Down to his last 260,000 Zhao Jie moved all-in from under-the-gun and neighbor Jun Wang re-shoved to isolate for 600,000 and the rest of the table took the hint and got out of the way.
Zhao Jie:
Jun Wang:
As is often the case at this stage in a tournament, it was down to a race and unfortunately for Jie, it was one he lost when the board ran out and he headed for the cash desk to collect his winnings while Wang stacked up to 835,000.
We picked up the action on the flop in a hand between Michael Soyza (big blind) and Jun Wang (button) on a flop of just as Soyza checked the action over to Wang, who led out for 85,000.
Soyza thought it over, but not for long, and threw in the call to bring both players to the turn. That was it for the betting in this particular hand with both players checking and doing so again on the river.
Soyza rolled over for a pair of fives and Wang chuckled, flashed him the and mucked leaving Soyza to pad out his stack a little more.
The unassuming Zhao Ting Ting looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but she is obviously capable of pulling off some ballsy plays if she thinks she can get away with it, as we have just discovered.
We caught the action on the river with a mountain of chips already in the pot with Weizhou Zha (under-the-gun) and Ting Ting (UTG+1) duking it out with the community cards spread .
While we have no idea what the previous betting was Zha had just checked the action over to Ting Ting, who fired for 300,000. With roughly 650,000 behind Zha had a big decision to make and seemed unsure of where he stood.
Zha quizzed Ting Ting relentlessly but she sat their impassively for a full five minutes while Zha pondered over his decision. Eventually Ting Ting opened her mouth, but it was to call for the clock.
Zha let this tick down to just 6-seconds before deciding to slam in the call and Ting Ting mucked instantly to shocked gasps from the rest of the table. They evidently thought Ting Ting was as sweet as we did. Ting Ting dropped down to 750,000 after that little misadventure while Zha climbed back up top over seven figures with a stack of 1.65 million.
We have just lost another with Zhao Ting Ting unable to recover after that bluff against Weizhou Zha. A few hands later she was all-in, moving her last 590,000 into the middle from the cutoff with Longyun Li making the call from the big blind.
Zhao Ting Ting:
Longyun Li:
Unfortunately for Ting Ting the window card was the with the rest of the board running out and her tournament is now over, meaning the Main Event is now an all-male affair, while Li stacked up to 2.6 million, which makes him chip leader once more.
Longyun Li is turning up the heat now he has the chip lead, but of course hitting big hands also helps. Michael Soyza was the initial aggressor, opening to 90,000 from the cutoff, only to see Li come over the top from the button for 200,000 in total.
Soyza made the call and it was heads-up to a flop of , which the Malaysian checked over to Li. The Chinese player took his time over the decision but eventually decided to bet big, leading out for 350,000 and Soyza folded immediately.
Li flashed Soyza the so the Malaysian player dodged a couple of bullets there and dropped to 1.1 million while Li climbed to 2.8 million to further extend his lead.
Over on the other table, we caught former frontrunner Anson Tsang involved in a pot against Liu Lifu with the community cards spread and the had just hit the turn.
Tsang fired out a meaty 200,000 bet into an already sizable pot, and Lifu made the call from the big blind and it was off to the river.
Neither player seemed keen to bet so first to act meant first to show and Lifu turned over and Tsang pitched his cards into the muck. Tsang dropped to 1.1 million while Lifu climbed to 1.8 million.
We missed a huge hand that played out between Weizhou Zha and chipleader Yonglun Li but things evidently went Li’s way as he had a stack of over 4 million in front of him, while Zha had dropped to 800,000 or so.
We were in the process of counting up Li’s stack when he played an all-in pot against Huang Qien. Pre-flop it was Li who was the initial raiser, making it 100,000 to go from under-the-gun and action folded around to Huang on the button who moved all-in for a little over 205,000. Li called instantly and the cards were turned over.
Huang Qien:
Yonglun Li:
Li seemed shocked when Huang turned over his seven-high, but Qien obviously knew something Li did not – he was going to smash the flop…
The dealer spread the flop to giggles from the rest of the table, and the locked in the double for Qien and gave him a straight. The made an appearance on the river to give Li top pair, but arrived a little too late to make a difference. Qien now has 410,000 while Li still has heaps of chips and is sitting on a stack of 3.9 million.
With the elimination of Jun Wang play has now paused for a re-draw as the 10 remaining players are moved to a single table.
When Wang’s end came it was quick, at it was certainly memorable. Down to his last 350,000 Wang moved all-in from the button and Longjun Li made a very quick call from the big blind and the cards were turned over.
Jun Wang:
Longyun Li:
Li had Wang out-pipped and even had his suits, so it was not looking good for the latter. It got a whole lot worse on the flop with Li binking middle set. The only silver lining for Wang was the fact he had picked up the open-ended straight draw but the turn was of no help.
Wang was on his feet calling for the straight but was mocked by the poker gods who chose to favor Li and the hit the river to give him quads, to excited shouting from the rest of the table. That’s certainly a stylish way to set up the final table at any rate.
While the final table has now been reached, it is not the official 8-handed final table so play will continue until we lose to more. Full chip counts and redraw info to follow so watch this space.
Longyun Li is running so hot it’s a wonder he’s not bursting into flames at the table and we have just had another bust out with Li the man to wield the executioner’s axe once more.
Pre-flop it was Li who was the man in the driving seat, min-raising to 80,000 from middle position and action folded around to Alex Shen Zheng in the small blind who re-raised to 200,000 in total.
Li quickly declared himself all-in, with Zheng beating him into the pot and the cards were turned over.
Alex Zheng:
Longyun Li:
While Zheng had a pocket pair Li had the best pre-flop poker hand and did not relinquish his lead when the board ran out to bring Zheng’s tournament to a close and bring the field down to nine.