Numbers climbing at the Asia Poker League Main Event

As anticipated, a massive field has been brewing at the Asia Poker League (APL) with Day 1C and Day 1D of the Main Event producing big numbers at the Beijing Poker Club. The CNY 5,500 entry fee (approx. US$800) saw Day 1C with the largest showing of 196 players while Day 1D had 161. Combine that with the 284 total entries of the first two flights, there are now a whopping 641 entries in the books with one more starting flight to go.

APL founder, Judic Kim, expressed to Somuchpoker,

“We are more than happy about the turnout so far. Last edition of the event in Beijing attracted 472 entries, we have already over-passed this number.”

Here’s a short review of Day 1C and Day 1D:

Day 1C leaders

It was prime time hour at Day 1C with 196 players filling up the tables at the Main Event however by night’s end, only a quarter of the field remained with 49 players bagging up chips. Emerging as the chip leader was Chen Dong with 177,000 in chips followed closely by iconic Chinese female pro Li Yan with 165,000.

While Yan has many accomplishments to boast of, last year witnessed her land a runner-up finish at the APPT 10 Korea High Roller event then two months later, followed it up with a victory at the APPT 10 Manila High Roller event.

Another player into the top ten was Chen Canlin with 119,700. Chen maybe in the shadows but he is someone to keep an eye on as he recently placed 3rd at the PokerStars Championship Macau HK$206K NLH High Roller event.

Top 10 chip counts – Day 1C

1 – Chen Dong – 177,000
2 – Li Yan – 165,000
3 – Che Liang – 162,100
4 – Zhao Zhi Gang 146,800
5 – Su Lang – 134,900
6 – RORO – 128,000
7 – Ma Xing Yu – 120,200
8 – Chen Canlin – 119,700
9 – Jiang Wei Chun – 116,000
10 – Huang Xu Jun – 115,500

Day 1D leaders

Last night, another starting flight concluded with Day 1D attracting 161 players to the Main Event. After the allotted twelve levels of play, only 44 held strong with Cui Jiabin leading the pack with 195,700 in chips.

The chip leader Jiabin is a decorated pro with many deep runs in various Macau events. Two years ago, he nearly landed his own Spadie with a runner up finish at the ACOP HK$9,000N NLH event. He returned to the felt the next month and claimed his first major victory at the WPTN Jeju Korea Main Event.

Trailing the leader in third position is poker pro Steve Yea with 137,300 in chips. Yea had his fair share of cashes last year but his biggest live tournament score dates back to 2008 after placing second at the APT Macau HK$5,800 NLH event.

Top 10 chip counts – Day 1D

1 – Cui Jiabin – 195,700
2 – Zhang Bo – 149,200
3 – Steve Yea – 137,300
4 – Liu Feng – 127,400
5 – Sun Bo – 126,900
6 – Wang Shu – 126,000
7 – Xiang Jinfan – 120,600
8 – Ma Kangyuan – 119,800
9 – Zhu Jingfan – 119,100
10 – Tao Qiang – 106,300

Heads Up Event results

In the lineup of side events to choose from, the APL offered a Heads Up 64 max tournament with a buy-in of CNY 5,500.

In talking to Somuchpoker, the APL tournament Director expressed his enthusiasm at staging this kind of event.

He stated, “Few festivals are offering Heads Up tournaments nowadays. We wanted to give the opportunity to our players to play this special format despite the challenges that it can represent for an event organizer.”

Payouts

1st Zhuang Yan – CNY 100,000 (approx. US$14,520)
2nd Yu Jun Da – CNY 50,000
3rd Wan Zhe – CNY 25,000
4th Cui Yue Ming – CNY 25,000
5th LI Si Xiao – CNY 12,500
6th Wang Meng – CNY 12,500
7th Byung Hwah Song – CNY 12,500
8th Fu Liang – CNY 12,500

APL KO Bounty results

Another side event also wrapped up, the KO Bounty event with 75 players ponying up the CNY 4,400 entry fee. For every head delivered, players received a CNY 1,000 bounty. Here are the results:

Payouts:

1st Zhou Xu – CNY 64,000 (approx. US$9,290)
2nd Che Qing Qiu – CNY 42,000
3rd Luo Xiao Peng – CNY 28,000
4th Chi Hao Yu – CNY 23,000
5th Byung Hwah Song – CNY 18,500
6th Wang Xiang Wei – CNY 16,000
7th Jiang Wei Chun – CNY 13,500
8th Wang Xiao Shan – CNY 11,000
9th Chen Chang Ting – CNY 9,000

Chen Hao wins the Pot Limit Omaha event

The Pot Limit Omaha event, the only non-Texas Hold’em tournament on the roster, attracted 76 players for a CNY 152,000 prize pool. Topping that event was notable pro Chen Hao who is well known for his victory at the WPTN Sanya Main Event last October. Hao earned CNY 41,000 for his first place finish.

We have just crossed the halfway mark of the event with the APL Beijing 2017 running from April 15-21, 2017. Stay tuned to Somuchpoker for more updates and results on all the ongoing action.

Article Triccia David