Main Event

USA’s Rajesh Goyal earned himself the highest recognition today bagging up an enormous 608,000 stack to finish Day 2 as the chip leader. The next three on the rung are Korean players Choi Jae Young - 562,000, Cho Hyung Woon - 491,000, and Guak Do Gyeong  - 422,000. Rounding out the top 5 is Lester Edoc with 388,000. We will have a recap shortly so stay tuned for that. For now, you can relive some of the exciting moments right here in the live updates.

Day 2 is officially over with Harold McDonald delivering the bubble! The player tagged was Michael Kim Falcon. Before we actually give you the details, it is worth acknowledging that McDonald entered Day 2 as the shortest stack. He won multiple pots along the way to accumulate enough to send the Dane packing.

Two hands after McDonald won a sizable pot against Falcon (reported below), both faced off again. McDonald raised to 16k, Falcon shoved his remaining 32k, and it was no brainer call for McDonald holding K♦ K♣ . Falcon had Q♥ T♦ . With the board running out 4♣ A♠ 7♠ 7♣ T♣ , that ended Day 2 with the final 36 players in the money.

We will have a recap for you at the end of the day so make sure to check the website for that.

With the fall of Niwesh Sharma, the players have now entered the bubble round with 37 players remaining. Taking heavy beatings to his stack was Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon with two players shaving him down.

The first player to bleed chips from Falcon was Harold McDonald. On a raised pot preflop and a flop showing 4♠ 3♥ Q♠ , big blind McDonald checked to Falcon who sent out 14k. McDonald called. On the 7♣ turn, Falcon continued to bet and fired out 25k, McDonald check-called. On the A♠ river, both players checked and McDonald won with his J♠ 5♠ flush.

The next player to drag chips from the Dane was BJ Perez. Action kicked off with Perez pumping it up to 20k which Falcon called. On the flop 3♥ 4♦ T♠ , both players checked for a free look at the turn 8♥ . Perez checked, Falcon bet 33k, Perez tanked, then shoved for another 35.5k to Falcon. Reluctantly, Falcon called and both cards were revealed, Perez A♣ Q♣ and Falcon Q♥ J♣ . The river T♦ completed the board and Perez celebrated a double up. Falcon dropped to 33k.

A big crowd gathered around table 8 with everyone anticipating Niwesh Sharma’s next move. The board had already completed its spread of 9♥ 5♣ 3♠ 5♠ 6♣ , around 120k was weighing down the middle, and Cho Hyung Woon was all in. With his tournament life being tested, Sharma tanked for a very long time until the clock was finally called. Sharma called, putting himself at risk then stormed out after seeing Cho’s A♦ 5♦ trips out-kicking his K♥ 5♥ trips. Cho charged to 500k.

India’s Jayjit Ray has been nursing a short stack all day with difficulty reaching average stack. He recently picked up a nice pot after winning a three-way showdown. Ray had K♣ Kc , big stacked Czardy Rivera A♣ K♥ , and Ellezer Castillo A♦ 7♥ . The board ran 6♥ 6♣ 5♦ 7♣ 5♥ to bust out Castillo while Ray jumped to average stack of around 170k.

One of Day 2’s entering chip leaders, Lee Chang Gon had a swinging stack after getting involved in few hefty pots. The first one we caught was up against Lester Edoc. Lee raised to 10k, Edoc three bet to 23k from the button, and Lee flatted. At the flop 4♥ T♥ K♥ , Lee checked then called Edoc’s 15k bet. On the T♠ turn no bets came but on the river K♠ it was back to action with Lee sliding out 40k, Edoc raising to 90k, then Lee giving up his stake on the pot.

The next hand, Lee recovered some of the lost chips when he connected with an ace on the board holding A-9. Edoc had mid-pair on the river.

Several hands after, Lee battled against Florencio Campomanes for a pot. On a turn board 5♥ 2♥ 3♣ 9♣ , Campomanes check-called a bet by Lee and the river landed J♣ . Action was the same with Campomanes check-calling a 65k bet. Lee won with A♣ 7♣ nut flush.

