Jiaxian Pan

Day 1 of the High Roller - Ultra Stack event is in the books at LES A Casino, and after 13 hours of play, 41 players have bagged chips for tomorrow's final day.

The KRW 4,300,000 buy-in event saw 141 entries (86 unique) hit the felt, building a prize pool of KRW 523,843,200 (~USD 393,870). The top 20 will finish in the money with at least KRW 7,020,000 (~USD 5,280), while the eventual champion will lock up a hefty KRW 125,713,200 (~USD 94,520) and the gold silhouette lion trophy, one of the last High Roller titles up for grabs this series.

Leading the way is China's Jiaxian Pan with 1,358,000. Pan has been on top form here in Jeju, finishing fifth in the APT High Roller just yesterday, and a win here would almost double his previous career-best score. Compatriot Hang Xu is just 3,000 behind on 1,355,000. Xu has more than USD 1.5 million in live earnings, and his biggest APT moment came with a Turbo High Roller title at the APT Championship last year.

Yaoyu He rounds out the podium with 1,322,000 after four cashes this series, and will be hoping to end an APT title drought stretching back to the APT Hanoi Summer Series 2023. The United States' Stanley Weng is fourth, capping an excellent festival that has already seen him win the Single Day Super High Roller and finish runner-up in a Hyper Turbo High Roller.

High Roller - Ultra Stack Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

For the full list of Day 1 survivors, click here.

The Day's Action

Pan picked up where he left off in the High Roller, scooping a moderately-sized pot against Fei Han with nines and later winning a sizeable pot from Weng, with the pair finishing first and fourth in the counts.

Tom Verbruggen

Yaoyu He also carried his High Roller form into the new event, check-shoving with a flopped set of eights against Nevan Chang's top pair. Chang fired back with pocket queens against Higor Seibel to climb to almost 1,000,000, but couldn't hold on to the stack and busted before close of play.

Gabriel Karlsson produced one of the hands of the day when his flopped set of threes scored a double knockout against Wenchao Liu and Rishi Mehra, while Tom Verbruggen turned quads to send Lei Yang to the rail on his way to bagging 882,000.

Lee Wee Liew

It's possible no one had a crueller cooler than Lee Wee Liew. The Malaysian, who took down the Koreal National Cup at the start of the series, ran tens full of aces into Chao Ting Cheng's aces full of tens and was left with just 8,000, but battled all the way back to finish with 583,000.

Notables Bagging Up

Ireland's Toby Joyce (1,095,000) sits in the top ten, continuing a strong festival that included a fourth-place finish in the Main Event. Australia's Daniel Neilson (1,060,000) is ninth and will be looking to go one better than his runner-up finish in this event at APT Incheon a couple of months ago. Vinay B (871,000), Higor Seibel (460,000), Kunal Patni (445,000) and Rob Hollink (378,000) also return.

The APT High Roller winner didn't repeat last night's success

Not everyone shared the same good fortune today. Newly crowned APT High Roller champion Scott Margereson fell short, as did heavy hitters Joseph Cheong, Huu Dung Nguyen, David Erquiaga and Renji Mao.

The final day gets underway at 11:15 AM local time tomorrow, with the remaining 41 players playing down to a winner. You can watch the action live via the official APT Youtube channel.

Play has now concluded for Day 1 of the High Roller - Ultra Stack event, with the survivors bagging up for the evening.

Play will resume tomorrow at 11:15 AM and play down to a winner.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action!

The tournament director has announced that each table will be dealt seven more hands before the surviving players bag and tag for the night.

Tom Verbruggen

Tom Verbruggen opened from middle position and it was folded to Weiyang Zhou, who moved all in for approximately 200,000 from the cutoff. Verbruggen called after action folded back to him and a showdown was held.

Weiyang Zhou: T T

Tom Verbruggen: J J

Zhou's tens were bested by Verbruggen's jacks, and the J 6 A 8 2 runout needlessly improved Verbruggen to a set for the late-night knockout.

Renji Mao

Several notable names have fallen in the levels after the close of registration, including newly crowned APT High Roller champion Scott Margereson.

Yee Yan Wen

Cutoff Yee Yan Wen raised to 24,000 before button Chun Kit Kwan three-bet to 60,000. When the action got back to Wen, he moved all in without taking too long, and Kwan snap-called to put himself at risk:

Chun Kit Kwan: T T

Yee Yan Wen: A K

Despite a picture card on the 7 9 J flop, nothing of concern materialised on the 9 3 runout, and Kwan scored the full double to move well above average, while Wen was left with a short stack.

Daniel Lei

Heads up on a flop of 3 7 T with a bit over 100,000 already in the middle, Khoa Anh Ngo checked from middle position and called after Daniel Lei bet 25,000 in the cutoff.

Ngo checked again after the K came on the turn and Lei bet enought to put Ngo all in for his last 150,000.

Ngo went deep into the tank, but eventually committed the rest of chips into the middle for a showdown.

Khoa Anh Ngo: A T

Daniel Lei: A 9

It was the right call from Ngo, who was ahead with his pair of tens and just needed to avoid a heart to double up and stick around.

However, a cruel J appeared on the river – filling Lei's flush draw to eliminate Ngo with less than an hour remaining on Day 1.

Nevan Chang

Nevan Chang raised to 20,000 from early position before Nang Quang Nguyen three-bet to 65,000 from the button. Big blind Higor Seibel then four-bet to 160,000, and Chang promptly five-bet jammed for 440,000.

After some accounting, Nguyen opted out of the hand, but Seibel made the call fairly quickly.

"You have ace-king?" Chang asked the Brazilian.

Nevan Chang: Q Q

Higor Seibel: A J

Seibel did not, so Chang was the favourite going in.

A jack on the J 2 5 flop was promising for Seibel, but he was still behind Chang's ladies.

No further help came on the 6 9 runout, and Seibel lost a big chunk to Chang, who is now sitting on close to 1 million.

Stanley Weng

Xinze Li and Stanley Weng got into a preflop raising war that ended with Li all in for about 400,000 on the button. Weng had Li covered from early position and called.

Xinze Li: A J

Stanley Weng: Q Q

Li would need some help to stick around against Weng's Ladies, but the T 8 Q J A runout left him second best with two pair agianst Weng's set – vaulting Weng's stack to about 1,300,000 for the current chip lead.

David Erquiaga raised to 22,000 from middle position and was joined on the flop by button Ren Lin and big blind Yee Yan Wen.

Wen check-folded when Erquiaga bet 26,000 on the 7 A 3 flop, while Lin called.

Erquiaga checked the 9 turn and Lin bet 30,000. 'The Spade' used a time bank before check-shoving for around 150,000, prompting a quick fold from Lin, who gave himself a slap on the wrist.

"I gamble too much," Lin said. "No more gamble from now on."

"You gamble too much so nobody believe you," someone replied.

"I don't believe myself," he quipped, to laughs around the table.