Teh Takes Chip Lead on Day 1 of the PokerStars Red Dragon High Roller; Campomanes and "BoxeR" Through Too
After twelve levels of play on Day 1 of the PokerStars Red Dragon Manila High Roller, 33 players out of 101 entries have bagged chips for Day 2 in the iconic Okada Manila. Those 101 entries created a total prize pool of ?23,022,950 ($450,262) for 13 players to cash and the eventual winner to walk away with the amazing first-place prize of ?6,112,000 ($119,533).
Claiming the Day 1 chip lead is Malaysia's Natalie Teh with a whopping 582,500 in chips worth 194 big blinds at the start of Day 2. Teh is becoming a regular on all the poker tours all over the world since turning pro in 2018 and winning a Platinum Pass for the 2019 PSPC in the Bahamas when she was considered the Next Great Poker Brain by former Team PokerStars pros Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov.
She is trailed in the chip counts by Ngoc Anh Cao, Hwany Lee, Chongxian Yang, and Andres Korn who finished in ninth place in the Main Event earlier today.
PokerStars Red Dragon High Roller Day 1 Top 5 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natalie Teh | Malaysia | 582,500 | 194 |
| 2 | Ngoc Anh Cao | Vietnam | 328,500 | 110 |
| 3 | Hwany Lee | South Korea | 311,500 | 104 |
| 4 | Chongxian Yang | China | 301,000 | 100 |
| 5 | Andres Korn | Germany | 244,000 | 81 |
Other familiar names, for the readers who followed the Main Event today, to make it through include Florencio Campomanes who won and Martin Stausholm who finished in eighth place. But they aren't the only ones who might be known in the poker world. Players like Sparrow Cheung, Nang Quang Nguyen, Dong Chen, Linh Tran, Phachara Wongwichit, and Sahil Agarwal for example must ring a bell with most people.
But there is one player who is more familiar with the Starcraft crowd: Yohwan Lim also known as "BoxeR". He is a former professional player who was also referred to as "Terran Emperor". He retired in 2013 to announce in 2014 that he switched career paths and was focused on poker now. With just over $500,000 in cashes according to The Hendon Mob, the change seems to have been pretty successful. With most of his cashes originating in Asia with some summer trips to Las Vegas, "BoxeR" is looking for a good result here in Manila.
When the players return at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, January 11, they will start with Level 13 which features a small blind of 1,500, big blind of 3,000, and a big blind ante of 3,000. A 15-minute break has been scheduled after every two hours of play. Players bagged any time bank they had left from the 4 they received at the start of the day and will receive another 2 at the start of Day 2 as the shot clock is in play. Another two will be handed out to each player when the final table has been reached.
PokerNews will be there from the start until the winner has been crowned so follow along as the live reporting will commence from Day 2.