Brendan Luke Mcmanus

APT Taipei Poker Classic kicked off today with Flight A of the APT National Cup at the Asia Poker Arena, which drew 654 entries (565 unique) throughout the day, with only 90 players managing to make it to Saturday’s Final Day.

Ireland’s Brendan Luke McManus climbed to the top of the leaderboard and amassed an impressive stack of 877,000 for the Final Day.

The American player Alexander Charron bagged up the second-biggest stack in the field, amounting to 753,000 chips. Charron is no stranger to APT events and has previously finished third in an event at APT Da Nang in 2022 for a prize of just over $2,000.

Taiwan’s Rui Lu, the player following Charron, has accumulated 717,000 chips, making her the third-highest stack in the field. Lu, who is a regular on the APT circuit, final tabled an event right here at APT Taipei earlier this year.

Other notables include Kuan Yu Lin (141,000), Hung Yueh Chang (63,000), and Chia-Hung Lin (41,000), who will return for the Final Day on Saturday.

The top ten stacks in Flight A can be found below:

A full APT TPC 2024 National Cup Flight A Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Be sure to tune in to the APT Blog for the Final Day tomorrow as the APT National Cup plays down to a winner.

This live reporting blog was brought to you by Life of Poker.

Flight A of the APT National cup has ended and the survivors are currently bagging up their chips. A full recap of Flight A's action will follow shortly.

With no one busting out of the hand-per-hand play, players were getting anxious to end the day. It finally happened in an all-in hand involving Lai Wan Yun with big slick A K and Kong Chung Lam Allan with 6 :2h.

With a J 7 4 6 5 board, a loud cheer from the floor erupted as Tournament Director Lloyd Fontillas announced the elimination of Yun.

It’s on the bubble time now. Yu Chen from middle position and Su Yu Han on the button were all-in preflop with around 238,000 chips in the pot.

Yu Chen J J Su Yu Han A K

A flop of J 2 7 rolled out, improving Chen to a set of Jacks and leaving Han’s big slick with a slim chance to win the pot.

The board-pairing 7 slammed on the turn and upgraded Chen to a full house, shutting out Han's hope of winning the pot. A bricky 4 slid on the river to complete the board.

Japan’s Ogasawara Takumi was all in from the button and was called by Hong Kong’s Mui Chiu Lit from middle position.

Ogasawara Takumi K K

Mui Chiu Lit A T

The runout came J 4 8 9 2 and the pot shipped to Takumi who remained alive in the tournament.

With 14% in-the-money, hand-per-hand play had started and it has been one all-in after another with players hoping for someone to bust so that all could move forward to Day 2.

Chainani Dhanesh with A Q went against A Jd: from Chan Ting Fung. The board went K Q 7 Q 2 giving Dhanesh trips.

An audible sigh of dismay was heard around the floor, as hand-per-hand play continued.

It was a classic battle when we arrived at the table to see Chung Chung En all-in with K K versus Lee Chien Tse's ladies Q Q

As En stood up hoping his Kings held, the dealer dealt a board of 9 6 4 5 9 . En sat back down with a huge smile behind a doubled stack leaving Tse crippled.

Actions starts with folds around to Lim Xin Ann who raised in the cut-off position for 12,000. Sun Ka Ho on the small blind three-bets to 32,000. Staring at Ho to get a read, Ann eventually called to see a flop.

The flop came J 6 2 and Ho passed the action to Ann who bet 12,000. Ho called. Both players checked the turn and river that showed Q K

Ho tabled pocket T T , after which Ann showed his two-pair with K Q

Lee Yuan Hsu

One three-way all-in hand just played out resulting in a double knockout.

Lee Yuan Hsu from the small blind, Himathongkom Pongspak from under-the-gun, and De Hao Lai from the hi-jack shoved all-in preflop, resulting in a pot of around 160,000.

Lee Yuan Hsu K K

Himathongkom Pongspak A Q

De Hao Lai 8 8

A dry board rolled off 4 9 2 4 9 , sending Pongspak and Lai to the rail. Hsu scored a double elimination.

Sangri Yuttakan

Yeung Chi Ho raised to 16,000 from the cutoff and was called by Lin Chi-Ying from the small blind and Sangri Yuttakan from the big blind.

They saw a flop of A 9 4 . Ying check-folded after Yuttakan donk-raised to 20,000, with Ho also getting out of the way.