APT Main Event - Day 2 (Reg Open Till Start) - KRW 2,000,000,000 GTD

Ya Ke Lien

Day 2 of the APT Main Event in Jeju saw a record-breaking 1,089 entries (583 unique), solidifying its status as the biggest international poker tournament in South Korea's history. It was Taiwan's Ya Ke Lien who rose above the rest to finish on top of the pack after he bagged up 1,484,000 chips with just 96 players remaining.

There were 397 players that made it through the opening four flights and they were joined by 46 Day 2 entries when play got underway at 11am in the Landing Casino at Shinhwa World. The total prize pool generated also set a new record as the APT's richest tournament to be held in South Korea with KRW 2,376,742,500 (~$1,726,125) in the pot. The eventual champion will bank a mouth-watering payday of KRW 429,292,500 (~$311,735) and the award-winning APT Gold Lion trophy.

Just 159 players were due to be paid and lock up a min-cash of KRW 3,970,000 (~$2,880) but with the elimination of both Junichi Nakagiri and Kenichi Takarabe at the same time during hand-for-hand play, the pair will split a min-cash which means Australia's Aaron Lim was the last player to leave empty-handed.

Junichi Nakagiri (green) bubbles the Main Event

Chip leader Lien could have been eliminated right before the money at the expense of Matthew Ho but won a crucial flip with Big Slick to double up and kickstart his surge to the top of the leaderboard.

Singapore Jun Hao Wu sits seconds in the counts with 1,441,000 chips to his name and was one of the 15 OnLive players that qualified directly into the money via Natural8. After the bubble had burst, the 15 players joined the live field after a full seat redraw had taken place. Wu had success at the APT's last outing in Korea when he won the Superstar Challenge at APT Incheon last year for KRW 177,660,000 (~$134,130) and will be hoping for another deep run in the Main Event.

Xixiang Luo rounds out the top three stacks with 1,359,000 chips and has the poker gods to thank after being on the right side of a sick cooler against New Zealand's Thomas Ward during level sixteen. Luo had flopped a set of aces and got all the chips in against Ward's turned set of kings in one of the biggest pots of the tournament to become the first player to break the one-million chip milestone.

Xixiang Luo

Hong Kong's Dicky Tsang (292,000) is the only former Main Event champion remaining in the field which he won back in 2019. In fact, Tsang has five APT titles under his belt and four of them have been won in South Korea, including his Main Event win.

There are two APT flagship trophy holders remaining in Zhendong Li (640,000), who won the APT Super High Roller earlier this series and Thailand's Thanisorn Saelor (437,000) who took down the APT High Roller in Incheon last year. Nobody has won two flagship lion trophies but the history books await the first person to achieve the feat.

Other notables to make it through were Christopher Park (983,000), Kyung Min Lee (881,000), Hon Cheong Lee (860,000), Christian Harder (795,000), Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (640,00) and Natural8 Ambassadors Kannapong Thanarattrakul (597,000) & Yu-Chung "Nevan" Chang (241,000).

The top ten stacks can be found below.

A full APT Main Event Day 2 Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

A full APT Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Join us for Day 3 which will kick off at 11:15am on Friday, May 3. As always, live updates will be posted here and there will also be a live stream which can be accessed via the APT social media pages.

Day 2 of the APT Main Event is complete.

The survivors are currently bagging up their chips and will come back to do battle tomorrow for Day 3.

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

Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier

Bertrand Grospellier has just been eliminated from the Main Event.

We missed the action but saw Grospellier standing up from his seat and rushed over to see what had happened.

By the time the river had been dealt the board read 7♣ 4♦ 7♥ T♣ 3♠ and Grospellier's K♥ J♣ was no good against the 6♠ 6♦ of Ka Chun Tsui for a side pot. Another short-stacked player, Chen Yu Hung, was also involved and his A♠ 7♦ managed to earn a triple-up by scooping the main pot after flopping trip sevens.

Joris Michl's stack has been a slippery slope over the last few levels and he shoved his last 80,000 chips into the middle only to be put at risk by Hiroyuki Noda.

Michl J♦ J♣

Noda Q♣ T♦

Michl was the favorite to double up and remained that way on the A♦ K♥ T♠ flop. Noda would need a jack or a ten to take the lead and did so when the J♥ hit the turn, which improved him to a straight and gave Michl a set.

The Dutchman would need the board to pair on the river to scoop the pot or a queen to chop otherwise he would be eliminated. Both players split the pot as the Q♠ landed on the river which put Broadway on board.

Yukako Hiroi

Yukako Hiroi opened to 21,000 from the hijack and Chao Xi three-bet to 56,000 from cutoff. Hiroi turned up the aggression and shoved all in. It was around of 268,000 and Xi folded his hand after thought for a while.

When we got to table, we saw the board of 3♥ K♠ 4♦ 6♠ came out and there was around of 54,000 in the middle.

Yukako Hiroi fired a bet of 25,000 from the small blind, and Yang Yu made the call from the cutoff.

When the Q♦ hit on the river, Hiroi fired the second barrel of 85,000, and Yu made the call.

Hiroi flipped over the K♣ T♣ and Yu turned over the K♦ T♥, they split the pot.

Di Lu had fired 55,000 on the turn with the board reading 4♥ 3♥ A♥ 5♦ and Shuji Tanigawa had shoved all in for a little under 100,000. It wasn't much more for Lu to call and even though she didn't seem happy about it, she made the call which put Tanigawa at risk.

Tanigawa 2♣ 2♦

Lu A♣ K♦

Lu was drawing dead to win the pot and the only way she would get any of her chips back is if the river was a deuce which would mean the two players would chop the pot.

Well, ask you and shall receive as the 2♥ landed on the river which put a straight on board and prevented Tanigawa from doubling up.

Vietnam's Phuong Ngoc Nguyen was the last player standing from his country but he has just been eliminated which brings the number of Vietnamese players remaining down to zero.

Nguyen had committed the majority of his chips preflop and his last 23,000 in a J♥ 9♣ J♦ flop. China's Yunqing Ge made the call.

Nguyen A♣ T♣

Ge A♠ Q♦

Without improving his hand, Nguyen hit the best card in the deck on the turn as the 8♣ gave him both flush and straight draws. However, the 6♠ river was a brick which meant Nguyen was eliminated.

We are into the last level of the night.

In around 55 minutes or so, the surviving players will bag up their chips and come back for Day 3 tomorrow.

Yaozu Tang

A flop of 7♦ 4♣ 9♣ prompted Yaozu Tang and Jieming Xu to get their chips into the middle with the latter being at risk.

Tang K♣ T♣

Xu 5♠ 6♦

Both players improved on the 5♣ turn but Tang had locked up the pot after turning a flush which left Xu drawing dead. The T♥ river confirmed Xu's elimination and Tang raked in the pot.