This is it, the final day of the 2012 PokerStars.netAPPT Macau: Asia Championship of Poker Main Event. There are just nine players remaining vying for the title, the glory and the massive HKD$4,240,000 first-place prize, and it's Australia's Michael Kanaan with the pole position.
Kanaan bagged up 1.393 million in chips last night, and will take a very sizable chip lead into Day 5. His next closest competitor is Tom Alner with 826,500, making the gap well over 500,000 in chips.
Speaking of chips, the player who will really be looking to secure some early is France's Jacques Zaicik. He's the shortest stack in the field, and has been for most of the later stages of this tournament. Zaicik has 191,000 in chips entering the final table, but with an early double up, he could find himself right back in the mix. One thing is for sure, the tournament structure is extremely player friendly. When was the last time you saw a final table with T500 chips still in play? That's because the first level will be 6,000/12,000/1,500.
Other notables still left are Tom Alner, World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen and Alan Sass. Let's take a look at how they all stack up:
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
1
Jacques Zaicik
France
191,000
2
Michael Kanaan
Australia
1,393,000
3
Tsugunari Toma
Japan
788,500
4
Ying Kit Chan
Hong Kong
348,000
5
Henry Hung Tu Wang
Chinese Taipei
429,000
6
Andrew Hinrichsen
Australia
798,500
7
Tom Alner
UK
826,500
8
Alan Sass
USA
252,000
9
Xing Zhou
China
493,000
Play is scheduled to resume at 2:00 p.m. local time in Macau, so be sure to sit tight and get ready for a long day of scintillating poker action. PokerNews will have the updates flowing your way shortly.
Henry Wang couldn't catch a break today. On one of the first hands he doubled up Jacques Zaicik and Wang took another hit when Alan Sass also doubled through him. Just now Wang moved all in for 130,500 from the cutoff and Andrew Hinrichsen called from the button.
Henry Wang:
Andrew Hinrichsen:
The board ran out , and Wang was knocked out in 9th place. Eight players remain and Hinrichsen moves into third place.
From middle position, Tom Alner raised to 30,000. Xing Zhou made the call in the cutoff seat, then action folded over to Tsugunari Toma in the big blind. Toma put in a reraise to 85,000, and that knocked Alner out of the way as he folded. Zhou opted to call and the two big stacks went to a flop.
The flop came down , and Toma fired 95,000. After taking about half a minute, Zhou raised to 200,000 even. Toma wasted little time in making the call.
The turn was the , and it was followed by a check from Toma. Zhou wasn't about to give any free cards on this one and fired a hefty 311,000. Only a few seconds passed before Toma made the call.
The river card completed the board with the , and now the action changed some as Toma opted to be the aggressor. He began pulling out stacks, on stacks, on stacks of chips and fired 450,000. Zhou didn't like the bet one bit, and grew very uneasy in his seat. So much so that he had to get up and turn himself in circles a few times. After about two minutes in the tank, Zhou announced a call.
Toma tabled the for a pair of kings. Zhou had that beat and turned up the for a flopped set of eights. Zhou won the pot, and pushed his stack to a whopping three million in chips.
There's no stopping Xing Zhou today! He just knocked out Tom Alner and added some more chips to his impressive chip lead. Alner just moved all in from the button for 278,000 and Zhou called from the big blind after about a minute.
Xing Zhou:
Tom Alner:
The flop brought out and the crowd erupted. Zhou had picked up a straight draw and everyone was rooting for the chip leader to win. The turn brought the and Alner's friends kept rooting for the board to pair. Unfortunately the river brought the and Zhou completed his straight.
Alner was crushed while some of the remaining players cheered loudly as they just moved up a spot on payouts. Just seven remain with Zhou firmly in control of this final table.
Xing Zhou opened with a raise to 40,000 from early position, then action folded to World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen in the big blind. He reraised all in for 294,000. After getting a count and taking a minute, Zhou called.
Zhou called with the and was up against the for the at-risk Hinrichsen.
