Ivan Leow Wins OPC High Roller Macau for HKD $1,442,300 (US$184K)
The second and final day of the HKD $100,000 ($12,743) Oriental Poker Championship High Roller saw 26 players of the initial 31 entries return to the Venetian Hotel & Resort poker room for the eighth 40-minute level of the event. Before Day 2 late registration ended, the field had grown to 43 total entries (including re-entries) and generated an HKD $4,003,300 (~US$510,115) prize pool, with the top seven finishers receiving at least HKD $160,000 ($20,389).
It took close to 12 grueling hours of play to find the Oriental Poker Championship Macau's very first High Roller Champion with Malaysia's Ivan Leow the man to hoist the trophy and take down the HKD $1,442,300 (~US$183,740) top prize.
Leow defeated China's Yang Wang after a brief heads-up confrontation, which the Malaysian came into with over a 2-1 chip lead. The final hand saw the short-stacked Wang move all-in pre-flop for close to 15 big blinds with queen-deuce suited and Leow make the call with pocket nines, which held to give Leow the win and his first tournament title.
It was a day for firsts as, in addition to winning his first title, Leow also became the first-ever player to win an OPC High Roller, a fact he celebrated with his watching rail. Leow has enjoyed a great month of May having already final tabled two out of the four Triton Super High Roller events in Montenegro earlier in the month for combined winnings of $450,194 for his two sixth-place finishes. This OPC victory brings Leow's total live earnings up to US$776,741 and shoots him up to #6 on the Malaysia All Time Money List.
While Wang was surely disappointed to not be able to convert his initial final table chip lead into a win, the HKD $921,000 (~US$117,360) second-place money should take the edge off, especially when you consider the fact this is his second-largest career score to date. The Chinese player remained upbeat and chatty for the majority of the two-day tournament.
OPC Macau High Roller Final Results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in HKD) | Prize in (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | $1,442,300 | $183,740 | |
| 2 | Yang Wang | China | $921,000 | $117,360 | |
| 3 | Albert Paik | USA | $580,000 | $73,910 | |
| 4 | Wenling Gao | China | $400,000 | $50,970 | |
| 5 | Chihwen Chen | Taiwan | $280,000 | $35,680 | |
| 6 | Victor Chong | Malaysia | $220,000 | $28,030 | |
| 7 | Tony Cheng | Hong Kong | $160,000 | $20,390 |
Final Table Action
It took seven hours to whittle the field down to the final nine, with several Macau regular high stakes players falling by the wayside as play progressed. The UK's Matt Moss could not go the distance, and neither could high stakes crusher James Chen and seasoned tournament player Thomas Ward, though the last two did make the final 16.
The final table took six hours to play out with Wang coming in with the chip lead. However, the action was high tempo from the get-go with the chip lead changing hands with a great deal of frequency and with two of the final nine departing empty-handed, competition for the money spots was fierce.
It was Hong Kong's Danny Tang who became the first final table casualty after taking a nasty beat at the hands of USA's Albert Paik with the pair getting all the chips in pre-flop with pocket kings and ace-king suited, respectively. Unfortunately for Tang, Paik turned the nut flush to shoot up to second in chips while Tang dropped down near the bottom of the counts. Nothing went right for the Hong Kong player after that and he lost two back-to-back pots to fellow countryman Tony Cheng to hit the rail empty-handed shortly after the dinner break.
Ivan Leow had edged into the chip lead before the bubble burst, with the short-stacked Chung Yuan Yu getting the last of his chips in pre-flop with king-six offsuit against China's Wenling Gao. Her ace-high was enough to send Yu out in eighth to burst the bubble and guarantee all seven remaining finalists a place in the hallowed money spots.
Albert Paik took a huge chunk of Wang's chips with a flopped set shortly afterwards to climb to the top of the counts, taking it in turns to swap the chip lead with Leow. Tony Cheng departed in 7th place for an HKD $160,000 payday, falling at the hands of Wang when his king-nine offsuit was out-flopped by the latter's queen-ten suited on a ten-high board and that pot brought Wang right back into the game.
However, it was Leow who would send the next player out the door, busting fellow Malaysian Victor Chong in sixth place for HKD $220,000 when the two got all the chips in pre-flop with king-queen and king-jack respectively. Both missed the board by miles, meaning Leow's kicker played and he climbed back into the chip lead.
It looked as though Leow might run away with it at this point, but Wang caught a timely double up at the former's expense to bring Leow back down to close to the rest of the remaining five players. Taiwan's Chihwen Chen enjoyed a brief stint as chip leader after turning the nuts in a hand against Leow, but the Malaysian player took all his chips back with interest a little later when Chen open-shoved a 3♥2♠2♦ flop with pocket fours and Leow snapped him off with ace-deuce suited. Chen collected HKD $280,000 for his fifth-place finish while Leow shot back to the top of the counts.
Four-handed play lasted for quite some time before Wenling Gao lost a race against Wang to get short. While she attempted a late comeback, it was not to be. Gao called off the last of her chips with a dominating ace-king against a Wang button shove with king-ten, but Wang caught four to a flush to bring her tournament to a close for an HKD $400,000 payday.
That left three, with Albert Paik, Yang Wang and Leow all enjoying stints as tournament top dog before Paik got short and called off his chips in a big hand against Leow. Both had rivered a pair of eights, but Leow had the best kicker and Paik had to settle for the HKD $580,000 for third.
