Main Event

Hyukjin Kwon paid off a bet worth 125,000 by Jong Hoon Lee on the river of a T♣ 9♣ A♦ 3♥ A♣ board and mucked when Lee showed K♣ Q♣ for the ace-high flush. Kwon then tangled with Sungwon Seo and lost even more chips to drop to a severe short stack.

He got the last of it in with 9♣ 7♦ against Seo's A♦ 2♥ and turned a straight on the 8♥ 6♣ 4♣ T♠ 3♠ runout to stay alive.

The private duel between Hyukjin Kwon and Sumin Lim on the live stream table continued when they saw a A♦ J♥ 2♣ 7♥ turn. Kwon check-raised from 17,000 to 69,000 with the J♣ T♥ for second pair and Lim called with the 7♣ 5♠ . The river was the 9♠ and Kwon check-folded to a shove by Lim.

Hyukjin Kwon defended the big blind with the Q♣ J♥ against Ki Taek Kwon with the A♠ Q♠ and they headed to the K♠ 3♦ 2♥ flop. The first check led to a bet worth 12,000 and Kwon then check-raised to 37,000 with his queen-high to force out his opponent.

Four ways with 13,000 each invested ahead of the T♠ 5♣ 3♥ flop, Geunseop Ban and Gwongjin Park checked. Hyukjin Kwon bet 25,000 and Sumin Lim called, the other two players folded.

Kwon bet another 44,000 on the Q♠ turn to get called before they checked the 2♥ river. Kwon tabled 4♣ 3♣ for a pair of fours and Lim won the pot with K♠ T♥ for a pair of tens.

In a four-bet pot preflop, Xu Chen made it 104,000 to go. Hyukjin Kwon then moved all-in for 292,000 total and that sent Chen deep into the tank. He used some of his time bank extensions before letting go, forfeiting one third of his stack in the process.

Hyukjin Kwon raised the button and found a caller in Youngkyu Kim out of the small blind. Kim checked the 9♥ 2♠ 2♣ flop and then folded when Kwon made it 15,000 to go.

Over on the other table, Joo Hee Oh raised to 11,000 and Hyunjeong Kim defended her big blind off a severe short stack. She checked the K♦ J♦ 9♦ flop and then folded to a continuation bet in the penultimate hand of this level.

Hyukjin Kwon has become the undisputed largest stack on his table and took on Dongwoon Lee, the latter of which put up resistance from the small blind. With the turn showing K♦ 7♥ 5♦ 7♦ , Lee bet 35,000 and Kwon's shot clock ran down to zero before he opted to fold.

Youngjong Lee flipped for the last 25,000 with 5♠ 5♥ from the cutoff against the K♦ Q♠ of Sungmin Ha on the button. The Q♣ J♠ 4♦ flop provided the overcard and two blanks followed.

At the same time one seat over, Jae Young Jeon got her micro stack in with T♥ 8♠ against the J♥ 5♥ of Hyukjin Kwon. The A♦ 6♥ 4♣ 4♦ 2♠ board missed both players and the jack was enough for the elimination.

On the river of a K♥ Q♣ 7♣ 6♥ T♦ board, chip leader Sungmin Ha bet 16,000 and Hyunki Lee called. Ha showed the A♠ 3♣ for a bluff and Lee won the pot with the A♦ T♣ for a pair of tens.

Over on the other table, Heeseok Kim three-bet jammed into Hyukjin Kwon and got the shove through got 53,000 as Kwon folded the A♠ face-up.

Over on table six, the flop showed Q♥ 7♠ 3♠ and the action checked to Junsheng Qiao. He bet 6,500 and earned three callers to the 7♣ turn. Hyukjin Kwon now bet 16,500 and Heeseok Kim then pushed all-in. Qiao folded, as did Shizi Xiao while Kwon called.

Both Kwon's 8♥ 7♦ and the 8♠ 7♥ of Kim had turned trips and the split pot was guaranteed ahead of the K♥ river.

Following an open raise to 4,000, both players in the blinds call including Shizi Xiao and Hyukjin Kwon. The J♥ 8♥ 3♦ flop is checked all the way to the Q♣ turn on which the initial raiser bet 6,000. Only Xiao called and then led the K♠ river for 18,000.

The reluctant call followed and Xiao tabled A♣ T♦ for broadway to earn a nice pot.

The hero not long ago with a big double against Hyukjin Kwon, Sang Hyuk Lee has been eliminated soon after! On a board of 8♥ 5♠ 4♥ 7♦ Q♥ , his 8♣ 8♦ had flopped top set but the A♥ K♥ of Sungmin Ha rivered the nut flush.

It remains unclear when exactly the chips went in, but Lee's more than 70,000 by then were easily covered by Ha. In somewhat remarkable fashion, he is not the chip leader as Hyukjin Kwon on the same table has even more!

On a completed board of A♦ Q♦ 2♣ 6♠ 9♣ , Sang Hyuk Lee got his stack of 40,100 into the middle against chip leader Hyukjin Kwon. Both players had hit top pair and then made two pair on different streets, as Lee's A♥ 9♠ scored the double versus A♠ 6♦ .

Long-time chip leader Kwon still has a very healthy stack at his disposal despite this setback.

Sungmin Ha had re-entered and doubled his stack with a hero call against Jaejoon Yang when his Q♥ 6♣ had the superior kicker on the 9♥ 6♠ 4♠ 5♦ turn. The river was the J♣ and Ha doubled.

Right after that on new blinds, chip leader Hyukjin Kwon raised to 3,700 and Hyun Ho Cho called all-in for 3,200 with the 9♦ 8♦ . Kwon only had 9♣ 7♠ and Cho prevailed on the 4♥ 4♣ 2♣ 5♠ 8♥ board.

New on the table is Nana Nakamura, who took a short break after her third place in the High Roller.

Whenever there appears to be a larger pot brewing over on table five, it is Hyukjin Kwon applying pressure. The latest hand was no different as he jammed the A♣ K♦ 9♦ 6♦ 5♦ river into Hyun Ho Cho. Almost 40,000 were in the middle and Cho as well as Kwon had similar stack sizes. The former eventually slid his cards into the muck and Kwon collected the pot once more, again without needing to show the cards.

The duel of Hyukjin Kwon and Dabin Kang had taken place several times throughout the early stages of Day 1b thus far and they created a pot of around 23,000 once more to the J♠ 7♦ 5♠ 3♦ turn.

Kang checked out of the small blind and Kwon bet 5,500 on the button, which earned him a reluctant fold.

Joining the action on the Q♦ T♣ 7♠ 2♣ turn, big stack Hyukjin Kwon bet 1,600 and then called a raise to 4,000 by Dabin Kang. He checked the J♦ on the river and Kang bet 9,000 to take down the pot without resistance.

Hyukjin Kwon bet a three-way flop of 4♥ 3♥ 2♠ when checked to and was called only by Dabin Kang in the next seat. The Q♠ turn was checked and Kwon bet the 6♦ river to force out Kang. He moved up to almost two times the starting stack already in what shapes up to be a hot start.

Hyukjin Kwon squeezed to 1,500 preflop and was called by Xu Joan as they headed to a flop of 2♥ 2♣ 2♦ on which Joan check-folded. Kwon then won an even bigger pot when his 6♣ 4♦ turned two pair on an ace-high board to take a chunk off Tae Yeon Kim with top pair and top kicker.