Meyers Leads the High Roller as 15 Advance to Day 2
While the 2013 PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Macau Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 Main Event nearly came to a close at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams on Saturday, the HKD$250,000 High Roller was just getting started.
That tournament attracted 34 players that accounted for nine rebuys, creating a prize pool of HKD$10,216,800. By the end of the night, only 15 players remained in contention for the HKD$4,086,700 (~$572,000 USD) first-place prize with Brandon Meyers and his stack of 1.748 million leading the way.
Meyers managed to double in the last hand of the evening to finish with the chip lead. Meyers had moved all in over the top of a big bet by Vladimir Troyanovskiy on a board reading 
. Predrag Lekovic had been involved in the action too, but had folded what he later claimed was a set. Eventually Troyanovskiy made the call and seemed a bit tilted when Meyers rolled over the 
to beat his own 
straight.
The High Roller was a turbo of sorts, and as such it didn’t take long for the eliminations to mount. Jian Yang, who topped a field of 338 earlier this week to win the PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$25,000 Warm-Up Event for HK$1,700,000, was the first to go, but he wouldn’t be the last. John O’Shea, Shashank Rathi, Tom Alner, and Michael Tureniec all joined him on the rail before the dinner break.
Tureniec was crippled after doubling Winfred Yu in Level 4 (2,000/4,000/500). The former held 
on a 
board, but it was no good as Wu had the 
for a full house.
Two hands later, Tureniec was in the big blind and he was facing an all-in raise from Tom "hitthehole" Middleton in the small blind. Tureniec only had around 20,000 remaining and he called it off.
Tureniec: 
Middleton: 
Middleton was surprised to discover that he was ahead, and he solidified that lead when the 
flop delivered him trips. The 
turn made that quads, and after the meaningless 
completed the board on the river, Tureniec took his leave from the tournament (Middleton would join him on the rail a short time later).
As the night wore on, plenty of others fell including Andrew Pantling, Aaron Lim, Praz Bansi, Ihar Soika, David Vamplew, Wai Kin Yong, Rui Cao, Jack Salter, Joel Feldman, and Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
While many fell, plenty of other notables remain. Jonathan Karamalikis, who if you recall won the ACOP High Roller event in 2012, looks to defend and has a good chance of doing so with a stack of 876,000. That said, he'll have to contend with some stiff competition that includes Jeff Rossiter (1.247 million), Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (838,000), Aidan Tam (698,000) and Paul Newey (382,000), just to name a few.
Here's a look at the Day 2 draw with counts:
2013 ACOP High Roller Final Two Tables
| Seat | Player | Counts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mikael Thuritz | 286,000 |
| 2 | Predrag Lekovic | 682,000 |
| 3 | Winfred Yu | 362,000 |
| 4 | Brandon Meyers | 1,748,000 |
| 5 | Jeff Rossiter | 1,247,000 |
| 6 | Jonathan Karamalikis | 876,000 |
| 7 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | 1,398,000 |
| 8 | -empty- | N/A |
| 1 | Eugene Katchalov | 838,000 |
| 2 | Kyle Cheong | 373,000 |
| 3 | Paul Newey | 382,000 |
| 4 | Chunlei Zhou | 759,000 |
| 5 | James McCarty | 571,000 |
| 6 | Aidan Tam | 698,000 |
| 7 | Yan Tsang | 231,000 |
| 8 | Senh Ung | 305,000 |
Day 2 of the [B]2013 ACOP HK$250,000 High Roller will kick off at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the latest and greatest from the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams.
Until then, check out Sarah Grant's jump from the world’s tallest bungee jump: