APPT Main Event ($1,750)

In the early levels, China’s Hao He was one of the first to hit the century mark. Now, he’s reduced to not even a middling stack but is still in there on his first bullet and figures in a hand with Nguyen Pham Duy of Vietnam who has risen in the ranks and is one of the big stacks.

The action gets folded to Nguyen in the hijack and he raises it up to 5,000 and Hao decides on a BB defense.

The flop goes Q♦ Q♣ 3♦ as both players check. The turn card is the 2♣ and after the Chinese players a second time, Nguyen comes in for 4,000. Hao folds as Nguyen builds his stack one heist at a time.

Australia’s Matthew Russell opens from UTG for 2,200 and get the blinds to call.

The flop is T♥ 6♠ 4♥ and the two Chinese players in the blinds (Li Shankui in the SB and Hao He in the BB) both check. Russell CBets to 3,500. The blinds still call. The turn is the J♦ as this time. Li leads out for 12,000. Hao and Russell make the call. The river is the 4♠ and now Li bombards it for 30,000. Hao and Russell fold.

Hao’s plummet from chip leader to middling stack is alarming while Li is beginning gain momentum.

With the action folded to the button of Sumit Supra, the Indian raises it to 1,600 and gets calls from the SB of China’s Pang Junpeng and the BB of another Chinese player in Hao He—one of the current chip leaders.

The flop is A♦ K♦ 3♠ as the blinds check. Supra continues firing, this time for 2,500. Pan folds, but Hao remains interested. It is Heads Up to the turn where the 7♣ appears and Hao checks again. Supra now loads it up to 6,500 and once again gets called. The river is the 9♦ as Hao checks a third time. Supra now bets 13,000. Hao still calls.

Supra turns over J♦ 8♦ for a rivered flush while Hao chooses to muck his hand.

Hao’s stack is still substantial albeit the moderate hit absorbed from the Indian.

India’s Sumit Sapra starts the action from UTG for a raise to 1,600 and gets called on the hijack by Hao He of China. Australian Matthew Russell, however, 3-bets it from the cutoff to 5,100 and gets called by the initial participants.

The flop comes 8♥ 3♦ 6♠ as it is checked back to Russell who CBets to 7,000. He gets no callers.

Russell’s stack now goes over the century mark and is shaping up to be one of the early chip leaders of this Day 1B.