Team event well received by players
Both international and local players embraced the team event today, as 27 teams were formed. The competitive aspect of the event did not get in the way of a thoroughly friendly atmosphere, with teams of 3 people happily competing across the felt. The action was 9 handed, with three teams participating on each table. Once two of the teams were eliminated, the third progressed to the next round.
The team event format is unusual in that a player can still have chips but must vacate their seat if two of their team members bust. This interesting twist on an established concept has been blended with the shootout aspect to create a tournament which the 81 runners seem to have really enjoyed.
Team France enjoys battle against team of elite Chinese pros
The first team to qualify from their table to the 2nd round was “Team France” which featured Willy Doorman, Ron Tse along with Brian McAllister. In order to win their table they had to find a way past some of the great talents of Chinese poker. Team Chang You provided two pros to form the backbone of a Chinese team that included Zhou Quan and Aiko Wang. Quan has over $800,000 in live career cashes.
The French Team had to win in an unpleasant way to swat this talented Chinese team aside. After Brian McAllister entered the pot with 10s,2s, a preflop raising war broke out, leading to McAllister’s shove being called by AA and KQ of team China.” One flush later, he was raking in the huge pot and eliminating two players.
Nine teams went through to the second round, with three of them international, and six Chinese.
The action eventually got down to just two teams left standing. One of those final teams was in fact, Team Vietnam, and featured Somuchpoker co-founder Denis Pham! He was joined by PKC pro Ian Brion and Danh Nguyen. They faced off against a Chinese team, and as the dust settled on their duel, Team Vietnam were the only ones left standing. They take home $8,273 for their efforts.
Notables
There were a number of other notables in this event, including Juicy Li and owner of Mike’s Room in Manila, Mike Kim. It is likely that both of these players will be taking part in the Main Event.
Main Event
Day 1B of the $1,000 buy in Main Event saw another 60 entries takes their seats. Many more players are expected to register in the final three starting days, as players compete for the mouth watering $500K prize pool. 10 players remained at the end of day 1B.
The chip leader at the end of this starting day was Pang Wentao from China, who bagged up 187,000 chips.
The international players saw a slight improvement today, having seen none of their group survive day 1A. They now have Korea’s Kim Chi Yan returning for day 2. He showed his quality towards the end of today when he called a big river bluff with just second pair.
Chip counts
- Pang Wentao – 187,000
- Kim Chi Yan (Korea) – 179,000
- Chen Xuefeng – 153,000
- Zhao Gang – 141,000
- Wang Zhong – 124,000
- Shi Li – 101,000
- Cheng Ningning – 101,000
- Son Wan Jun – 91,000
- He Ming – 64,000
- Shi Dawei – 59,000
More: Full coverage
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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