WPT Korea, Day 1A: 75 Entries, and Yutaka Nakamura Leads the 20 Survivors with 239K

While the WPT Global Teams Final was playing out on the featured table (you can check out that coverage by clicking here), Friday was also Day 1A of the WPT Korea main event, and the field included more than a couple of the players who busted out of that WPT Global Teams Final.

There were 75 entries, and after 13 levels of play, 20 players survived to advance to Day 2, which begins on Sunday at 1200 KST (0400 GMT / 11:00 pm EDT). Here are the official chip counts for the 20 survivors:

1.  Yutaka Nakamura  –  239,000
2.  Paul Hockin  –  227,000
3.  Tsugunari Toma  –  222,500
4.  Kazuhiko Yotsushika  –  215,000
5.  Markus Garberg  –  198,500
6.  Yisha Chen  –  173,500
7.  Thomas Ward  –  130,000
8.  Kentaro Somekawa  –  117,000
9.  Teh Siew Po Natalie  –  112,500
10.  Jota Kise  –  100,000
11.  Nakamura Tatsuki  –  87,500
12.  Dylan Wilkerson  –  83,500
13.  Hong Paul  –  67,000
14.  Shota Shimozaki  –  62,000
15.  Masato Shimizu  –  47,500
16.  Kazuki Ikeuchi  –  43,500
17.  Louis Yin  –  38,500
18.  Cannon Junsheng Lim  –  34,500
19.  Steven Shin  –  29,000
20.  Ngai Yi Cheong  –  22,500

Now that the WPT Global Teams Event is finished, our focus here at WPT Korea will shift completely to the main event, starting with our coverage of Day 1B tomorrow at 1200 KST (0400 GMT / 11:00 pm EDT).

We already know the names of four of the players who will be entering Day 1B — Dong Guo, Xixiang Luo, Guuliang Wei, and Yang Zhang, the members of Team China. When they won the WPT Global Teams Event, their first prize included four seats into Day 1B of the WPT Korea main event.

The final 11% of this field will finish in the money, and once the Money Bubble bursts (sometime on Sunday afternoon), there will be an interesting twist — four players will join the field here after qualifying in their own Day 1 and Day 2 last week in Tokyo at WPT Japan.

It was a special link between these two events on the WPT Asia Swing, allowing players in Tokyo to take their shot at the WPT Korea main event, and they wouldn’t need to travel unless they had reached the money. There were 39 entries in Tokyo, and the final four advanced to join up with the rest of the field here after this field bursts the Money Bubble.

But that’s what will be happening Sunday on Day 2. What will happen on Day 1B tomorrow? There’s only one way to find out — return to WPT.com to follow our live updates.