High Roller Champ Ivan Leow Enters OPC 2018 Main Event Final Table As Chipleader
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Day 3 of the Oriental Poker Championship Main Event has now come to a close, and we’ve reached our final table of eight.
Had we asked you, back when the action kicked off at 1pm local time with 58 players, to put money on a player you thought would end the day as chip leader, the smart money would have been on Malaysia’s Ivan Leow. After all, Leow is a man who seems to have the Midas touch here in Macau. He won the HK$100K High Roller on Thursday night for HK$1.44 million, and started this penultimate day as chip leader. The lead switched around a bunch today, but Leow always had at least a top three stack.
Now, amazingly, not only is he in with a shot of winning the Main Event too, but he’s the final table chip leader. Leow finished the day with 3.94 million, headlining his second final table of the OPC.
The pace of play on Day 3 was relentless throughout. Elimination after elimination, big pot after big pot, by the time we got down to a final table of ten it was Chang Bo Feng who topped the counts. His hot streak began when he busted Paul Teoh in 14th place right before the dinner break, flopping a straight when Teoh flopped two pair. Feng then took the chip lead when he eliminated Thailand’s all-time money winner Phanlert Sukonthachartnant in 12th, winning a flip with pocket sevens against ace-queen.
Feng would end the day with 3.025 million, second in chips, after busting Wing Kei Chan in ninth. Spare a thought for Chan; he found a great spot to double up at the bitter end - his pocket aces versus the short stack Yazhou Chen’s pocket queens - but unluckily for him the hand was rendered a misdeal (scroll down through our coverage to read about that). He’d bust shortly after when he ran his pocket nines into Feng’s pocket queens.
Who else is through then? For one, there’s the guy who’s 14th on China’s all-time money list, Wayne Zhang, who enters tomorrow with 1.99 million. He has $1.13 million in cashes on his poker CV, with his biggest score coming from a runner-up finish in the 2016 APPT Red Dragon, good for $168,071. If he takes this event down, he’ll have a new career-best cash.
Here’s a look at the final table chip counts:
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 3,940,000 |
| 2 | Chang Bo Feng | China | 3,025,000 |
| 3 | Austin Walton | USA | 2,125,000 |
| 4 | Wei Yi Zhang | China | 1,990,000 |
| 5 | Xiaobo Zhou | China | 1,390,000 |
| 6 | Sang Hwang | Hong Kong | 1,265,000 |
| 7 | Yuefeng Pan | China | 1,250,000 |
| 8 | Yazhou Chen | China | 375,000 |
One player you might have expected to see is missing from that list. Shun Yan Feng came into the day with the second biggest stack behind only Leow, but a huge bluff cost him almost his entire stack. Chuanshu Chen had three-bet pre-flop, which original raiser Feng called to see a 
flop. Feng then checked and Chen led for 125,000, only for Feng to check-raise all-in for 558,000. Chen made the call with 
for top pair, while Feng had 
for a gutshot and flush draw which failed to improve. He was ousted shortly after.
Another player you might have expected to final table was the ever-dangerous Albert Paik. Earlier in the day Paik shot up the counts when he made quads with his pocket eights to crack Hao Chen’s pocket kings. But after losing a big hand to Leow (who showed him a bluff), Paik was eliminated a hand or two later when he jammed into Sang Hwang who had flopped a full house.
Other players we lost today include last female standing Jia Feng Wang, final table bubble boy Xu Ya Hui, as well as Chuanshu Chen, Sen Mu, Wei Guo Liang, Terrence Wu, He Yu Jiao, Yang Zhang, Sun Bin, and Qiu Han Wei.
Here’s a reminder of what the finalists are playing for when they return tomorrow at 1pm for the fourth and final day (with blinds rolling back to Level 26, 20K/40K/5K):
OPC Main Event Top Eight Payouts
| Place | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,451,000 | $184,946 |
| 2 | $1,016,700 | $129,589 |
| 3 | $653,900 | $83,346 |
| 4 | $483,700 | $61652 |
| 5 | $362,800 | $46,242 |
| 6 | $291,100 | $37,103 |
| 7 | $242,600 | $30,922 |
| 8 | $193,300 | $24,638 |
PokerNews will be here with exclusive blow-by-blow action, so join us tomorrow to find out who will become the inaugural OPC Main Event champ.
, bringing Chan no help. 
saw the Hong Kong player teeter on the brink of elimination and the 
river was the final nail in the coffin. Chan made HKD $145,600 (~$18,558) for his ninth-place finish and will rue what might have been, while Feng stacked up to 3.02-million. All that action concluded the day, with the eight remaining finalists returning to action on Monday, 27 May at 1pm sharp, so join us then.
was not a good flop for a man with two over cards. The 
brought paint, but not of the variety Cheng was looking for and the 
river brought the final table down to nine. Cheng headed off to collect his winnings, while Zhou stacked up to 1.72-million.
giving Feng a set, which improved to a boat when the 
paired the river. 
river bricked out and Feng was left with a 20,000 bowl of rice. Chen stacked up to 1.25-million to seize the chip lead.
flop out there when we arrived and Paik had checked it to Hao Chen who then led for 25,000. Paik made the call to see an 
turn, and he quickly checked again. Chen continued to fire for 50,000, leaving himself around 80,000 behind. Paik then set him all-in, and Chen was happy to call quickly.
had been outdrawn by Paik's 
, and to rub salt into the wound the case 
