John Matsuda

Xiaoyu Ye raised to 35,000 from the cutoff before small blind John Matsuda three-bet to 82,000. Ye promptly four-bet jammed with a covering stack and Matsuda snapped it off:

John Matsuda: Q Q Xiaoyu Ye: J J

Matsuda was in great shape for a double, and the 6 A K flop kept his ladies safe.

The Q turn improved him to a set, but it also gave Ye a broadway draw. The 4 river bricked, and Matsuda scored a huge boost to his stack at Ye's expense.

Berhanu Kassa open-shoved for 96,000 when action folded to him in cutoff. Chong Zhang, on the button, called, and after the blinds folded, both players tabled their cards with Kassa at risk.

Berhanu Kassa: Q T

Chong Zhang: 6 6

Zhang was looking at a chance to eliminate another player when the flop came A J 5 . Kassa, leaning foward, was hoping one of hi overcards would hit but with the flop his outs increased with a straight draw.

The turn 2 was a brick but a wide smile spread across Kassa's face when the K fell on the river, completing his straight and leving Zhang to try and rebuild his stack again.

Sun Yue

Sun Yue, already one of the most accomplished players on the Asian Poker Tour with six APT Women's Event titles, returned this morning after bagging a stack in the National Cup event.

Yue was featured in APT's "20 Years" series, highlighting her remarkable rise to become the most successful Women's Event player of the Tour's New Era.

With just 47 players remaining from the 474 entries, Sun Yue is firmly in the hunt for one of the APT's most coveted prizes, the Pewter Lion Silhouette Trophy.

The National Cup also appears to be a household favourite event as Yue's partner, Zhiyi Wang, captured this very title last year after overcoming a massive 760-entry field. With Yue still in contention, the couple now have the chance to make it back-to-back National Cup victories.

Button Hongbo Pan raised to 24,000 and big blind Luyao Ma defended.

Both players checked the 3 5 9 flop through to the 8 turn, where Ma led for 30,000 and took down the pot.

Pan raised to 24,000 again a couple of hands later and Zhiyi Wang defended his big blind.

The entire K T T A 3 runout was checked through, with Wang flicking over 5 4 for not much of anything, while Pan claimed some chips back with 8 8 for pocket eights.

Abraham Ceesvin

After action folded to the button, Minkoo Kim, who only had 53,000, open-shoved just to get an all-in announcement from small blind Haidi Feng for 284,000. Hongbo Pan, in the big blind, considered his actions and asked for a count of Feng's stack. Covered, Pan opted out, leaving the two players to head to showdown.

Minkoo Kim: K T

Haidi Feng: 7 7

Feng, ahead, had a chance to eliminate his opponent but the dealer spread 6 K 9 pushing Kim ahead. The button player was put on a sweat when the turn 5 gave Feng more outs with a straight draw. As he feared the 8 fell on river completing Feng's straight. With a groan of disgust from his peers, Kim smiled and left the table to claim his min-cash prize.

Chong Zhang in the small blind, at risk, was all-in for 96,000 against Uhara Motokatsu in the big blind, who had him covered. Both players, hoping to boost their chips waited for the dealer to spread the flop.

Chong Zhang: A 6

Uhara Motokatsu: A 3

Zhang was ahead with the better kicker when the flop dropped 4 8 9 . No help came for Motokatsu on the 2 turn and 8 river, sending most of his chips towards Zhang leaving him with a little bit more with the big blind.

Zhang not done with Motokatsu, raised to 22,000 after action folded to the button. Motokatsu placed all his chips in pushing the big blind out of the way.

Uhara Motokatsu: J 9

Chong Zhang: A T

With Zhang once again ahead, Motokatsu was hoping to stay alive but the board ran 3 T 2 3 3 ending his tournament run early in the day.

Small blind Zhiyi Wang limped before calling Dillon Najor's 40,000-chip squeeze.

Wang checked the 5 A 7 flop and Najor fired 23,000. Wang didn't take too long before putting in the call.

Both players checked the 8 2 runout, and Wang flicked over A 9 for flopped top pair to scoop the pot.

Ting Liu open-jammed from under the gun for 57,000 and Menglan Lai called all-in for her final 5,000 chips, which she had carried through from Flight A. No one else opted to call:

Menglan Lai: A 8

Ting Liu: A 9

Lai had kicker problems, and despite picking up a gutshot on the 7 6 4 flop, the J T runout bricked and she was sent to the rail as the first elimination of the day.

Cards are in the air and the Korean National Cup is underway. From the combined Day 1s, a total of 67 players are now battling it out to capture an APT Lion Trophy and win the top prize of KRW 70,334,000 (USD 50,490).

Stay tuned as we bring you thrilling poker action straight from LES A Casino at Jeju Shinhwa World.