J88Poker Tour sees 9 teams advance and 240 entries at the opener

It was full blown action at opening day of the J88Poker Tour with two events commanding the floor of the CTP Club – Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association. The Team Event heated things up in the afternoon while the Opening Event took full control in the evening with an impressive 240 runners. We’ve got those results for you below.

Team Event recap

The Team Event kicked off with 12 teams made up of four players entering at the price of NT$60,000 (~US$1,950). This generated a cash prize pool of NT$492,960 of which only three teams will eventually shave off a piece. That won’t be decided until the final day.

At the end of the Day 1 four game formats – NL Hold’em, Hyper Turbo, Pot Limit Omaha, and Short Deck – only the top 6 teams in points were guaranteed spots into Day 2. Team Nice Hand accumulated the highest number of points. For their achievement, each member was awarded a seat to the J88Poker Tour Main Event worth NT$25,000 a piece (deducted from the prize pool).

Nice Hand (Taiwan) – 130,800 points

Team OT (China/Taiwan) – 128,950 points

Coming in a very close second in points was Team OT led by J88Poker Team Pro Chen Hao. Chen Hao has quite a powerhouse lineup with the reigning Main Event champion Chia-Jung Liu and online player Chris Baby as two of his teammates. Last year, Chen Hao brought his team to the top and is making a strong bid for a back-to-back. Each of the members received a seat to the J88 Cup worth NT$8,800 each (deducted from the prize pool).

Other Advancing Teams 

The other four advancing teams were Mahome, HKPPA, SPL and 3Bet Monkey.

Mahome – 101,300 points

HKPPA (Hong Kong) – 96,450 points

SPL (Singapore) – 86,100 points

3Bet Monkey (Asia) – 82,400 points

Resurrected Teams

For the bottom half of the roster, they entered the last chance round wherein only 3 out of the 6 teams earned their way back in. After competing once again over the same four game formats, Team AlphaGO and Team OTZIE scored the highest and advanced while Team KONG tied with Team Beautiful & Handsome. Team KONG was awarded the last spot to Day 2 for having earned more points at the NL Hold’em format.

AlphaGO (Korea) 

OTZIE (Taiwan)

KONG (Korea)

Fallen Teams

Sashimi (Japan)

CTP Pro (Taiwan)

Beautiful & Handsome (China)

Opening Event recap 

Friday night weekend warriors flooded the registration area each one eager to hand in the NT$8,800 (~US$285) buy-in to the Opening Event. At the close of registration, 240 signed on to drive the prize pool way north for a very healthy NT$1,862,400 (~US$60,300). The event wrapped up when the bubble burst with J88Poker Team Pro Lin Chen An delivering the bad news to a player.

Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Lin Zhe Li – 203,000
2. Hong Lin Min – 172,000
3. Peng Yi Wei – 168,500
4. Zhang Yu Zhong – 149,500
5. Huang Wei – 143,000
6. Lin Chen An – 138,500
7. Jae Chang – 119,500
8. Wang Zi Jing – 118,000
9. Yang Cheng Jie – 108,500
10. Chaesung Lim – 96,500

Opening Event Final Day resumes tomorrow, Saturday, March 30 at 1pm. The final 36 players are all guaranteed money. The eventual winner will pocket a sweet starting bankroll of NT$418,200 (~US$13,548).

J88Poker Tour continues its six-day run tomorrow with the Main Event – NT$5,000,000 (~US$162,000) as the star attraction. Day 1A begins at 2pm local time. Buy-in is NT$25,000 (~US$810). Only one re-entry is allowed per day. The tournament runs for five days from March 30 to April 3 with three starting days to enter.

Somuchpoker is onsite and will continue to provide you with the latest news on the ongoing festival.

---

More: J88Poker Tour Full Coverage

---