The opening event of Season XVI of the World Poker Tour continued in Beijing with Day 2 of WPT Beijing.
On Day 1, the sold-out field of 400 players had been whittled down to 209 players. Day 2 saw the field play from 209 to the money, which was reached with 50 players remaining. When the day had come to a close, Ke Chen (pictured) had the lead with 622,000 in chips.
WPT Beijing Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
1. Ke Chen – 622,000
2. Hao He – 530,000
3. Bryan Huang – 469,000
4. Yajun Han – 451,000
5. Lei Huang – 450,000
6. Tao Fan – 443,000
7. Yancheng Tan – 410,000
8. Guifang Liu – 388,000
9. Peng Chen – 383,000
10. Stephane Carrier – 359,000
The big news of the day was the money bubble bursting. With 51 players remaining, the tournament went to hand-for-hand play, and it wasn’t very long before a player busted to send the field into the money and secure the first WPT Main Tour cash of Season XVI.
With the blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante, Feng Yi Kun moved all in against the player in the big blind. The player in the big blind made the call for his last 65,500, and it was Kun’s 
up against his opponent’s 
. The 
flop gave Yun the lead, and the 
turn and 
river kept him there, bursting the bubble and earning all remaining players a cash worth at least CNY 43,875 (approx. $6,400).
One of the big stacks to finish Day 2 was Bryan Huang. Huang finished the day third in chips with 469,000. A former member of Team PokerStars with more than $1.1 million in live tournament earnings, Huang, who hails from Singapore, is making his first WPT Main Tour cash in Beijing. His career does include a 12th-place finish in WPT National Korea from May 2016.
Guifang Liu, who bagged the Day 1 chip lead, went on to finish with 388,000 on Day 2. She’ll be eighth in chips heading to Day 3.
Although those remaining have already locked up an in-the-money result, they’re all eyeing the first WPT title of Season XVI that comes with a first-place payday of CNY 2,063,454 (approx. $300,000). That prize includes a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, and the field will get closer to realizing who that will be come Day 3.
Day 3 will begin at 12 p.m. Beijing time on Monday, and the plan will be to play until there are 27 players remaining.
Click here to view the Day 3 seat draw and chip counts.
Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage from WPT Beijing.
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