Thomas Ward: Among early big stacks

There's still just over 90 minutes left to register for the HKD$50,000 freezeout event at APPT Macau, and tournament officials are sweating the chance of a three-figure field.

At present--just entering Level 8--there are 97 players at the list, of whom 82 are still involved. Three more and we're on the century, while a late night in this opening day is already guaranteed.

Some of the massive names have already fallen. There is no sign of Bryan Huang, while Daniel Laidlaw is without doubt one of the most up-to-date departures. The Australian shipped his final 11 blinds from under the gun--11,000 within the 500-1,000 level--with A♣Q♥ but will need to have been dismayed to peer Canno Junsheng Lim re-shove for 53,000 one seat to his left.

Lim had A♦K♣ and it stayed the most efficient hand through a board of 2♦T♣8♥2♥5♥.

Everyone else folded after Lim moved in, but there have been a minimum of two players on the table who may need called and still remained healthy on this tournament. New Zealand's Tom Ward--second in last year's ACOP main event--has a minimum of 100,000 at this stage, while Kun Wang has about 110,000.

A quick scoot across the room located big stacks in front of the following:

Dong Guo -- 165,000Zhen Xing Ke -- 155,000Matthew Moss -- 130,000

The APPT Macau main event starts Wednesday, May 25 at PokerStars LIVE on the City of Dreams. Full details can be found at the official APPT website or via the PokerStars Macau page.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Asia Pacific Poker Tour]