦ 9♥ 5♥ K♠ but Ho had the better hand from start to finish. Ho scored the knockout and is sitting on 230,000.

On table two Kai Hung Hu survived his all-in with his J♥ J♠ against Ching Yang Chung's K♥ K♠ after hitting a full house on the flop of J♦ 5♦ 5♥. Chung did not hit one of his two outter but is still sitting healthy with 220,000 while has double his stack to 215,000.

This hand started when Patrick Liang opened to 12,000 in the middle position, Yu Yuan Lo on the button and Tung Yang Lin on the big blind called.

Flop came A♥ Q♥ 4♣. Liang made a c-bet of 16,000 and everyone put in a call. All three players then got to the river for free with T♠ 4♥ completing the board. Lin was the first and the last to show aswell when he turned over8♥ 6♥ for flush to scoop up this pot.

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A big pot worth almost 340,000 is going to Chia Yun Wu, who went all-in on the river holding 9♥ 9♠and got called by Chun Kit Lee holding A♠ J♠. The board read 9♣ 6♦ A♣ 5♠ 3♥, Lee was drawing dead on the flop and is now left with only 10,000 in chips.

Ian Lam

On a flop of Q♣ T♦ 2♦ we saw both Ian Lam and Gabriel Dominic Carter get their stacks in the middle.

Carter K♣ J♥ Lam Q♠ J♠

Lam had the lead but had a lot of out to fade as Carter held an overcard along with an open-ended straight draw.

The turn 3♦ bought a flush draw on board but nobody had a diamond in their hand. Carter needed an ace, king, or a nine to stay alive and score a huge double-up as we approach bubble territory.

An 8♠ was close, but not close enough for Carter who was sent home.

Lam boosts his stack to near 200,000.

In this hand Zong Yi Chou opened to 8,000 from the low-jack and Cung Kit Ho on the cut-off and Chak Lam Tsang on the big blind made the call.

Flop : A♥ Q♣ 9♣

Action checked to Ho who bet out 14,000 and Chou sticked around.

Turn: 6♦

Action checked again to Ho who moved all-in for 52,000 and got snap-called by Chou who was holding A♦ 8♦ against Ho's A♠ J♠. A 5♥ on the river gave Ho a full double up and is now sitting on average stack of 140,000 right now.

Chen Yu Hung

On a board reading 7♥ 5♣ 8♠ 7♣ K♣ we saw Anson Choy over-bet 45,000 into 35,000 into Chen Yu Hung.

Hung contemplated for quite some time, running the hand through in his head several times before slamming nine blue 5,000 chips into the middle. Choy revealed a bluff and tabled jack-ten with Hung showing 6♠ 6♣ and scooping the pot to add to his already impressive stack.

Here are some of the chip counts as players are entering break time. Ying Hao Tseng is the chip leader out of 96 players remaining with 350,000 in front of him.