Main Event
Day 1 Started
Main Event
Day 1 Started
If we told you that there was a poker tournament being held From June 5th – 7th and would feature names such as Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Isaac Haxton, Erik Seidel, Mike Watson, Shaun Deeb, Gus Hansen, John Juanda and former WSOP world champions Jonathan Duhamel and Greg Merson, you would no doubt say, “Well of course, the World Series of Poker is held every June.” Think again.
Today we come to you from Macau where some of the biggest names in poker have decided to spend a few days before surely making their way back to Las Vegas and back into the thick of the action of the WSOP. The reason they are in Macau is definitely valid as one of the biggest poker tournaments in history is about to play out. Enter, the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) presented by PokerStars.
Costing HK$1,000,000 (Approx. US$130,000) to enter and with two rebuys available per player, PokerStars and the GuangDong Group Ltd are expecting a field of around 100 entrants – at least 70 of which are already confirmed. This will see the prize pool reach at least US $13 million and that’s not including the dozens of rebuys we are sure will be utilized by a large portion of the field. By the time the event is in the record books, the GDAM will be close to the top of the biggest poker tournaments, by prize pool, held outside of the WSOP. The current leader on that list is a similar tournament which was held in Macau in 2012 – the Macau High Stakes Challenge Super High Roller – which featured a prize pool in excess of US $23 million. Only time will tell just how big the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions will actually be.
In addition to the aforementioned players Alec Torelli, Dan Smith, Mike McDonald, Joseph Cheong, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Igor Kuganov are also confirmed for the event. The majority of the field will of course be made up of members of the GuangDong Group, which is one of the largest VIP junket operators in Macau, providing a one-stop luxury VIP service to some of the biggest high rollers in the world. Not surprisingly, a majority of the GuangDong Group members partaking in the GDAM aren’t too experienced in poker, but love the action that an event like this will afford them. It will certainly be interesting to see how some of these businessmen manage at the tables with some of the most experienced and talented poker pros in the world.
Taking place at PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams and running as a three-day event, the GDAM is set to begin today at 3.00 p.m. local time (12:00 a.m. PDT), with Day 2 set for the same time tomorrow and the final table at the same time on the following day. Make sure to join us here at PokerNews as we bring you all the live reporting for the GDAM. There will also be content over at the PokerStarsBlog and a live webcast of the event at PokerStars.tv, so make sure to go check out that out.
The tournament clock here at PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams tells us that there are two minutes to go until the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions is set to begin. However, the feature live streaming table will take around 15 minutes to prepare and as such, play is expected to start within the next 20 minutes. We will be sure to chime in and let you know when the cards are in the air.
With just a few minutes remaining before the players in the GDAM Main Event start making their way toward winning millions of dollars, we thought we would take a quick look at the action that has already taken place during the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions.
Last night, the GDAM Warm-Up was held. Costing HK$250,000 (Approx. US$32,000) to enter, many of the players in today’s field were at the tables. All in all exactly 45 players entered the event, creating a hefty HK$10,743,750 (Approx. US$1.39 million) prize pool.
The top five players finished in the money and it was Macau high roller specialist and businessmen Nick Wong who won the HK$4,298,000 top prize. Prominent poker crusher Isaac Haxton finished as the runner-up, while Germany’s Philipp Gruissem, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Norway’s Tore Lukashaugen rounded out the money-paying positions.
Prominent poker pros Erik Seidel and Mike Watson were also at the final table, but failed to finish in the money.
Check out the payouts below and find a full wrap of the GDAM Warm-Up right here.
GDAM Warm-Up Results
Place | Player | Country | Payout (HKD) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nick Wong | Hong Kong | $4,298,000 |
2 | Isaac Haxton | USA | $2,579,000 |
3 | Philipp Gruissem | Germany | $1,719,000 |
4 | Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier | $1,289,000 | |
5 | Tore Lukashaugen | Norway | $858,750 |
Before the event we would have said that a couple of the players above were some of the favourites to make it deep in the GDAM Main Event, so be sure to continue checking out our live updates to find out if they continue their solid form. Play will begin very shortly!
Level: 1
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 0
The players have scrambled into their seats and GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions has begun! There are currently 66 players at the tables, but that number is increasing by the moment.
Looking around the tables of the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions and it's like playing spot the poker pro. With all the big names below, it's clearly an easy game. More players are expected to take their places at the tables soon.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Zuo 'ST' Wang
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Leon Hindle
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Fabian Quoss |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Zheng Tang |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Di Dang
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Isaac 'Ike' Haxton
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Richard Seng Cheng Yong
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Yat Wai Cheng |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Jeffrey Rossiter |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Jonathan Godfrey |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
David Steicke |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Juan Carlos Alvarado
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Wei Seng Phua
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Winfred Yu |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Tom Hu |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Joseph Sanghyon Cheong
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Liang Yu |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Peter Ping San Chan |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Stanley Chin Fai Choi
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
John Juanda |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
||
Brian Powell |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Feng Wang
|
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Devan Tang |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
Aaron Lim |
1,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
The GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions sees players start with 1 million in chips and with levels lasting 60 minutes each. The first blind level is 3,000/6,000 and there will be eight levels played on Day 1, with a 90-minute dinner break taken after four levels. PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams have a specially made new chip set for this event, including a one-million chip plaque and a 10-million chip plaque.
There will be two HK$1,000,000 rebuys available per player and amazingly these rebuys will available at any time during the first four levels regardless of stack size! We won’t be surprised to see some players opting to make two rebuys as soon as they sit down, meaning they will have dished out HK$3,000,000 (Approx. US$390,000). We will keep you updated on who takes up these rebuys as the days pans out.
The exact blind structure for Day 1 of the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions is as follows:
*Level | Blind | Ante |
1 | 3,000-6,000 | - - |
2 | 5,000-10,000 | - - |
3 | 5,000-10,000 | 1,000 |
4 | 7,000-14,000 | 2,000 |
- - | REBUYS END | - - |
5 | 10,000-20,000 | 3,000 |
6 | 15,000-30,000 | 4,000 |
7 | 20,000-40,000 | 5,000 |
8 | 30,000-60,000 | 7,000 |
Right now we are told the number of entrants will get very close to 100 and is just a short while away from surpassing the largest tournament field, by entrants, for a super high roller with a buy-in of US$100,000 or higher, in history – the record being set at 73 by the Macau Super High Roller in 2012. If the event does break 100 entrants, the GDAM will be the first super high roller of this buy-in level to do so.
As far as we can tell, Germany's Igor Kurganov is the first and only player so far to take an almost immediate rebuy, with just a couple of hands playing out before Kurganov opted to dish out the HK$1,000,000 (US$130,000) and receiving an extra 1 million in chips. We are sure more will follow Kurganov soon enough.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Igor Kurganov |
2,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
Joseph Cheong is up around 3 million in chips already and no he didn't opt to to take the two rebuys just yet. We didn't catch the hand but it was recalled to us that a community pot played out on a board. Cheong apparently held and managed to pick up a huge amount of chips from Isaac Haxton, who held and from Stanley Choi, who held .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joseph Cheong |
3,000,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|