5K HR ($5,000)

The action is opened in the hijack of Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu who makes it 160,000. He is called by Thomas Boivin of Belgium in the sb and chip-leader Dinesh Alt of Switzerland in the bb.

The flop comes A♥ 4♠ 7♠ as the blinds check. Chiu continues for 280,000 and the blinds stick around, making this a juicy pot. The turn is the 6♦ and now Boivin leads out for 350,000 as Alt calls. Chiu goes into the tank and spends a Time Bank card before declaring that he s all-in for 1,820,000. Now it’s the Belgian’s turn to go into deep thought and also use a Time Bank card. Boivin re-shoves for 3,330,000. Now the action falls on Alt, who has already made a significant investment into the growing pot. The Swiss player is so perplexed that he ends up using two Time Bank cards and was close to burning a third one when he decided to fold, but he does so face up showing A♠ 5♠ for top pair with open ended straight draw and the nut flush draw.

Chiu tables A♦ 4♦ for two pairs on the flop while Boivin shows 7♥ 7♣ for mid set on the flop. The Taiwanese needs an ace or a four to survive.

The river is the 3♠ (which should have given Alt the nut flush) as Chiu is railed and Boivin is the new chip-leader with almost seven million.

The remaining five players are now all guaranteed US35,598.

Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu opens from the hijack to 160,000 and gets a bb defense from chip-leader Dinesh Alt of Switzerland.

The flop comes J♥ J♦ 9♣ as both players check. The turn is the 9♥ as Alt now leads out for 150,000. Chiu calls. The river is the Q♣ and this time Alt fires 350,000. Chiu goes into the tank and burns a Time Bank card in the process. The Taiwanese players eventually throws his hand into the muck.

Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu is all-in preflop against Qiu Quan of China. Chiu is ahead with T♣ T♦ facing A♦ 4♠ from Qiu.

The flop gave the edge right off the bat to the player from China: A♠ 6♠ 2♣ while the last two community cards were of no help: 8♠ and K♥ .

Qiu’s double up also dents Chiu’s monster stack

In what appears to be a race to the top of the leaderboard, Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu is all-in covering former chip-leader Remy Murcia of France, who has staked his last 1,030,000.

Chiu shows A♣ K♣ while Murcia tables J♠ J♥ in a coinflip for his tournament life.

The flop instantly changed the favors to Chiu’s side: A♠ 6♠ 6♥ and the turn even fortified the lead as the K♥ came. The ouster of the Frenchman became official when the 7♣ hit.

Chiu, Thomas Boivin and current chip-leader Michel Molenaar re jockeying for the top spot.

Joshua McCully of Australia opens from the utg+1 position for 80,000 and gets called by the blinds.

The flop comes 2♦ 3♥ 9♣ as the blinds check. McCully CBets to 140,000as the sb folds but Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu call from the bb. It is heads-up to the turn where the 4♥ appears. Chiu unloads 180,000 and the Australian can’t call.

Chiu’s stack now rises to 2,250,000 while McCully’s shrinks to 560,000.

Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu has the action folded to him on his button and decides to raise to 60,000. Remy Murcia of France 3-bets him from the sb to 200,000. Chiu calls.

The flop is K♠ 2♠ J♦ as Murcia continues for 90,000. Chiu still calls, The turn is the K♣ and this time, the Frenchman wallops 245,000. Chiu can’t continue.

Both still have well over one million in their stacks.

After nearly losing all his chips in his previous hand, Lithuania’s Edgaras Kausinis is once again all-in preflop, this time against big stack Charlie Chiu of Taiwan.

Kausinis has 6♣ 4♣ which are live cards to Chiu’s A♥ 7♣ .

The runout never gave Kausinis a glimmer of hope: K♥ 2♦ 9♠ 7♥ 4♠ .

Chiu’s stack is now at 1.4 Million. We are now on bubble time.

In a battle of the blinds, Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu is all-in against Ricardas Lukauskas of Lithuania who is at risk with his last 227,000 in the middle of the table.

Chiu shows A♦ 9♣ while Lukauskas has A♥ 7♣ .

The flop comes K♥ 4♥ 6♥ , giving a major sweat to Chiu as the Lithuanian is on the nut flush draw. The turn is the Q♣ and the river is the A♠ as the Taiwanese player’s kicker somehow plays, eliminating Lukauskas. Chiu’s stack is once again above the one million mark.

The hand starts with a player opening from utg for 24,000 and sees a 3-bet shove to 352,000 from England’s Jack Sinclair as Charlie Chiu from Taiwan re-raises all-in as well forcing the original raiser to fold.

Sinclair shows A♦ K♠ while Chiu reveals he is the favorite with K♥ K♦ .

The first three community cards are J♣ 9♠ 6♠ while the turn card brought out a sweat as the 3♠ appears. Chiu’s nightmare was realized on the river when the T♠ to complete a running one-card flush for Sinclair to drag the once mighty stack of the Taiwanese player down to mortal levels.

Ivan Lee of Hong Kong is all-in for his tournament life against Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu. Lee’s remaining 257,000 is in the middle of the table as he shows T♦ T♥ and is delighted to see that his opponent has 9♣ 9♠ .

The runout goes: J♣ J♦ 3♣ 7♣ (a sweat card) and the river is the T♠ as Lee’s set brings his stack to above the half million mark while Chiu is still barely above the one million mark.

Yiannis Liperis of Cyprus opens from the hijack for 20,000 and the action folds to the bb of Taiwan’s Charlie Chiu who re-raises all-in. Liperis makes the call for his remaining 325,000.

Chiu tables 8♥ 8♦ while the Cypriot shows A♣ K♥ .

Chiu dodges all outs on the runout: T♣ 2♠ 7♠ 9♠ 4♥ to bust Liperis and climb to well above the one million chip mark.

Charlie Chiu of Taiwan opens from the utg+1 position for 20,000 and has the action folded all the way to the bb of Singapore’s The Naing who defends.

The flop is K♣ T♣ 3♥ as The Naing checks. Chiu CBets for 40,000 and the Singaporean announces that he is all in for his remaining 58,000. Chiu makes the call.

The Naing shows K♥ 2♦ for top pair while the Taiwanese player turns over J♠ J♥ .

The turn card is the 7♦ while the river is the 8♠ as The Naing continues to keep his chances afloat.

Joining the hand at the river with already 155,000 in the middle on a 7♣ 2♠ A♣ 4♠ 7♦ board, France’s Remy Murcia in the sb bets 104,000 as Charlie I-Chun Chiu of Taiwan goes in the tank and uses up four Time Bank cards. Chiu eventually decides to call.

Murcia turns over K♠ J♠ for a missed flush draw while Chiu shows A♥ 3♥ for top pair with a not so sexy kicker on the flop. The tough decision has cost the Taiwanese player all but two of his extensions for the day.