2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker

High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
74
Prize
4,086,700 HKD
Event Info
Buy-in
240,000 HKD
Prize Pool
10,216,800 HKD
Entries
34
Level Info
Level
7
Blinds
6,000 / 12,000
Ante
1,000

Senh Ung Wins the 2013 ACOP HKD$250,000 High Roller for HKD$4,086,700

Level 14 : 50,000/100,000, 10,000 ante
Senh Ung is the 2013 ACOP High Roller Champion
Senh Ung is the 2013 ACOP High Roller Champion

On Sunday both the 2013 PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Macau Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 Main Event and HKD$250,000 High Roller came to a close at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams. Sunny Jung emerged victorious in the Main Event – which you can read about by clicking here – while Senh Ung topped a field of 43 entries to win the High Roller title for HKD$4,086,700 (~$572,000 USD).

Day 2 began with 15 players looking to make the top five and claim their share of the HKD$10,216,800 prize pool. Action resumed in Level 8 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000, and it didn't take long for the first two eliminations as Mikael Thuritz and Chunlei Zhou fell in back-to-back hands to Aidan Tam. Yan Tsang joined them on the rail a short time later, as did legendary Macau high-stakes player Winfred Yu.

Any hope of a member of Team PokerStars capturing the came to an end in Level 10 (15,000/30,000/5,000) when Eugene Katchalov was eliminated from the tournament. It happened when Katchalov and Jonathan Karamalikis raised back and forth preflop until the former was all in for roughly 580,000.

Katchalov: {a-Clubs}{q-Hearts}
Karamalikis: {q-Diamonds}{q-Clubs}

It was a bad spot for the Team Pro, and his best chance to survive was to catch an ace. The {7-Clubs}{9-Clubs}{2-Hearts} flop was no help, and neither was the {8-Spades} turn. Katchalov was up out of his seat, and just as soon as the useless {6-Spades} fell on the river, he made a beeline for the exit.

From there, Paul Newey, Kyle Cheong, and Brandon Meyers all hit the rail. Meyers began the day with the chip lead, but lady luck was not on his side on Day 2. His pocket aces were cracked by Tam's queens in an all-in preflop confrontation, and despite making the final table, he fell short of the money in eighth place.

After James McCarty fell in seventh place, Vladimir Troyanovskiy was eliminated as the bubble boy, which of course put the final five players in the money.

Last year Karamalikis won the same tournament for HK$3,707,000 ($478,292 USD) while fellow Aussie Jeff Rossiter finished runner-up for HK$2,224,000 ($286,949 USD), and amazingly both made the money in 2013. Unfortunately they wouldn't repeat their performances as they were eliminated in fifth and fourth place respectively. Ung would then go on to knock out both Tam before taking a big chip lead into heads-up play against Predrag Lekovic.

The final hand would come in Level 14 (50,000/100,000/10,000) when Ung moved all in from the button and Lekovic instantly called off for his last 1,140,000.

Ung: {7-Spades}{4-Hearts}
Lekovic: {A-Hearts}{2-Clubs}

Lekovic was the favorite to win, and the {K-Spades}{3-Clubs}{9-Spades} board kept him in the lead. That is when the devastating {7-Hearts} on the turn thrust Ung into the lead and left Lekovic drawing to just an ace to stay alive. Unfortunately for Lekovic, the dealer would deliver the {6-Clubs} on the river to eliminate him in second place for HK$2,452,000 payday.

Meanwhile, Ung was crowned ACOP High Roller Champion and took down the first major title of his career.

2013 ACOP High Roller Results

PlacePlayerPrize (HKD)
1stSenh Ung$4,086,700
2ndPredrag Lekovic$2,452,000
3rdAidan Tam$1,634,700
4thJeff Rossiter$1,226,000
5thJonathan Karamalikis$817,400

Tags: Senh Ung

Jonathan Karamalikis Eliminated in 5th Place (HKD$817,400)

Level 13 : 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Jonathan Karamalikis - 5th Place
Jonathan Karamalikis - 5th Place

Action folded to defending champ Jonathan Karamalikis in the small blind and he moved all in, which elicited a call from Aidan Tam in the big.

Tam: {q-}{j-}
Karamalikis: {3-}{3-}

It was a flip, but Tam was the one that needed to improve to win. Unfortunately for Karamalikis, that's just what happened after the board ran out to give Tam a winning straight. The defending champ is down, but his back-to-back cashes in the ACOP High Roller is impressive.

