Just Nine Remain with Kanaan Holding a Big Lead
This is it, the final day of the 2012 PokerStars.net APPT 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.