APPT Seoul Main Event | 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul

Sep 28, 2008

Sayonara

After the recent double up of Yoshihiro Tasaka, there was a few words exchanged between Tasaka and Hidenari Shiono. Both players are Japanese and decided to use their preferred language to communicate.

However Brian Kang was having none of it, and the Canadian quickly had a word to the tournament director who reminded the players that it is English only at the tables.

Sep 28, 2008

Tasaka Doubles through Shiono

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Yoshihiro Tasaka looked like he might have adopted a new strategy. Three hands in a row he moved all in, first by opening all in from the button, then reraising all in over the top of Brian Kang (who folded), and the third hand by reraising all in for 174,000 over the top of a 24,000-chip raise from Hidenari Shiono. Shiono pondered his decision for about a minute before shipping thirty yellow (T5,000) chips into the middle. His {A-Hearts}

was dominated after Tasaka impressively turned over {A-Spades}

. The board ran out no help to Shiono, {9-Spades}

. Tasaka now has about 360,000 chips.

Tags: Hidenari Shiono Yoshihiro Tasaka

Sep 28, 2008

Shiono Does It With Big Slick

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Hidenari Shiono raised to 24,000 from the button and Brian Kang defended in the big blind.

They took a {A-Spades}

flop and both players checked. The {9-Clubs}

fell on the turn and Kang led out for 30,000. Shiono then popped it up to 60,000 with Kang making the call.

The river landed the {4-Clubs}

and both players checked it down.

Kang flipped {A-Clubs}

for top pair but Shiono had a monster with {A-Hearts}

good to collect a healthy pot.

Sep 28, 2008

Game On

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The stacks are deep now in relation to the 4,000 and 8,000 blinds. As a result, players have reverted to the cautious approach that characterized early stages of the final table. Most pots are captured with a preflop raise. In a few instances, someone else has called the raise. However, every time, a single bet on the flop was enough to take down the pot. For as action-packed as the last hour was, this hour is shaping up to be much more about strategy and meta-game.

Sep 28, 2008

Railbirds Swarming

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The crowd is starting to build up around the final table area with the excitement building as we draw closer to the climax of the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul Main Event.

There are plenty of railbirds supporting the players, and if there's one thing the Asian culture provides, it is a passion for gambling. Any time there is a big pot the railbirds are up on the chairs yelling their hearts out! It's great to see such passion and excitement as poker captures the attention of Korea.

Level: 18

Blinds: 4,000/8,000

Ante: 1,000

Sep 28, 2008

Plenty of Play Left

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After the recent rush of eliminations, play has slowed down now that we are three-handed. The short stack at the table still has over 40 big blinds so there should be plenty of play left at this final table.

However Yoshihiro Tasaka is still happy to move his chips around as evident by a recent hand. Brian Kang had raised from the button to 18,000 and Tasaka moved all in. It was an additional 200,000 chips to Kang - a healthy reraise indeed. Kang quickly folded and Tasaka raked in the chips.

Sep 28, 2008

Fam Yat Eliminated in 4th Place ($32,054)

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Players can't stay in their seats! Barely had the dust settled on the elimination of Yuji Masaki, then Fam Yat pushed all in from under the gun for 86,000. Hidenari Shiono tanked for over a minute from the small blind, clearly faced with a difficult decision for that amount of chips. He finally elected to call with {6-Diamonds}

. Yat showed {A-Diamonds}

-- it was a flip. He wound up on the wrong side of it after the board ran out {8-Diamonds}

and was therefore eliminated in 4th place.

Tags: Fam Yat Hidenari Shiono

Sep 28, 2008

Yuji Masaki Eliminated in 5th Place ($26,043)

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Yuji Masaki showed amazing survival skills at the final table, but Brian Kang finally stopped him. Masaki opened with a shove from the small blind for 22,000. Brian Kang asked for a count, then called with {K-Diamonds}

. He had Masaki "in a bit of a bother", as TD Danny McDonagh put it, when Masaki showed {Q-Hearts}

. The hand wasn't over, however. The flop {7-Hearts}

to add some drama to the hand. Masaki had already used up his nine lives, it seemed, as neither the turn {A-Clubs}

nor the river {2-Diamonds}

were one of his twelve outs. He was eliminated in fifth place, earning $26,043 as a result.

Tags: Brian Kang Yuji Masaki

Sep 28, 2008

Dan Schreiber Eliminated in 6th Place ($20,033)

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Brian Kang raised form the cutoff to 18,000 and Dan Schreiber was the lone caller in the small blind.

The two chip leaders saw a flop of {J-Diamonds}

. Schreiber checked to Kang who bet out 25,000. Schreiber acted quickly, as he always does, in making it an additional 45,000 to go. Kang deliberated, as he always does, before sliding out 45,000 plus another stack of yellow chips to announce yet another raise of an additional 100,000. Schreiber instantly moved all in and Kang snap-called.

"Are you drawing?" quizzed Kang of his opponent, but Schreiber had already got there with his {10-Clubs}