Main Event (1,300,000 KRW)

The third of five flights for the KPC Main Event with a KRW 800,000,000 (~$544,077) guaranteed prize pool attracted 248 players and saw 30 advance to Day 2 during level 16 with Hon Leung Ip in the lead, bagging 578,000.

The Hong Kong native - who just banked his biggest live cash of $10,602 for finishing 4th at the PSCT Last Chance High Roller about a month ago - first appeared on the leaderboard in level 11 after busting Linghui Dai and then muscled his way to the top with aggressive play, adding a last chunk to his stack by eliminating Chen Hao with a preflop flip in level 16.

Second in chips Xingyu Liu had one of the biggest stacks since level 9 and continuously chipped up, eliminating Chuan Shu Chen along the way during level 13 that left him with 545,000 at the end.

Shen Syu Ho finished the day in third with 527,000 - trying to add to his two 5-digit cashes this year already, one of which came from winning the TMT 17 High Roller. The biggest gain to his stack came from busting Kuan-Hsueh Lu with A♣ A♥ against 5♥ 5♣ in a pot that went to the river A♦ Q♥ Q♣ 5♠ 8♣ before the chips went in.

Only one day left until the 30 qualifiers can start fondling their chips again on Saturday the 12th of April at 12:00n local.

Li's odds for a double up keep getting higher on T♣ T♥ 5♠ 6♠ before falling to zero on the river A♣ , leaving us with 30 qualifiers for Day 2 instead of the 31 we planned for.

No help for Aghayev on T♠ A♥ A♦ J♣ Q♠ and the bubble for Day 2 has burst.

Everyone misses on J♦ 6♠ 8♥ 5♣ 2♠ , keeping Aghayev's ace high ahead.

The board 2♥ 2♣ 6♣ 6♠ 5♦ spells the end for Hao, taking the rest of the field into bubble play.

The dealer keeps the field intact by tabling 2♠ Q♣ T♠ A♠ 5♥ and grants Yu Han Su a much needed double up.

Wang is left with one out after the dealer flips over A♠ , but cant get there on 7♥ K♣ 7♣ A♦ and vacates his seat.

Lights out for Miyamoto on 2♠ 4♦ J♠ 3♠ 2♣ and we are four eliminations away from the end of Flight C.

The action folds to Zheji Wang in the small blind, all-in for 88,000 is announced and Shuangchun Mou has an easy call.

Shen Syu Ho leads 10,000 from the cutoff and takes button Kuan Hsueh Lu to the flop A♦ Q♥ Q♣ where his 8,000 c-bet gets called for the 5♠ to hit the felt . Ho slows down to a check, but calls when Lu lays out 15,000. Another check from Ho on the river 8♣ has Lu bet 35,000 with 5♥ 5♣ , Ho puts him all-in and Lu doesn't take long to call for a total of 160,500, but is in shock when Ho flips over A♣ A♥ for a bigger full house.

Wang misses all his outs on the river 8♠ and hands this huge pot over to Mou.

Everything is looking peachy for Ho on 7♠ Q♣ 4♦ 5♥ before going pear shaped when the dealer flips over the river 3♥ , giving the No. 76 on Taiwan's all time money list a straight and a much needed double up.

Yirui Zhang min-raises from +1, big blind Tien-Min Liang ups it to 32,000, Zhang makes it 68,000 before Liang declares all-in. After spending some time in the tank, Zhang lets it go, leaving himself 18 BBs.

Yansong Wu min-opens from the hijack and big blind Na Ye defends to see the flop 9♣ 4♦ 7♦ where Wu's 6,000 c-bet gets called to reveal the turn 6♦ . Wu's second barrel of 16,000 gets check-raised to 44,500 and a call completes the board 7♣ . Ye leads 20,000 and fills up to a total of 49,000 after Wu put her all-in. Ye's T♦ 9♦ flush falls short of Wu's A♦ J♦ flush, sending her to the rail.

Under the gun Hon Leung Ip min-opens and takes two players to the flop J♦ 3♦ 5♠ where his 9,000 c-bet is enough to push out the button, but former chip leader Yunpeng Bai speaks up with a 23,000 raise. Ip peels , the turn 5♦ gets checked to the river 5♣ and two more checks reveal Ip's A♥ 4♥ as the winner against Bai with Q♠ 9♠ .

Cutoff Cheng Yen Lo raises to 6,500 and calls after small blind Guyue Wang pumped it to 18,000. Wang continues for 9,000 on the flop T♥ 2♥ 4♣ , but lets it go when Lo forks out 26,500.