Chants of "Spade, spade, spade!" and "Jack! Ten! Jack! Ten!" rang out from the spectators, before the dealer ran out the flop. Zhou had missed so far, but the gave him the lead on the turn.
Zhou began to celebrate a little, but the river was still to come. After the landed on the river, Zhou hoisted his hands over his hand in triumph as he eliminated Hinrichsen from the tournament.
Tsugunari Toma was knocked down to just 34,000 chips when he moved all in from the small blind. Ying Kit Chan quickly called creating another showdown.
Tsugunari Toma:
Ying Kit Chan:
The board ran out and Toma was knocked out in sixth place.
In a blind battle Alan Sass just got all his chips into the pot against the man who can't lose. Xing Zhou has been on a tear and Sass just busted in fifth place after losing a huge coin flip to the Chinese chip leader. Sass was all in for 565,000 chips and the showdown went as following.
Alan Sass:
Xing Zhou:
The board ran out and a very excited Zhou cheered as he raked in yet another pot! Sass left the stage and just four players remain.
After hours of being the short stack he finally found his Waterloo. Jacques Zaicik was all in preflop for 287,000 chips and Xing Zhou called his shove from the big blind.
Jacques Zaicik:
Xing Zhou:
The board ran out , and Zaicik was knocked out. Zhou busted another player as we are down to just three!
And we're heads up in the ACOP Main Event! Michael Kanaan just moved all in preflop against Xing Zhou for his final 440,000 chips, and the Chinese chip leader quickly called. The crowd jumped closer to the final table as the cards were turned over.
Michael Kanaan:
Xing Zhou:
The flop brought out and Kanaan's friends exploded as he flopped a set. Zhou seemed very disappointed, but that turned around quickly when the hit on the turn. The Aussies were devastated as the river was the . Kanaan did not hit the final remaining eight and he was knocked out.
In a epic turn of events the ACOP Main Event has come to an end! After a hand was concluded both players started talking in their native tongue, and about a minute later they both erupted from their seats in excitement.
"All in, all in, all in!" is what we made up out of their words, and the tournament directors rushed over to the final table. The cards laid on the table, untouched, as both players stood around with their friends awaiting the all-in showdown. But something funny was going on.
Both players had agreed on splitting the money even, and playing one big coin flip for the win in this event. Neither player had touched, or even looked at, their cards and this was truly going to be a blind coin flip for the win in this event. The stack sizes were not even remotely close, but neither player seemed to care. Ying Kit Chan had 2,203,000 against Zou's 3,321,000.
After six hours of heads up play it all came down to one final hand. And they wanted to make the most of it! The players explained that they wanted to have the board ran out completely, and then turn over one card at a time.
The dealer ran out , and Zhou was first to turn over the . Chan followed by turning over the , and the action was back on Zhou. He flipped up the and had the nuts! Chan realized he had just lost the tournament, and showed his which gave him two pair. With that the tournament was over, and the trophy will go to China!
, and Wang was knocked out in 9th place. Eight players remain and Hinrichsen moves into third place.
, and Toma fired 95,000. After taking about half a minute, Zhou raised to 200,000 even. Toma wasted little time in making the call.
, and it was followed by a check from Toma. Zhou wasn't about to give any free cards on this one and fired a hefty 311,000. Only a few seconds passed before Toma made the call.
for a pair of kings. Zhou had that beat and turned up the 
for a flopped set of eights. Zhou won the pot, and pushed his stack to a whopping three million in chips.
and the crowd erupted. Zhou had picked up a straight draw and everyone was rooting for the chip leader to win. The turn brought the 
and Alner's friends kept rooting for the board to pair. Unfortunately the river brought the 
and was up against the 
flop. Zhou had missed so far, but the 
gave him the lead on the turn.
and Toma was knocked out in sixth place.
, and Zaicik was knocked out. Zhou busted another player as we are down to just three!
and Kanaan's friends exploded as he flopped a set. Zhou seemed very disappointed, but that turned around quickly when the 
, and the action was back on Zhou. He flipped up the 
which gave him two pair. With that the tournament was over, and the trophy will go to China!