2012 PokerStars.net APPT Seoul Day 1a: Christopher Park Heads The Pack
After a two-season hiatus, the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour returned to Seoul, South Korea. The first day of play at the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event concluded on Thursday evening after the first eight levels of play.
On Day 1a, 129 players took part in the action, and of those, Christopher Park finished with the most chips. It never seemed like Park played a massive hand. Instead, he slowly built his stack with well-timed aggression and plenty of expert play. At the end of the night, Park bagged up 119,800 in chips and was the only player to end with six figures.
There will be 55 players who will join Park on Day 2 later this weekend, with Fakher Alizai (97,200), Barry O’Callaghan (94,200) and Michael Guzzardi (68,500) also in good shape.
One of the early stories to emerge out of Day 1a was the domination of 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Oliver Speidel. He got off to a great start when he won a big flip holding AxKx against Oliver Gill’s QxQx. Speidel continued his rise up the counts from there and finished with a solid 74,400 in chips — seventh overall.
Some notable players who couldn’t quite manage the momentum they needed to survive the night included Terrence Chan, Jesse McKenzie, Grant Levy and Darren Judges.
The 129 players who have entered so far are proof that this side of the world deserves a championship poker tournament, with the record number of players for an APPT Seoul event set to be broken on Friday afternoon when a capacity field takes to the felt on Day 1b. The original record was set in 2007 during Season 1 with 186 players coming out for the APPT Seoul Main Event.
2012 APPT Seoul Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Park | 119,800 |
| 2 | Fakher Alizai | 97,200 |
| 3 | Barry O'Callaghan | 94,200 |
| 4 | Ryan Dong-Woo Kim | 92,300 |
| 5 | Moritz Ortmann | 81,200 |
| 6 | Akira Ohyama | 76,300 |
| 7 | Oliver Speidel | 74,400 |
| 8 | Yosuke Sekiya | 72,400 |
| 9 | Michael Guzzardi | 68,500 |
| 10 | Viacheslav Manakov | 66,300 |
The play on Day 1b is set to kick off on Friday at 1215 KST (1915 PST Thursday). Make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they again bring all the coverage from the APPT Seoul Main Event.
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