Raffaelle SorrentinoDay 1A came to an end with 42 players remaining, and the big stack belongs to Raffaele Sorrentino, who bagged 970,000 (97 big blinds).
Action ended with 7:55 remaining in Level 17, with blinds at 5,000-10,000 and a10,000 ante. Day 2 will roll the blinds back to the earliest point where a starting flight finished.
Official chip counts for the 42 survivors will be released by the casino later tonight, and they will be returning on Monday at 11:30 pm for Day 2, where everyone will start play in the money.
There will be two more starting flights over the next two days, with Day 1B beginning tomorrow at 11:30 am, and Day 1C beginning on Sunday at 11:30 am.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
RS Raffaele Sorrentino | 870,000(87 BB) |
XL Xiao Liu | 766,000(77 BB) |
| 619,000(62 BB) | |
XZ Xiaosheng Zheng | 594,000(59 BB) |
VO Vishal Ojha | 576,000(58 BB) |
| 576,000(58 BB) | |
AS | 526,000(53 BB) |
BG Brian Green | 510,000(51 BB) |
YL Yuhan Liu | 479,000(48 BB) |
AP Abhishek Paul | 460,000(46 BB) |
After losing a chunk to Xiao Liu, Ali Hassan has ramped up the aggression to win a couple of pots to return to good health. On a board of T♣ 5♣ 6♥ 8♥ K♦ and around90,000 in the pot, Liu test-bets 54,000, Hassan makes the call and ships it with 7♣ 7♠ .
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
XL Xiao Liu | 830,000(83 BB) |
AH Ali Hassan | 375,000(38 BB) |
On a board showing K♦ 8♣ T♠ K♠ 3♦ and a hefty 112,000 in the pot, Ali Hassan tanks to Xiao Liu's 120,000 bet. Hassan eventually finds reason to call then mucks to 8♠ 8♦ set.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
XL Xiao Liu | 890,000(111 BB) |
AH Ali Hassan | 76,000(10 BB) |
A scan of the field during the break turned up nine players with at least 450K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
KK Kimsour Kong | 880,000(110 BB) |
RS Raffaele Sorrentino | 715,000(89 BB) |
XL Xiao Liu | 689,000(86 BB) |
NZ Neng Zhao | 681,000(85 BB) |
BG Brian Green | 625,000(78 BB) |
YL Yuhan Liu | 490,000(61 BB) |
JL Johan Lees | 466,000(58 BB) |
RG Rajesh Goyal | 463,000(58 BB) |
PC Pete Chen | 462,000(58 BB) |
Xiao Liu opens 14,000 from under the gun, button player Victor Fryda and big blind Peter Kiem give him some action. At the flop T♥ J♠ 2♠ , Liu continues for 12,000 and both players call for the pack staying solid to the turn A♦ . Liu barrels again for30,000 and this time only Fryda makes the call. On the river 7♠ , Liu slows down and checks, Fryda test the waters for 44,000. Liu tank-calls. Fryda has A♥ J♣ top two pair, Liu wins the pot with T♠ T♦ set.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
XL Xiao Liu | 630,000(105 BB) |
VF Victor Fryda | 102,000(17 BB) |
Alexander Charron moves all in from the button for 14,000, Xiao Liu reraises from the small blind to 32,000, and the big blind folds.
Charron turns over T♥ T♣ , and needs it to hold to stay alive against Liu's A♥ 8♠ .
The board comes A♠ A♦ K♣ Q♦ 5♦ , and Liu flops trip aces to win the pot and eliminate Charron from Day 1A.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
XL Xiao Liu | 260,000(65 BB) |
AC Alexander Charron | busted |
Xiao Liu three-bets to 16,000 and then calls a four-bet shove for 69,500 with the A♠ K♥ . His opponent has K♣ K♦ and Liu hits perfect on the A♣ Q♠ 6♠ 3♠ T♠ runout.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
XL Xiao Liu | 225,000(90 BB) |