Filipino pro John Tech was on the receiving end of a three-way all in fest that drove his stack to 300k. Tech had K♠ K♥ , Tae Joon Cho A♥ Q♦ , and Jiang Shi Wei 5♠ 7♣ . The community board spread 6♣ 5♣ 4♠ T♠ K♠ for a victorious boat. Jiang busted followed by Cho a few hands later.

Choi Jae Young

Kim Tae Hyung and Choi Jae Young got involved in two separate pots that had Kim on the paying end. On the first pot, action began with Czardy Rivera raising to 10k. Kim three-bet to 25k, sb Choi called and so did Rivera. At the rainbow flop K-J-5, everyone checked. On the turn 5, Choi led out for 31k, Rivera folded, Kim called. Then on the river A, Choi bet 31k again and Kim called. Kim had A-J two pair but still not good enough against Choi’s 4-5 trips.

Next winning pot against Kim saw 48k already swimming in the middle and a board 9♣ 6♥ 8♣ T♦ . Kim checked, Choi bet 31k, Kim called. On the 2♠ river, action was the same with Choi sending out 31k again and Kim with the check-call. Choi won with 8♦ 7♣ straight. Choi climbed to 420k.

Rajesh Goyal is currently the chip leader having railed two players back-to-back. His first victim was Tony Khoang who fell to Goyal’s set. The bigger chunk though came right after against Euryd Rivera with A-A over K-K. The hand saw progressive bets at every stage with Goyal shoving on the river on a low board T♥ 8♣ 5♦ 5♣ 6♦ . Rivera was eliminated and Goyal catapulted to 500k.

Luke Pangan

Luke Pangan quickly shared the story of the damage done to his stack which was down to around 20k. According to him the day’s second chip leader Choi Jae Young landed a runner-runner clubs against his set made at the flop with progressive bets to the river.

Early on we saw Choi win a pot against Czardy Rivera. The latter raised to 7500, Choi three-bet to 15k, and Rivera called. At the flop 8♠ T♠ 4♦ , Choi fired out 34k and won it with Rivera folding up.

Once again, Jun Valdiviezo is in a showdown fest with multiple players. This is similar to to what we witnessed in Day 1B with him winning on a four-way shove. Action here saw him raise to 7k with two players calling. At the flop A♠ 4♠ 6♣ , small blind Buddy Dungca bet 25k, Valdiviezo called, then button Hwang Jae Yeol moved all in. Dungca followed with slightly less chips, and after a couple of minutes, Valdiviezo joined in.

Hwang held 8♠ 6♠ flush draw pair, Dungca A♣ K♣ top pair, and Valdiviezo A♥ 4♥ two pair. The turn 3♣ and river 2♦ kept Valdiviezo ahead for a triple up and more. With very short stacks behind, both Dungca and Hwang busted on the the next hand. Valdiviezo up to 230k.

Mike Takayama seems to be fluctuating in an out of the 200k range and every time we glance over to check on his status, he is on the grind. On one hand, he raised to 7k preflop and big blind Jiang Shi Wei defended. At the flop 6♠ K♦ 2♦ , both checked. On the 3♥ turn, Jiang led for 8k then faced a 28k raise from the Filipino pro. Jiang folded.

On a completed board 4♣ A♥ 5♣ 5♠ 6♠ and roughly around 80k brewed in the center, Tony Khoang fired out 20k only to get popped to 65k by Niwesh Sharma. A♠ players began to leave for the first break of the day, Khoang still contemplated even jesting “we partied together last night and today you bluff me?” Khoang eventually folded. Sharma showed one cared 8♣ .

We aren’t sure how it all went down but Michael De Leon started the day running 9th out of 76 players and now he has fallen to just 26k. We did see Warm Up event winner Tae Joon Cho shipping in a big one against him. On a full board A-4-4-9-Q, Cho showed Q-Q full house. Cho now up to 190k.

Big hand just went down at table 8 between Rajesh Goyal and Eugene Co. Action heated up preflop with Co raising to 5200 from the button. Big blind Goyal three- bet to 15,200, Co answered back with a 43k four-bet, and Goyal ended the war with a call. At the flop 2♠ Q♣ T♣ , both players checked. On the turn 3♠ , Goyal led for 40k and Co called. On the 9♥ river, Goyal continued to muscle with an all in. Co folded. Goyal now up to 260k and Co down to 130k.

