J88Poker Tour sees a large Main Event turnout of 452 entries; He-Ru Wu tops Day 1C
For just their second-ever live tournament, J88Poker Tour surely did not disappoint. The Main Event produced another impressive result attracting a combined total of 452 entries over the three starting days. With a buy-in of NT$25,000 (US$810) each, this doubled the 5M advertised guarantee. Also, the eventual winner will receive a WSOP 2019 Main Event ticket worth US$10,000 (deducted from the prize pool). Let’s take a look at the numbers, chip count, and what to expect in Day 2. We also have a brief recap of Day 1C at the bottom.
Main Event review
Day 1A: 27 advanced out of 105 entries
Day 1B: 35 advanced out of 121 entries
Day 1C: 72 advanced out of 226 entries
Total: 452 entries
Day 2 qualifiers: 134 players
Prize pool: NT$9,562,900 ~US$310,000)
ITM: 54 places
1st place: NT$2,152,000 (~US$69,800) + WSOP 2019 Main Event ticket
Top 10 chip leaders entering Day 2:
1 – Vincent Li – Hong Kong – 183,000 (Day 1B chip leader)
2 – Casey Kastle – Slovenia – 176,000
3 – Sebastian Tan – Singapore – 172,500
4 – Hsu Wen Kan – Taiwan – 171,000 (Day 1A chip leader)
5 – Jeonggyu Cho – Korea – 168,500
6 – He-Ru Wu – Taiwan – 167,500 (Day 1C chip leader)
7 – Ben Fung – Hong Kong – 158,000
8 – Park Ju Yuk – Korea – 146,500
9 – Graeme Siow – Singapore -141,500
10 – Chi Hang – Taiwan – 141,000
Total chips in play: 9,040,000
Average stack: 67,463
Opening blinds: 1000-2000 ante 2000
Blinds intervals: increase every 40 minutes
Day 2 gets underway on Tuesday, April 2 at 1pm local time. The agenda is toplay until the final 9 is reached.
Day 2 chip count
J88Poker Tour – Day 2 Main Event Qualifier & Chip Count
Day 1C recap
As expected, Day 1C drew a massive crowd of 226 entries which so happened to be the same number as the combined entries of Day 1A and Day 1B. This last heat saw the arrival of numerous Asian pros with some of them finding their way to bagging time. In the aftermath, it was a local player that claimed the chip lead. Taiwan’s He-Ru Wu topped the 72 survivors with his 167,500 stack.
Hong Kong had a representative at the top as well with Ben Fung closing with 158,000. Fung railed a player during the last hands called with pocket tens winning the flip over A-K to slide into second rank at the end of Day 1C.
Notable players through to Day 2 were: Opening Event winner Yi Wei Peng (117,000), Darwin Lai (112,000), Chi Chung Ho (Hong Kong), Terry Fan (74,500), Phachara Wongwichit (53,500), Mark Gruendemann (32,000), and Danny Tang (12,500).
The Main Event has been running since March 30 to conclude at the festival’s closing day on Wednesday, April 3. For those that bumped the rail, there are a few events to enjoy on the sidelines. The Super KO Bounty begins at 3pm with buy-in at NT$6,600. This will be followed by the High Roller Day 1 at 4pm. Buy-in for that is NT$88,000. Then at 6pm is the Monster Stack Day 1 with an NT$11,000 entry.
Somuchpoker is onsite and will continue to provide you with the latest news as they unfold.
