Albert Kim raised from the hijack seat to 750 and both blinds called. The flop produced the 
and action checked around. The turn was the 
and action checked around again.
The river was the 
, pairing the board. The small blind fired out 1,500 and the big blind folded. Kim made the call, but mucked when his opponent tabled the 
for tens and fives with an ace kicker.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Our last check on Kai Paulsen saw him down around 4,000 chips, but it seems things are turning around for him.
"Beyne! Beyne!" yelled Paulsen, running over to his sponsored teammate, Vladimir Geshkenbein. "Back to fifteen!" Paulsen rattled off the details of his little chip rush, and a walk past his stack sees him indeed sitting right at 15,000.
"Beyne" nodded with a smile, though he's sort of busy working on his own stack at the moment. Geshkenbein has chipped his way up to about 36,000 here as we approach the midpoint of Day 1a.
On a flop of 
, Ben [Removed:293] checked from the small blind before Albert Kim fired 450 from the big blind. The player under the gun, who had limped preflop, folded and then [Removed:293] made the call.
The turn brought the 
and [Removed:293] checked to Kim once more. Kim stayed aggressive and fired a bet of 1,050. [Removed:293] made the call.
The river completed the board with the 
and [Removed:293] checked. Kim fired a third bullet worth 1,550 and after a moment, [Removed:293] made the call. Kim then showed the 
and [Removed:293] mucked his hand. That pot put Kim up to 28,500 and [Removed:293] down to 12,600.
Kim is most famous for his deep run in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, where he finished 19th for $257,334. Kim was very enthusiastic with his play at the table in that event and it garnered him a good amount of TV time. So far today, he's been stoic behind his chip stack.
Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 25
Dao Xing Chen had no sooner vacated his seat than its new occupant was all in as well. On a 
board, the player moved all in for his last 7,125. Joachim Chia, a player well-known in his native Singapore, spent several minutes contemplating a call before giving it up, leaving himself with 13,000.
Bryan Huang was all in for around 3,000 when we walked up to the table, and he had a lowly flipped over in front of him. A player who had just been moved to the table was the would-be knocker-out with 
, and Huang would need some help to stay afloat.
Board: 
Flush draws are only good when they materialize, and Huang was unable to pair up or find a spade to double up. He's outta here.
The mystery of Vladimir Geshkenbein has been solved. Well, sort of. He was registered for Day 1a, and his stack was blinded off for awhile. We still hadn't spotted him shortly after the first break. His seat was still empty, but when we checked this time, his stack was above starting chips, meaning he must have appeared briefly and won a pot or two without being noticed. He just took his seat again, and we actually saw him this time. So while we don't know where he's been hiding, we can confirm he is here and ready for business.
This also means that Mr. Geshkenbein will not be playing the APPT Macau High Roller, the event he won last year. It's running opposite Days 1a and 1b, allowing those who play the High Roller to play Day 1c of the Main Event.
Marcel Luske just busted a shorter-stacked player to move his stack up to 25,000 chips, but on the next hand he failed at a bluff attempt with ten high to drop back down to 23,000 chips. Still, the Dutch PokerStars pro is above his starting stack and seated two to the left of Albert Kim.
A player moved all in on a board reading 
with about 9,000 already in the pot, putting Dao Xing Chen to the test for his last 8,500. Chen tanked for a while, standing up, sitting down again, and popping back up over and over. Finally, he picked up his stack and moved it across the line. But he instantly regretting the decision, seeing that his opponent's had his own 
drawing to two outs. The on the river made him two pair, but it wasn't enough to spare him from elimination.
Victorino Torres was down to just 1,625 chips when he moved all in with 
. Ricky Cheong made the call with , and the board of 
gave Torres a much needed, albeit small double up.