There will be no shortage of action at table 6 today with the felt loaded with power players. On the elliptic are chip leader Guak Do Gyeong , Lester Edoc, John Tech, Martin Gonzales, and Jaeheung An who we just lost moments ago. An was eliminated by Edoc in what we have to say was an unbelieveable call.

The hand kicked off with An raising (?), Edoc re-raising (?), and An called. At the flop J♥ 3♣ 5♥ , both players checked. On the 5♠ turn, An led for 17k and Edoc smooth-called. On the 4♦ river, An shoved with 111,800 which sent Edoc tanking. Edoc had An covered by another 60k +. A few minutes later, Edoc tossed in the one chip customary call. An turned over K♣ Q♦ bluff and Edoc had him with A♠ K♥ ace high. Sick! Edoc now at 345k.

Jessie Supnet started with 26,100 but now has double that winning the race against Yoo Gyeong Tae. Supnet had T♦ T♥ and Yoo with A♦ Q♦ . The board bricked.

Day 2 kicked off with multiple dealers announcing “all in”, many were uncalled but a couple quickly fell. The first player to go was Frederick Hernandez, unfortunately we missed the action however at table 5, Czardy Rivera knocked out the only female in the field Chen Tian Ai.

Chen raised to 5400 from utg, Rivera three-bet to 14,500, Chen four-bet to 35k, and Rivera called. After that heavy action, more came at the flop 8♠ 2♥ A♥ with Chen counting out her chips and moving it all in. Rivera with the quick call. Chen Q♦ Q♠ and Rivera had A♠ K♠ top pair. The board completed 8♦ turn K♣ river for top two pair to Rivera and Chen was out. Rivera climbed to around 220k.

Eric Wasylenko continued from where he left off in Day 1A, immediately boosting his 186,400 stack to around 235k. One of his donors was Emmanuel Segismundo. Unfortunately we only caught the action at the shipping with Wasylenko showing A-10 pair on the turn over Segismundo’s pocket twos.

After three starting days that saw a combined 276 entries for the Main Event, only 76 advanced to Day 2, and as we speak, they are at the tables battling it out here at the Royce Casino ballroom in Clark Freeport, Pampanga.

The six-day APL Road Series Vol.1 Philippines festival took off running on February 24th and is scheduled to conclude on March 1st. Now that we are into the fourth day, this means we have passed the halfway mark. Last night, the official Main Event tally flashed on the big screen making players very happy to see a juicy Php6,693,000 prize pool. The eventual winner is due to pocket a large sum of Php1,478,700.

The previous days saw Eric Wasylenko top Day 1A, Guak Do Gyeong  dominate Day 1B, and Choi Jae Young lead Day 1C. Out of the three leaders, Korean player Guak commands with a monstrous stack of 423,400.

With the average stack at 90,789, Guak can likely hang back for a while with over 4.5 times that number. Rounding the top three are fellow Korean players Choi (Day 1C leader) with 214,500 and Lee Chang Gon with 201,800. A total of 14 Koreans are in the field today, including Jaeheung An, the High Roller champion. He sits with around 190k placing him in 5th rank.

Yesterday’s final starting day amassed a large number of locals with 44 of them back at the felt today. In numbers, that’s well over half the Day 2 field. Entering with a stack running 4th overall is Eugene Co with 193,800. Lester Edoc, brother Redentor Edoc, and Michael De Leon are also in the top ten of the list. Mike Takayama sits in 11th rank with a healthy 160,400 stack.

Apart from the local and Korean attendance, numerous players from India and China also made the trip. India’s Niwesh Sharma bagged the most from his country, entering Day 2 with 170,100. Though not many Chinese advanced, one that did was Zhu Xing Biao with a stack of 77,800. Zhu ran very well at yesterday’s games. He won the NLH Turbo then placed 4th at the Pot Limit Omaha 2.

There are plenty of other players to watch out for today and we will do our best in bringing you updates on as much action as possible. What everyone will be gunning for is a spot in the money round of 36 places. Day 2 regulation play begins at Level 13 with Game will cease when the bubble bursts.

You can view the chip counts via the link provided below.

More: APL Road Series Main Event: Start of Day 2 Chip Counts