Paup Phua was spotted over at the registration desk, and he had just bought into the tournament at the start of the level. However, he was in need of a fresh stack as the first bullet was no good. A quick look at the table revealed the double stack of Jack Salter and Koray Aldemir confirmed what had happened.
According to Aldemir, Salter had raised from early position and called a three-bet to 8,000 by Phua from two seats over. The flop came and Salter check-raised from 8,500 to 31,000, which Phua called. On the turn, Salter bet 39,000 and Phua called before the Brit moved all in when another paired the board.
Phua called and was shown pocket threes by Salter, who scooped the pot with a full house and Phua mucked before buying back in immediately.
Benjamin Wu and Pratyush Buddiga, who both participated in the 6-Max Event, just signed up and bumped the field to 23 entries in total. With two further participants, a new table will open.
Yu Liang limped in from under the gun and David Peters filled up from the small blind, Dario Sammartino checked his option in the big blind. The flop of brought no betting action before Peters checked the turn. Sammartino bet 3,500, Liang and Peters called.
On the river, all three checked again and Peters rolled over for two pair to scoop the pot.
One hand later, Peters raised from the button and Sammartino called in the small blind. There was no betting on any of the streets of the board and Sammartino's won the pot.
Richard Yong, Mustapha Kanit, Jack Salter, Koray Aldemir and Winfred Yu showed up at almost the same time to change a tournament ticket for 250,000 in chips. Table three was opened and Yong sat down there along with Salter, Yu and Aldemir. Dan Cates, Wai Kin Yong and Rui Cao were also moved there as well and the field size has increased to 21 in total.
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John Juanda opened to 4,000 and Peter Chan called in the cutoff. On the flop, Juanda checked and so did Chan. On the turn, Juanda made it 7,000 to go and folded to a raise by Chan.
Hand 2
One hand later, Juanda raised to 4,000 again and Chan called in the hijack, Daniel Colman defended the big blind. On the flop, Colman checked and subsequently folded to a bet of 10,000 by Juanda and a call by Chan.
The on the turn saw Juanda fire 20,000 and Chan called before then folding the river to a third barrel worth 40,000 by Juanda.
Timofey Kuznetsov defended his big blind against a raise by Dario Sammartino and check-called a bet on the flop. The turn brought little action before Kuznetsov then bet the river for 14,000 into a pot of around 20,000. Sammartino gave it some thought and called to see Kuznetsov turn over for a flush with the seven, which ended up taking down the hand.
Kuznetsov had started pretty badly, but the tides seem to be turning over on table two.
While Zuo Wang arrived over on table two, Rui Cao opened the action with a raise to 4,000 from under the gun. Phil Ivey called on the button and the blinds got out of the way. On the flop, Cao checked and called a bet worth 5,000 by Ivey. He did so again on the turn for 12,000 and the river completed the board.
Cao checked for the third street in a row and Ivey checked behind to get shown by Cao. This ended up being a winner, as Ivey mucked.
John Juanda entered minutes before the end of level two, while Wai Kin Yong and Dario Sammartino showed up in the break to increase the field to 15 entries.
Yong is the defending champion of this very event after defeating Bryn Kenney last November to take down the HK$ 500,000 Main Event.
Upon the completion of level two, the players were sent into a 10-minute break, which railbird Mustapha Kanit - or cow - confirmed twice after grabbing the microphone. The Italian is expected to jump in soon.