No spade on 4♥ and T♣ sends Ma to the rail.

Andrew Hosok Han opens 6,500 from +2 and takes both blinds to the flop 4♥ T♥ 8♣ that gets checked to the turn 9♣ . Small blind Shuangchun Mou leads 5,500 and only Han fills up to see the river J♣ that gets checked down with Mou tabling the winner T♣ J♥ .

The 5♦ ends this setup making Lim the new chip leader.

With everything tallied up we have a total of 248 entries which results in 38 ITM spots and 31 qualifiers for Day 2.

Ip's over pair stays ahead on 3♦ to scoop a hefty pot.

Under the gun Yihao Jiang min-opens, button Jianfeng Sun makes it 12,000, but small blind Wei Hong's 32,000 cold four-bet ends the hand.

Button Kozo Yamada puts 4,000 over the line and calls after small blind Linghui Dai pumped it to 11,000 to see the flop 9♠ 2♥ J♣ . Dai leads 11,000, but lets it go when Yamada puts him all-in.

Under the gun Joris Michl opens 4,000 and takes two customers to the flop 5♠ 4♦ Q♥ that gets checked to the turn 4♥ where last to act Shengyao Chen bets 4,500, big blind folds, Michl raises to 12,000 and Chen fills up. The river 7♣ has Michl lead for another 18,000, Chen calls, but mucks when Michl shows A♣ A♠ .

Congya Zhang leads 3,500 from +2 and takes two players to the flop T♦ 3♠ 7♥ where her 5,000 c-bet finds a single customer in Ye Li. The turn 8♣ has her fire a second barrel for 8,000 to scoop the pot.

The dealer makes short work of Lee by hitting the felt T♦ 5♣ 9♠ K♥ 4♦ .

Masanori Ishihara opens 3,000 from +1 and takes both blinds to the flop 9♣ 8♠ 8♦ where Ishihara continues for 3,500, but small blind Xinxing Tang wins the pot with a check-raise to 9,000.

Picking up the action on 3♥ 5♥ 9♠ K♥ and 38,000 in the middle, button Yansong Wu bets 21,000 and small blind Takashi Miyamoto pays up to see the board complete 6♦ . Checked to him again, Wu makes it 41,000 that has Miyamoto contemplating for a while before he lets it go.

Button Daqiao Jiang slides out 2,500 and takes both blinds to the flop 9♠ A♦ 8♦ that gets checked to the turn T♠ where big blind Yunpeng Bai leads 4,500 and finds a sole customer in Jiang. The river 4♣ has Bai put out a tiny blocker of 2,500, but folds after Jiang separates 6,000 from his stack for a raise.

The low board 8♦ 4♦ 8♣ 7♦ 5♦ favors Wang who gets up and tells his friends what happened.

On a board A♦ A♥ A♣ Q♥ with 6,800 in the pot, small blind Yansong Wu leads 2,800 and takes big blind Takashi Miyamoto to the river 2♦ where a check from Wu leads to a 5,400 steal by Miyamoto with 6♦ 3♠ who has to surrender the pot after Wu calls with K♦ 6♣ .

Catching the action on the river A♥ 8♥ Q♥ Q♠ 4♣ and 27,000 up for grabs, we see Valeriy Pak pick the wrong time for a 25,100 bluff-jam with J♥ T♦ , running into Hyung Soo Lim's 8♣ 8♦ full house.

The 5♠ has Miyamoto prevail to scoop up this massive pot.

Button Daqiao Jiang raises to 3,200 and takes small blind Yunpeng Bai to the flop T♣ 8♥ 6♠ where Jiang c-bets 5,000 and calls a 13,000 check-raise from Bai to reveal the turn 9♠ . Bai's 17,200 lead goes unanswered.

Hyung Soo Lim initiates the action with a raise to 2,000 from the button, small blind Zhen Chen ups it to 6,000, but Zeyuan Wang has the last word with a 23,800 jam out of the big blind.

No one-outer for Ishihara on the river 7♣ grants Liang this hefty pot.

Under the gun Daqiao Jiang opens 2,000 and takes two players to the monochrome flop 6♥ 9♥ K♥ where Jiang's 2,500 c-bet gets trumped by a 10,000 check-raise from big blind Zhengnan Huang that gets the job done.

Tony Lin and 17 other players have ponied up the massive buy-in so far. Late registration will be open until the end of level 25 around 21:25 local. Good luck everyone!