Yann Lormel

The fourth opening flight of the TWD 10,000 APT National Cup reached its conclusion with France's Yann Lormel sitting on top of the leaderboard with a stack of 1,280,000 chips. There were 665 entries (483 unique) in Flight D, the highest of any of the opening flights, with 99 players making it into the money. Of those that made the money, just 39 managed to survive and advance into Day 2.

A target of 1,738 entries to hit the TWD 15,000,000 guarantee was surpassed toward the end of the flight with Flight E still to play out. The prize pool for Flight D hit TWD 5,740.945 (~$181,650) with TWD 1,200,000 (\$37,970) of that being paid out to places 40 through 99. The remainder, TWD 4,540,945 (\$143,685), will carry over to the final day.

Lormel, who had never cashed in an APT event until today, won a huge flip in level twenty-one against Brazil's Bruno Desimoni. The Frenchman's pocket tens flopped a set against the king-queen of the Brazilian player to push his stack towards the one-million milestone. Then, in the final hand of the night, Lormel opened with pocket eights and called the shove of his roommate Axel Bayout, who held queen-three offsuit. Bayout was perhaps looking for some help from his friend, but Lormel had his eyes on the prize and eliminated his compatriot to finish top of the pack.

India's Mahier Hora finished second in the counts with a stack of 1,125,000, and Taiwan's Yu Lun Ye sits in third after bagging up 1,105,000 chips. APT title holder Adones Carmona of the Philippines put himself in contention and will take through 755,000 chips in his pursuit of a second lion trophy.

Alex Wong

Alex Wong also found a bag for Day 2 and will bring through 845,000 chips, which puts him fifth on the flight's leaderboard. There is a former APT Main Event champion in the field as Canada's Cliff Chow survived the day with 275,000 chips. Chow won the Main Event right here at APT Taipei back in 2019 and is eyeing up another deep run here.

Thailand's Kiwanont Sukhum also made it through the day, albeit short-stacked, as he bagged up 265,000 chips. Sukhum won the Mystery Bounty Hunter event at APT Taipei last year and mentioned earlier that he was back to defend his crown.

Other notables to make it through were Zsolt Coraian (1,095,000), Luc Ramos (690,000), Kenji Hamamoto (345,000), Pierre Husson (255,000), and Ehsan Amiri (205,000).

The top ten counts can be found below.

A full APT National Cup Flight D Survivors List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Join us for Day 2 of the APT National Cup from 11:15am local time where we will play down to a champion.

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

Liu Jia Yu opened from UTG and was called by Phetcharaporn Nachawanon and Ramos Luc to see a flop of K Q 5

Action checked through and the turn came J . Action checked through again.

When the 6 came to the river still check around and Yu showed A J to take down the crucial pot.

Axel Bayout

Axel Bayout is the last player to be eliminated from Flight D, meaning the remaining 39 players will now bag up their chips and come back to play out Day 2 tomorrow.

The final hand started with Yann Lormel raising to 40,000, with the action folding all the way around to Bayout, who shoved for around 290,000. Lormel was in the tank and used several time-extension chips before electing to make the call.

Bayout Q 3

Lormel 8 8

Who knows what Bayout was thinking but apparently these two are roommates, perhaps he was hoping for some sympathy from his buddy, but he never got it.

Bayout was halfway out of the door before the dealer could even run the board of 5 7 4 J K which eliminated him.

There may be an awkward conversation back at the hotel later!

There are 40 players remaining in the field, meaning just one more player needs to bust before play comes to an end.

APT title holder Cheli Lin was short-stacked and looking to find a triple-up from the big blind, but ended up on the rail.

Hung Cheng Lin had shoved all in for around 180,000 and Hsien-Lee Chu made the call for his entire stack from the small blind. Lin was priced in from the big blind and also put in his last chips.

Hung Cheng Lin 5 5

Chu A K

Cheli Lin Q 3

The dealer ran a board of 4 3 7 2 K to give Chu a pair of kings on the river and eliminate Lin.

Players are on a 15-minute break.

Bruno Desimoni

France's Yann Lormel went head-to-head with Brazil's Bruno Desimoni in a pot that was worth 800,000 chips! Both players got their stacks in preflop with Lormel being the at-risk player.

Desimoni K Q

Lormel T T

The flop would heavily favor the Frenchman after the dealer put out the 8 4 T board. Desimoni needed running cards to score the knockout but the 7 turn and A river were no help.

Just 50 players remain in Flight D of the APT National Cup.

After 11 more players have been eliminated, the survivors will bag up their chips and come back for Day 2 tomorrow.

The action started with Lin Ker Paw ripped in from an early position but the snap called by Tai Wei Liang put him at risk.

Paw 3 3

Liang K Q

The board ran Q J K 4 7 did not help Paw and he was eliminated.