Jingjing Ke Tops 34 Survivors on Strong Day 1a in Cambodia

The first-ever $1,100 WPT Cambodia Main Event is off to a magnificent start and there is very little doubt that the $250,000 guarantee at the stunning NagaWorld Integrated Resort will be obliterated in the two days to come after an excellent first starting day.

Once the cards went in the air, things looked very promising already as the first 50 entries quickly doubled. By the time the late registration in the Ballroom of Naga 1 had closed, Day 1a had recorded a total of 188 entries and the entire room was buzzing with the $5,000 Super High Roller, a $400 Side Event, the Super Satellite for the $1,100 Main Event and cash games all ran at the same time and there was barely any open seat available for the tournament players.

A total of 15 levels of 40 minutes were played in the flagship tournament of the festival in the heart of Phnom Penh, the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and it was China’s Jingjing Ke that topped the counts as only player close to half a million in chips.

Ke battled her way to the top of the leaderboard throughout the second half of the day and took over the lead after sending Eric Tsai to the rail in a flip with ace-king versus pocket treys thanks to a king in the window. After claiming more pots without showdown, Ke would end up the day with 486,000.

Her nearest follower is Didrik Mantor from Norway, who was among the big stacks early on after flopping a set of nines and holding up on blank turn and river to beat Michael Wood’s pocket tens. At the end of the night, Mantor went on a roller coaster after he lost a big pot to Kuang Hung Lee with two pair versus two pair only to flip well with ace-king against queens in the last hand to oust fellow Norwegian Ludvik Stranden and claim 392,000 for Day 2.

Aforementioned Lee takes the final spot on the overnight podium with 355,000 and other notables in the top 10 include Singapore’s Arravind Udayakumar (312,000), Dajia Chen (266,000), Kartik Ved (218,000) and Irishman Sven Mc Dermott (199,000).

Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts:

Jingjing Ke – 486,000
Didrik Mantor – 392,000
Kuang Hung “Luke” Lee – 355,000
Arravind Udayakumar – 312,000
Dajia Chen – 266,000
Leiguang Li – 262,000
Kartik Ved – 218,000
Kwo Chuan Soon – 215,000
Youngjin Kim – 199,000
Sven Mc Dermott – 199,000

The only former WPT champion to navigate his way successfully through the first of three starting days was Dhaval Mudgal. He nursed a shorter stack for most of the day and even joked during the dinner break that he should have just late-registered at the last minute instead as he was below the initial 30,000 by then. Mudgal secured a late double in the final level of the night and made it to Day 2 with 69,000.

Other notables that already have a seat on Day 2 include Ming Hong Teoh (154,000), Leo Worthington-Leese (151,000), Thomas Ward (116,000), Julien Rouxel (72,000), Andre Lettau (45,000), and Natalie Teh (38,000). All of those that bagged and tagged so far have the chance to participate in the two remaining flights as the best stack will be carried over to Day 2.

Among the big names that ran out of chips on Day 1a were 2019 WPT Vietnam champion Hamish Crawshaw, Ping Liu, Linh Tran, Sofia Lovgren, Tom Alner, Paawan Bansal, Kelvin Beattie, Eric Tsai, and Jack Hardcastle to name just a few.

Liu, who has 11 WPT cashes and three final tables to his name, bowed out in a three-way all-in with king-ten against the ace-king of Jia Tang and the pocket sevens of Leiguang Li. The pair held up for Li, who bagged up 262,000 soon after.

All those that missed out on Day 2 so far can enter again on Day 1b and Day 1c respectively in the next two days, and the WPT.com team will be on the floor to provide all the action. Full coverage of the event is also available on Somuchpoker.

*Pictures courtesy of Somuchpoker