ACCUMULATOR THROUGH DAY 1, CLEMENTS STILL ATOP WITH 93 REMAINING

After the excitement of the first day of the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific, things were a little more subdued in the Crown Poker Room on Friday afternoon. With two back-to-back flights of the $1,100 NLHE Accumulator Event, players knew there was the potential for a very long day ahead on the felt.

 

A total of 197 players entered Thursday’s Flight 1a and that number was exceeded on 1b as 227 players took their seats. Arguably the highest profile player to make their first appearance at the WSOP APAC on Friday was Daniel Negreanu.

 

After sleeping through the day and missing Flight 1a yesterday, Negreanu jumped into Flight 1b but his tournament didn’t last too long. Negreanu was forced to make a big early fold after being min-raised on the river, before running top pair into the nut flush of reigning world champ Ryan Riess.

 

With Negreanu gone, it opened up opportunities for George Danzer and Brandon Shack-Harris to grab some valuable points in the hotly-contested WSOP Player of the Year Race. Interestingly, Danzer bagged up a decent 24,625 chips on Flight 1a but was happy to try and accumulate even more but things didn’t go so well in Flight 1b as he was quickly sent to the rail where Shack-Harris later joined him.

 

International visitors Antonio EsfandiariDan Heimiller and Jeff Madsen were just a few of the new faces in the Crown Poker Room on Friday, and all three managed to bag up chips. Esfandiari was flying before he copped a whack with two pair versus a set, while Madsen and Heimiller were able to quietly accumulate without too much fanfare.

 

After eight levels of play it would be two-time WSOP bracelet winner Heimiller who bagged up the biggest stack in the room with 50,700, just ahead of the local contingent which included Piyush Gupta, David Bowen and Daniel Levy as just 33 players survived the flight.

 

$1,100 No Limit Holdem Accumulator Event - Flight 1B Top Ten

 

Dan Heimiller - 50,700
Piyush Gupta - 47,500
David Bowen - 45,325
Daniel Levy - 40,500
Minh Nguyen - 39,450
Luke Brabin - 38,500
Jeff Madsen - 35,800
Gijs Voppen - 30,900
Daniel Murphy - 28,075
Giacomo Fundaro - 23,650

 

Click here for the complete Flight 1b chip counts.

 

While the final cards of Flight 1b were being dealt, the action continued in the Crown Poker Room with the third and final flight of the Accumulator Event kicking off at 6:10pm. It was the last opportunity to qualify for Day 2 so a big Friday night field was expected. In the end there were 187 entrants on Day 1c, bringing the total field to 611.

 

The player to bag the most chips on the final Day 1 flight of the Accumulator was Peter Longmore with 43,875. Thomas Gleeson (32,500) and Rory Young (32,425) were the next closest stacks, while prominent players like Mike Watson (21,450), Oliver Gill (10,475) and current 2014 WSOP Player of the Year leader Brandon Shack-Harris (6,925) also made it through to Day 2. 

 

$1,100 No Limit Holdem Accumulator Event - Flight 1C Top Ten


Peter Longmore -43875
Thomas Gleeson -32500
Rory Young -32425
Andrew Roberts -25325
Hussein Mrad -24975
Michael Wang -24000
Christopher Gurney -22500
Simon Chahine -22075
Colin Galloway -21925
Julius Colman -21475

 

Click here for the complete Flight 1c chip counts.

 

There were 31 players who bagged chips on Day 1c, which combined with the rest of surviving players means 93 will return to the Crown Poker Room at 12:30pm on Saturday to continue their journey towards winning a WSOP APAC gold bracelet, because two players bagged chips in two flights, Julius Colman and Mace Turco. For those who fell short, they’ll have another chance to get back into the action with Event #2: $2,200 No Limit Holdem kicking off at 2:10pm local time.