Player Chips Progress
Jonathan Karamalikis au
Jonathan Karamalikis
Busted
Full Tilt

Tags: Jonathan Karamalikis

Karamalikis Eliminates Katchalov

Level 10 : 15,000/30,000, 5,000 ante
Eugene Katchalov
Eugene Katchalov

Any hope of a member of Team PokerStars capturing the title has just come to an end as Eugene Katchalov was just eliminated from the tournament.

It happened when he and Jonathan Karamalikis, who won this very event last year, raised back and forth preflop until Katchalov was all in for roughly 580,000.

Katchalov: {a-Clubs}{q-Hearts}
Karamalikis: {q-Diamonds}{q-Clubs}

It was a bad spot for the Team Pro, and his best chance to survive was to catch an ace. The {7-Clubs}{9-Clubs}{2-Hearts} flop was no help, and neither was the {8-Spades} turn. Katchalov was up out of his seat, and just as soon as the useless {6-Spades} fell on the river, he made a beeline for the exit. With that, Karamalikis vaulted up to two million in chips.

Player Chips Progress
Jonathan Karamalikis au
Jonathan Karamalikis
2,000,000
450,000
450,000
Full Tilt
Eugene Katchalov ua
Eugene Katchalov
Busted

Meyers Takes a Huge Hit

Level 9 : 10,000/20,000, 3,000 ante
Brandon Meyers
Brandon Meyers

A preflop raising war saw Aidan Tam get his stack of 730,000 all in preflop holding the {j-Clubs}{j-Diamonds}. Much to his dismay, he discovered he was crushed by the {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds} of Brandon Meyers. The start-of-the-day chip leader was primed to vault over 2 million, but sometimes fate can be cruel. This was one of those times.

The {6-Clubs}{j-Spades}{10-Hearts} flop gave Tam the lead with a set, and Meyers could do nothing but shake his head. Neither the {7-Hearts} turn nor {3-Diamonds} river helped him regain the lead, and he watched more than half his stack sent over to his Australian foe.

Tags: Brandon MeyersAidan Tam

A Macau High Roller Champion Will Be Crowned on Day 2

The 2013 PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Macau Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 Main Event is down to heads-up play between Devan Tang and Sunny Jung here at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams, the HK$250,000 High Roller still has 15 of the original 43 entires remaining.

There is a HK$10,216,800 prize pool up for grabs, and that will be distributed to the top five finishers with a healthy HK$4,086,700 ($572,000) reserved for the winner. Brandon Meyers[/B] has the best shot at that prize as he'll start the day as chip leader with 1.748 million.

Meyers managed to double in the last hand on Day 1 to finish with the chip lead. Meyers had moved all in over the top of a big bet by Vladimir Troyanovskiy on a board reading {8-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{a-Hearts}{j-Spades}{5-Hearts}. Predrag Lekovic had been involved in the action, too, but had folded what he later claimed was a set. Eventually, Troyanovskiy made the call and seemed a bit tilted when Meyers rolled over the {k-Diamonds}{q-Diamonds} to beat his own {9-Diamonds}{7-Diamonds} straight.

Other who are returning to action are Jonathan Karamalikis, who if you recall won the ACOP High Roller event in 2012. He's looking to defend his title and has a decent chance of doing so with a stack of 876,000. That said, he'll have to contend with some stiff competition that includes Jeff Rossiter (1.247 million), Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (838,000), Aidan Tam (698,000), and Paul Newey (382,000), just to name a few.

Here's a look at the Day 2 draw with counts:

2013 ACOP High Roller Final Two Tables

SeatPlayerCounts
1Chunlei Zhou759,000
2Eugene Katchalov838,000
3Aidan Tam698,000
4Senh Ung305,000
5Brandon Meyers1,748,000
6Jonathan Karamalikis876,000
7Mikael Thuritz286,000
8-empty-N/A
   
1Yan Tsang231,000
2Winfred Yu362,000
3Jeff Rossiter1,247,000
4Vladimir Troyanovskiy1,398,000
5Kyle Cheong373,000
6James McCarty571,000
7Paul Newey382,000
8Predrag Lekovic682,000

Day 2 will kick off at 2 p.m. local time, which is just over an hour from now. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the latest and greatest from the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams.

Until then, check out Sarah Grant's jump from the world’s tallest bungee jump:

Tags: Brandon Meyers