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We went over to check on Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt, but we couldn't find him. His chair is empty, his chips are gone, and we don't see the gregarious New Zealander anywhere.
We can't say what happened, but we can say definitively that Putt has been eliminated from Day 1a.
Level: 6
Blinds: 250/500
Ante: 50
Jessica Ngu raised from middle position to 1,200 and Samuel Aronov called from the next seat. Kai Paulsen called from the cutoff seat and Daren Yoon called from the button. All four of them saw the flop come down 
. Ngu checked and Aronov checked. Paulsen fired 3,600 before Yoon folded. Ngu made the call and then Aronov called as well.
The turn card put the 
on board. Ngu was first again and she checked. Aronov, a PokerStars qualifier, checked and then Paulsen fired 5,200. Ngu asked Paulsen how much he had left before she moved all in, having both remaining players in the hand covered. Paulsen had about 22,000 left after he bet the turn. Aronov was up and went into the tank for several minutes. The other players at the table, namely Celina Lin, Raymond Wu, Nathanael Seet and Daren Yoon, began commenting on how long the hand was taking. Then after several minutes of thought, Aronov called all-in for 12,500. Paulsen got out of the way and then the unexpected happened.
Instead of showing down their hands before seeing the river card, Ngu tossed her hand into the muck. Aronov looked at her and also didn't turn his hand over. The other players at the table began looking at each other wondering what was happening. The dealer put the deck down and fanned it out before starting to push the pot towards Aronov. He won the hand and didn't have to show, but elected to show his 
anyway to the table before raking in the pot.
Seoyong Chin opened the pot with a raise on the button, and he called a three-bet from big blind Jesse Haabak to put about 8,000 chips in the pot. Off the two men went to a flop of 
. Haabak continued out with a bet of 4,000 before Chin bumped it up to 11,000 straight. Both men were playing with stacks of about 40,000 chips, and it wasn't long before Haabak moved all in for that full amount. Chin snap-called to put the largest pot thus far up for grabs. He turned up 
, and Haabak sheepishly showed his semi-bluffy 
.
Not to worry, Mr. Haabak. As if on cue, the 
binked fourth street, and both men reacted as if they'd been hit by a blowdart. The hand was already over before the 
hit the river, and Haabak could only shake his head and grimace at what he seemed to know was an ugly beat. Chin gave one last long look at the table before he headed for the rail, and Haabak began the task of stacking up his ~88,000 chips, putting him at the top of the class for now.
One table seems to be keeping itself above the frenzied action around it. Perhaps it's because some of the players would rather not tangle with Julian Powell, Celina Lin, and Joachim Chia, and are waiting to get broken to softer pastures. But the raise-and-take-it pattern is boring Powell. He raised to 1,100 from middle position, and action folded to Chia in the big blind. Chia is a star in Singapore, where he won his buy-in to the APPT Macau Main Event on the reality show Asian Poker Showdown. "Come on, gamble Singapore," Powell goaded. "So close," Chia said as he mucked, earning some more chiding from Powell.
Nathanael Seet just eliminated Carlos Chang from the tournament to move up to 29,000 chips.
Vladimir Geshkenbein opened the action with a raise to 1,025 from late-middle position. Alex Loon made the call from the button and then action fell on Marcel Luske in the small blind. He fired in a three-bet to 4,200. The big blind folded, as did Geshkenbein. Loon also mucked and Luske picked up some chips.
If you haven't heard about Alex Loon, you better start soon. Loon has been crushing the APPT Macau series this year. After 11 events of play, Loon made six final tables. Out of those final tables, he won one event and came in second place in three others. That's a pretty amazing streak so far for the series. He's looking to top it all off with an awesome run in the Main Event here. He's amassed himself about 55,000 chips on Day 1a and looks poised to go deep. We'll see how he can do.
Marcel Luske isn't known to risk his chips lightly. Vladimir Geshkenbein raised to 1,100 from late position, and Luske called on the button. The flop came 
. Geshkenbein checked, and Luske checked behind. The turn brought the classic bluff card, the . Geshkenbein bet 1,000, and Luske called quickly, and Geshkenbein instantly gave up on the hand. He checked the 
on the river, and as soon as Luske began the motion of counting out chips, Geshkenbein mucked, saving the table some time.
Dao Xing Chen limped into the pot under the gun, and the player next door wanted to play for more. We'll call him Player 2 since he was a late-breaker whose name we're not sure of. In any event, Player 2 raised it up to 1,600, and the table folded back around to the limper. Chen quickly moved all in for 9,350 total, and Player 2 sunk in his chair.
"S'pose you have aces," he said, and with that he promptly plunked the calling chips into the pot. He was right. But wrong. You know what we mean.
Showdown
Chen:
Player 2: 
Board: 
That spells a double up back to about 20,000 for Chen, while Player 2 slips to just under 6,000. We'll try to grab his name when the frown wears off over there.
Level: 5
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
