Main Event
Day 1b Started
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Asia Championship of Poker
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Asia Championship of Poker
Buy-in
95,000 HKD
Prize Pool
24,206,000 HKD
Entries
260
Level
30
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
ACOP Day 1b Expecting Large, Stacked Field
PokerStars SportsStar and Former World Cup Champion Ronaldo kicked off the Asian Championship of Poker Main Event yesterday, by wishing the players good luck. He followed that up by winning his own invitational sit-n-go. He will join the Day 1b players in today's flight and will be looking to add another win to his resume.
Day 1b begins at 3 p.m. local time today. This is the second starting flight for the $100,000 HKD ($13,000 USD) buy in event. Last year's champion, Gabriel Le Jossec bested a field of 291 players to claim the $6.3-million HKD prize ($820,000 USD approx). This year Le Jossec was unable to make it out of Day 1a when he was eliminated by Andy Andrejevic (136,200), so there will be a new ACOP Main Event Champion.
Zhengye Yao snatched the Day 1a chip lead from Andrejevic by 300 chips right during the final hands of the night, when he eliminated Jonathan Karamalikis.
Stephen Chidwick was among the Day 1a casualties, he busted not long after he got all in with pocket queens against Yat Wai Cheng, who was unfortunately holding pocket kings. PokerStars Team Pros Naoya Kihara and Chen An Lin were also eliminated in the Day 1a flight. Other PokerStars Team pros will be looking to do better today. Celina Lin, Bryan Huang, and Aditya Argwal are expected in the field today. They will be trying to join the 63 players who qualified for Day 2 tomorrow at 2 p.m local time. Lin has already cashed twice in the ACOP and is looking for more.
So far in the #2015ACOP series, cashed twice & made 1 final table. Today is the main event @PokerStarsMacau , Goooo! https://t.co/UMcrdq4lUOFollow @Celina_Lin
Yesterday's starting flight got 110 entrants and today expects to see closer to 200 with a packed field. Aside from the PokerStars team pros mentioned above, three-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche and the reigning EPT Barcelona champion John Juanda are also expected to play today.
It's shaping up to be an exciting day with a field full of strong players all vying for the first place prize and the ACOP Championship. Stay tuned to pokernews.com for all the day's action.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Seeing as Ronaldo's here, better make the most of it, right?
He was king enough to do the the shuffle up and deal announcement for the second day in a row. Cards are in the air for Day 1B. Only 77 players are on the clock right now but hardly anyone is in their seats right now. That number and those in their seats will quickly increase.
First Goal to Ronaldo
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Ronaldo is obviously attracting a lot of attention by playing the ACOP Main Event today but it's something he's used to and he's full of smiles despite the amount of eyes watching him.
It's always good to get off to a good start in a poker tournament and he's managed just that, albeit with a small pot. A player in the cutoff raised and Ronaldo called from the small blind. He check-called 300 on a 
flop before both players checked the 
turn. Ronaldo then led out for 600 on the 
river and his opponent quickly folded. The Brazilian celebrated by running around the rood with his shirt pulled over his head. Wrong game, that never happened.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
31,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
|
||
More PokerStars Pros Take Their Seats
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Team Asia PokerStars Pro Vivian Im, PokerStars Team Pro Kosei Ichinose, Team PokerStars Online Pros Isaac Haxton, and Randy Lew have joined the field in the ACOP Main Event.
Haxton leads the group in all time earnings with over $10-million in lifetime earnings. His biggest cash to date was a second place finish at the 2014 Aussie Millions. He also finished fifth in a previous event in Macau for a million-dollar score, so he is no stranger to success in Macau.
Lew has over $1-million dollars in lifetime earnings and has also found success in Macau, with a 2011 APPT Macau Main Event win.
Im, a former APPT Cebu champion, has $358,000 in lifetime earnings and two first place finishes in APPT events.
Ichinose has five fist place finishes, including a 2013 APPT Seoul Championship and an APPT Cebu High Roller win. He also has over $300,000 in lifetime earnings.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
Second Chance for High Rollers
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Carlos Chadha, Christoph Vogelsang and John Juanda all made Day 2 of the High Roller event but all failed to make the money, so will be looking for better luck in the Main Event today.
Chadha and Vogelsang were the last two players not to finish in the money in the High Roller so they will be especially motivated to put things right. Juanda decided to come and play the ACOP rather than go to the Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony - where he and Jennifer Harman are due to be inducted - so we're grateful to have him here.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Hong Kong Pro Sparrow Cheung Enters, Ka Cheong Wong Looking to Extend APOY Lead
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
Park Yu "Sparrow" Cheung and Ka Cheong "K.C." Wong are seated next to each other opposite Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin.
Cheung has $400,000 USD in lifetime earnings, with his biggest score coming in last year's ACOP; a first place finish in a $15,000 HKD buy in No Limit Hold-em event, for $474,700 HKD ($61,228 USD).
Wong is currently in the lead for the APOY rankings. He has $200,000 USD in lifetime earnings. He also has 17 final tables and four first-place finishes this year.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Juanda Gets Value Early
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
John Juanda won his first EPT title this year in Barcelona and has just been inducted to the Poker Hall of Fame. He is in the field today for the ACOP Main Event and got paid off after hitting a flush on the river.
The board read 
and John Juanda was facing a bet of 850. Juanda raised to 2,275 and his opponent called after some thinking, only to muck his hand when Juanda showed 
for the nut flush and the winner.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
||