We have seen Igor Kurganov and and Valdimir Troyanovskiy rumble in quite a few small pots over on their table. Recently Kurganov got the better of Troyanovskiy, adding to his growing stack.
The action started with Kurganov opening the cut off to 25,000. Troyanovskiy was on the button and three-bet to 60,000 here. The blinds were out of the way and it was back on Kurganov, who four-bet to 165,000. Troyanovskiy looked like he was keen to put in another bet, but ended up simply making the call.
On the flop,Kurganov led for 130,000 and with a slight smirk, Troyanovskiy flicked out the call. The turn would see both players check, while the river would kick Kurganov back into gear as he bet 375,000. It didn't take Troyanovskiy long to fold here and Kurganov added to his stack which is around 2.3 million - remembering that he did opt to rebuy earlier.
Folded around to Mike McDonald in the cutoff and he would open it up to 30,000. Only Chunlei Zhou called out of the small blind and a flop was spread on the felt. Zhou quickly bet 35,000 here and after studying his opponent a little, McDonald made the call. On the turn, McDonald's opponent bet again, this time making it 60,000 to go. McDonald again called and a completed the board on the river.
Zhou opted to make it a third bullet here, betting 110,000. McDonald decided to let his hand go here and sent the pot to Zhou. Despite losing this small pot, McDonald's stack is still around the 1 million that he started with.
We just watched Sorel Mizzi make a massive call on a board. We arrived at the action on the river and Mizzi was going up against one player. Mizzi was already in the tank at this point, faced with a bet of 450,000 – which seemed to be double that which was already in the pot. Mizzi’s opponent was unknown player Fengleu Qian and Mizzi was deep in thought studying the player.
Eventually Mizzi flicked out the call and Qian tabled . Mizzi then turned over his with the pair of jacks good enough to see the big pot go Mizzi’s way. He is now nearing 2 million in chips and has yet to rebuy.
Below is how a few of the players are approximately travelling during the first level. Don't forget, rebuys are available for the first four levels and are available regardless of being eliminated and regardless of current stack size.
John Juanda still has the majority of his one-million chip stack in front of him, but has just got four HK$500,000 (Approx. US$65,000) plaques ready on the felt to rebuy should he feel the need. The plaques are giant and certainly are intimidating.
The players have just been told that they can either rebuy immediately following busting, or can leave their table for at least ten minutes before rebuying and they will then be given a new table. Of course, the rebuys can also be used at any point, regardless of busting, or regardless of stack size.
As a humble live reporter there is a feature table which is not completely accessible. However, there is a live stream available over at PokerStars.tv and we will do our best to post updates from the table when ossible here at PokerNews. Below is the lineup for the feature table.
Seat
Player
1
Devan Tang
2
Leon Hindle
3
Fabian Quoss
4
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
5
Zuo “ST” Wang
7
Seng Cheng Yong
8
Di Dang
As you can see there are only five players on the feature table at the moment, but we are told that will quickly change and the seats will be filled up.
Joseph Cheong is up around 3 million in chips already and no he didn't opt to to take the two rebuys just yet. We didn't catch the hand but it was recalled to us that a community pot played out on a board. Cheong apparently held and managed to pick up a huge amount of chips from Isaac Haxton, who held and from Stanley Choi, who held .
![[user162117]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop,Kurganov led for 130,000 and with a slight smirk, Troyanovskiy flicked out the call. The 
turn would see both players check, while the 
river would kick Kurganov back into gear as he bet 375,000. It didn't take Troyanovskiy long to fold here and Kurganov added to his stack which is around 2.3 million - remembering that he did opt to rebuy earlier.
flop was spread on the felt. Zhou quickly bet 35,000 here and after studying his opponent a little, McDonald made the call. On the 
turn, McDonald's opponent bet again, this time making it 60,000 to go. McDonald again called and a 
completed the board on the river.
. Mizzi then turned over his 
with the pair of jacks good enough to see the big pot go Mizzi’s way. He is now nearing 2 million in chips and has yet to rebuy.
board. Cheong apparently held 
and from Stanley Choi, who held