The lead in this tournament is like sand, it's impossible to hold on to.
Taiming Ou had it a few levels ago and continued to chip up to about 210,000. Then Dennis Kow -- who's seated at Ou's table -- eliminated a few players and took it over.
In one hand, Ou raised to 7,000 from the cutoff and the button called. Kow was in the small blind and called as well, bringing a [9h][kh][7h] flop. Action checked to the button, who moved all-in for 60,500.
Kow re-shoved for 95,300 and Ou thought for a bit before folding. The button showed [ac][10h] while Kow tabled pocket nines for a set. The button didn't hit his flush and hit the rail instead.
A few hands later, Kow hit another set against two players. The chips went in on the flop and Kow had a set of threes while his opponent hit a pair of nines with queen-nine. The short stack was in bad shape with [10d][7d] and both players hit the rail after the board bricked out for both of them.
Kow was up to 245,000 and was enjoying the lead until someone else took it over.
That someone was Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang.
Huang raised to 9,000 from the button and the big blind moved all-in for about 90,000. This was the fourth time the big blind had jammed on Huang and he decided he'd had enough.
After getting a count, Huang called with [kh][qs] and the big blind reluctantly turned over [7h][2h].
The board came [Kc][9s][4h][js][6d] and the big blind was eliminated. Huang absorbed his stack and chipped up to 260,000.
Huang leads now, we'll see who ends the day with it. There are only 52 players left and the final 41 will advance to Day 2.
Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.