Friday, 29th March 2024 08:13
Home / Uncategorized / APPT Seoul Day 1A: Japan’s Masato muscles way through opening day

One blink and Day 1a of the APPT Seoul is all over!

Well, not really one blink, more like eight 60-minute levels, but the opening day of the second event on Season 8 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour sure did feel like a fast day of action-packed poker.

And for some it was an extremely fast day considering how early they were eliminated, but I will get back to them soon. First, I will tell you all about Masato Yokosawa and how he finished as the Day 1a chip leader.

Masato Yokosawa’s bag was overflowing with chips at the end of Day 1a as he will take a stack of 146,800 into Day 2 and set the pace for tomorrow’s Day 1b.

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Masato Yokosawa didn’t like those cards, but certainly liked plenty on Day 1a

Yokosawa began Day 1a as just one of the 118 total players who hit the felt of the Paradise Walkerhill Casino. Each and every one of them walked past a giant Robert De Niro billboard and into the unique poker room at the start of the day, but at the end of the day, only 45 players held their head up high as they wandered back past De Niro having made it through to Day 2.

Some of the players who also secured a Day 2 berth include APPT Melbourne champ Sam Razavi, Winfred Yu, 2014 Macau Millions victor Hao Chen, Akira “Clutch Hero” Ohyama, Edison “GooGieMonA” Nguyen and reigning APPT Seoul champion Aaron Lim.

When Day 1a began, Lim was just one of many champions of the Asia-Pacific poker scene partaking in the action, but not all of them would survive. Two-time Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon victor and Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin was just one of the many players to hit the rail.

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No more titles for Celina Lin here in the APPT Seoul Main Event

Lin’s tournament came to an end when she found herself down to 7,000 in chips -less than ten big blinds at the time – and moved all in holding ace-eight. Lin ran into ace-ten and wasn’t able to improve her hand. Lin was in good spirits though, quickly tweeting that she now had plenty of time to get ready to enjoy tonight’s APPT Seoul player party.

Lin was joined on the rail by fellow Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and now Huang will be joining Lin at the party. Following his elimination, Huang told us in the media that he will be playing most of side events this week, but only the one tomorrow depending on how hungover he is. He did say that the party could not be missed because of the excellent fried chicken with spicy sauce, adding that “Korean food is the best, it just makes me so happy.”

Hard to argue with that.

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Bryan Huang’s smile will be even bigger when he gets some of that chicken

While Lin and Huang won’t be representing the red spade on Day 2 of APPT Seoul, Naoyo Kihara will be. Kihara, Japan’s only WSOP bracelet winner, bagged up 39,200 on Day 1a and was quickly flanked by members of the Japanese poker media for comment. We didn’t quite catch what Kihara was saying, but he seemed happy!

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An APPT trophy sure would look nice next to a WSOP bracelet

All of the surviving players from Day 1a will be back to action from 12:00 p.m. local time on Saturday. Between then and now, these players will head to the player party tonight and then watch on as a new batch of players take to the tables for tomorrow’s Day 1b.

For now, it’s off to join the player’s for the party and some of that chicken that Bryan Huang spoke so kindly of. See you back here at midday tomorrow!

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