The World Poker Tour kicked off Season XVI with the first-ever WPT Beijing, and a sold-out field of 400 players were on in action n China’s capital. A prize pool of CNY 9,600,000 (approx. $1.4 million) was determined, with a first-place prize of CNY 2,063,454 (approx. $300,000) up for grabs. The winner would also receive the first seat into the Season XVI WPT Tournament of Champions.
When Day 1 was completed, 209 players survived to Day 2. Leading the way was Guifang Liu with a stack of 251,600. Liu was one of only two players to bag up more than 200,000 in chips from the starting stack of 30,000, with the other being Yin Gui Li finishing on 206,700.
The busy ballroom included several notable Chinese players, such as screenwriter and director Xiaoshan Wang, actress and poker pro Sixiao Li, and top Chinese pro Dong Guo, but none of these players managed to survive the day.
Also failing to survive was the only Americans in the field, Patrick Mahoney.
Chicago’s Ping Liu survived the day, as did high-stakes pros Winfred Yu and Zhou Quan. Hearthstone streamer Da Di and pros Zhong Wang and Wenling Gao also advanced.
There was also a trio of Frenchman in the field who all survived to bag and tag. Stephane Carrier bagged the biggest stack with 56,300, and Vincent Chauve and Nicolas Ragot bagged 35,000 and 31,700, respectively.
Day 2 of the event will begin Sunday at 12 p.m. Beijing time. The plan will be to play down from the remaining 209 players to just 50 remain, all in the money.
Click here to view the Day 2 seat draw and chip counts.
Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage from WPT Beijing.
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