Main Event (1,300,000 KRW)

The second of five flights for the KPC Main Event with a KRW 800,000,000 (~$544,077) guaranteed prize pool attracted 174 players and saw 22 advance to Day 2 during level 18 with a new overall chip leader in Chinese pro Lei Yu.

The No. 24 on China's all time money list already banked more than $300,000 this year, all coming from deep runs during the Poker Dream 16 and Triton events here at the luxurious Landing Casino in Jeju. His day kickstarted after flopping a boat in level 10, extracting a lot of value with a big over-bet on the river and a massive push close to the end when he faced Zi Wei Tung - chip leader at the time - in a hand where he rivered a full house with 7♥ 7♠ on 3♦ 3♣ 9♠ J♥ 7♣ to almost double his already large stack. He will start Day 2 with 722,000.

Second in chips Kecheng Long - fresh from his biggest cash of $38,381 for shipping the Super High Roller at the Danang Poker Tour just over a month ago - arrived on the leaderboard late during level 13, doubling up against Kuo Wei Kao with A♣ K♦ against A♠ Q♠ and busting Shengyong Wang with Q♠ Q♦ against 9♥ 9♠ in level 16 that led him to bag 525,000.

Third place finisher Ye Sheng accumulated 503,000 away from our view after being down to 23 big blinds when he lost a preflop all-in with A♦ K♠ against A♥ A♠ in level 12.

Day 2 will start on Saturday the 12th of April at 12:00.

The dealer keeps Zhang's hopes up until the river by dealing 2♥ T♠ J♥ K♦ 3♥ , but bursts the bubble in the end, granting the remaining players at least a min cash.

With 29 players left - two knockouts away from the money - hand for hand play is in progress.

34 players remain, trying to make it to the 27 ITM spots or even better, bagging chips for Day 2 as one of the last 22.

Wei Cheng opens 11,000 from +1 and takes cutoff Yuan Liang to the flop 7♠ Q♦ 8♠ and starts a triple barrel barrage of 12,500, 22,000 and 35,000 to a complete board 6♠ and 4♦ showing T♥ 9♥ prompting Liang to throw his hand in the muck.

With 46 out of 174 players remaining we will play down to 22 players that qualify for Day 2 and ITM starting at 27.

90 out of 130 players remain with three more levels of late registration still available.

Looking at a complete board 7♦ 9♦ 8♥ 5♠ A♠ and 9,500 in the middle, big blind Wei Cheng wants 5,500 for his nut straight J♦ T♠ and Artem Sofronov obliges, calling with a lower straight 6♣ 4♦ .