Main Event (1,300,000 KRW)

The third of five flights for the KPC Main Event with a KRW 800,000,000 (~$544,077) guaranteed prize pool attracted 248 players and saw 30 advance to Day 2 during level 16 with Hon Leung Ip in the lead, bagging 578,000.

The Hong Kong native - who just banked his biggest live cash of $10,602 for finishing 4th at the PSCT Last Chance High Roller about a month ago - first appeared on the leaderboard in level 11 after busting Linghui Dai and then muscled his way to the top with aggressive play, adding a last chunk to his stack by eliminating Chen Hao with a preflop flip in level 16.

Second in chips Xingyu Liu had one of the biggest stacks since level 9 and continuously chipped up, eliminating Chuan Shu Chen along the way during level 13 that left him with 545,000 at the end.

Shen Syu Ho finished the day in third with 527,000 - trying to add to his two 5-digit cashes this year already, one of which came from winning the TMT 17 High Roller. The biggest gain to his stack came from busting Kuan-Hsueh Lu with A♣ A♥ against 5♥ 5♣ in a pot that went to the river A♦ Q♥ Q♣ 5♠ 8♣ before the chips went in.

Only one day left until the 30 qualifiers can start fondling their chips again on Saturday the 12th of April at 12:00n local.

Everyone misses on J♦ 6♠ 8♥ 5♣ 2♠ , keeping Aghayev's ace high ahead.

The board 2♥ 2♣ 6♣ 6♠ 5♦ spells the end for Hao, taking the rest of the field into bubble play.

Under the gun Hon Leung Ip min-opens and takes two players to the flop J♦ 3♦ 5♠ where his 9,000 c-bet is enough to push out the button, but former chip leader Yunpeng Bai speaks up with a 23,000 raise. Ip peels , the turn 5♦ gets checked to the river 5♣ and two more checks reveal Ip's A♥ 4♥ as the winner against Bai with Q♠ 9♠ .

Ip's over pair stays ahead on 3♦ to scoop a hefty pot.