ACOP Main Event Day 1a | 2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker

10-28-2013 21:40 UTC+8

Keith Ferrera Finishes Atop the Day 1a Counts with 127,825

Chad Holloway

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

On Monday, the 2013 APPT Macau for the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 (approximately $12,900) Main Event kicked off at the PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams. Day 1a attracted 93 players, each looking to claim a portion of the guaranteed HK$20,000,000 (approximately $2.58 million) prize pool. After four 90-minute levels of play, Keith Ferrera finished as the chip leader with 127,825.

Things kicked off with a familiar name experiencing even more bad luck. You see, early on in this past weekend’s Warm Up side event, the 2012 Asia Player of the Year, Yosuke Sekiya, got his chips in with against an opponent who held on a flop. Sekiya was primed to get off to a good start, but then disaster struck as the case spiked on the turn. Unfortunately, Sekiya suffered a similar bad beat in the Main Event.

It happened in Level 2 (100/200) when Sekiya shoved all in for 14,725 on Shingo Cho, who already had 2,700 in the pot. Cho tanked for several minutes before dropping in a call.

Cho:
Sekiya:

Cho seemed to regret the decision, and rightfully so as he was a 2-1 dog. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Sekiya was a 65.48% favorite while Cho would come from behind 33.68% of the time. Much to Sekiya's dismay, this was one such time as the flop delivered Cho a set to make him a 91.21% favorite. Neither the turn nor river delivered Sekiya the case king, and he became the first elimination of the day – though he wouldn’t be the last.

Others who fell on Day 1a were Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Pakinai Lisawad, Thomas Mou, Julius Colman, Juicy Li, Ihar Soika and “Hong Kong” Ken Wong.

Likewise, just before the end of Day 1a, ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Johnny Chan was sent to the rail courtesy of 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Ben Lamb. It happened when Chan opened with a raise from late position only to have Lamb three-bet the big blind to 1,400. Chan responded by four-betting to 4,500 and Lamb dropped in all of his yellow 5,000-denomination chips to put Chan all-in. The 10-time bracelet winner made the call for his last 19,575 and the cards were tabled.

Chan:
Lamb:

The flop failed to help the Poker Hall of Famer, and once the and arrived on the turn and river respectively, Chan took his leave from the tournament while Lamb went on to bag 74,425.

Other notables who made it through to Day 2 were Aidan Tam (102,325), David Martirosyan (77,675), Ami Barer (60,850), Paul Newey (30,100) and Didier Guerin (15,325). Also joining them are Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Jonathan Karamalikis (49,150) and Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov (49,325), Naoya Kihara (38,875), Vivian Im (36,900) and Bryan Huang (23,500).

The 77 surviving players will return at 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, but before they do there is still another starting flight to take place. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on the hand for Day 1b at 3:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, so be sure to check back then for all the latest and greatest from PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams in Macau.

Tags: Keith Ferrera

10-28-2013 21:14 UTC+8

Benba Silences Chan

[user80015]

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

Ben Lamb's table was recently broken, and he was moved down to Table 10 located directly in front of the PokerNews blogging desk.

On one of the first hands Lamb would witness, Johnny Chan opened with a raise from late position only to have Lamb three-bet the big blind to 1,400. Chan responded by four-betting to 4,500 and Lamb dropped in all of his yellow 5,000-denomination chips to put Chan all-in. The 10-time bracelet winner made the call for his last 19,575 and the cards were tabled.

Chan:
Lamb:

With Lamb in the lead, the flop kept Chan drawing, and once the and arrived on the turn and river, Chan was headed out the door as Lamb climbed to just under 60,000 in chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ben Lamb	59,800	11,800
Johnny Chan	Busted

Tags: Ben Lamb Johnny Chan

10-28-2013 20:56 UTC+8

Stars Aligning

[user80015]

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

Day 1a of the ACOP Main Event features four Team PokerStars Pros while at least another three are expected on Day 1b.

WSOP bracelet winner Eugene Katchalov is sitting next to 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, but it is Katchalov who has the edge today sitting with 57,600 in comparison to Chan's 20,000.

In 2012 Naoya Kihara won a bracelet in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Handed, however the glory of those days aren't following through in this event as yet as he sits with an average stack of 34,800.

APPT Cebu Champion Vivian Im is on the table next to Kihara and sits with 36,200 while Macau veteran Bryan Huang is battle the shortest stack of the four with just 24,000 in chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eugene Katchalov	57,600	600
Vivian Im	36,200	1,200
Naoya Kihara	35,800	1,800
Bryan Huang	24,000	-1,500

Tags: Bryan Huang Eugene Katchalov Johnny Chan Naoya Kihara Vivian Im

10-28-2013 19:13 UTC+8

Enter Johnny Chan

Chad Holloway

Level 3 : 100/200, 25 ante

There are few names bigger in poker than that of Johnny Chan. Here's a little about the legend thanks to PokerNews' Player Profiles:

Born in China, Chan came to the United States in 1968 with his family to Arizona. After a few years spent there, Chan and his family relocated to Texas where his family owned a restaurant in Houston. Planning to keep with tradition and take over the family business, Johnny took classes at the University of Houston. But at the ripe old age of 21, decided to take a different road and become a professional poker player. It was then that he decided to move to Las Vegas.

With a bankroll trend line that represented something like a sinusoidal curve, Johnny was often forced to pick up temporary jobs in order to keep his head above water. Young and determined though, he stuck at it and eventually began to pull in consistent winnings around 1982.

It was then that Chan would enter The America’s Cup of Poker and gain his nickname “The Orient Express”. Chan got this nickname from Bob Stupak after watching Johnny eliminate 13 out of the 16 opponents in just over a half an hour of time, eventually going on to win the tournament. From there, a star was born.

Johnny won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1985 in the $1,000 Limit Hold’em event. A couple years later in 1987, Chan would win the $10,000 Main Event and then follow it up with a repeat performance in 1988. What some people sometimes forget or don’t know about is that in 1989, Chan almost pulled off the three-peat after he battled all the way down to the final two players of the WSOP Main Event. Phil Hellmuth got the best of him that day, but that would be far from the end of Chan’s bracelet glory.

He added seven more bracelets to those first three, for a total of 10. Only Phil Hellmuth has more bracelets and one other player, Doyle Brunson, holds 10. Chan was the first to reach double digits though when he defeated Phil Laak in 2008 for his tenth bracelet.

Outside of the World Series, Chan does very well in other televised events. He has four victories in NBC’s Poker After Dark and also done very well in the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. In that series, Chan placed second in February of 2005 and later won the second installment of the event in the summer of that same year.

Chan has also won events at the L.A. Poker Classic, participated on High Stakes Poker, and was elected into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002. Oh, and he just sat down in our tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
Johnny Chan	30,000	30,000

Tags: Johnny Chan

10-28-2013 17:18 UTC+8

Asia Player of the Year Eliminated

Chad Holloway

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

In the first orbit of the Warm Up a couple days ago, Yosuke Sekiya, the 2012 Asia Player of the Year, got his chips in with against an opponent who held on a flop. Sekiya was primed to get off to a good start, but then disaster struck as the case spiked on the turn. Similarly, Sekiya just suffered a bad beat here in the Main Event to exit early.

We caught the action in the last hand before the break with the all-in button in front of Sekiya. He was all in for 14,725 while Shingo Cho, who already had 2,700 in the pot, was pondering what to do. He tanked for several minutes prompting many players to exit the tournament floor. A minute or so into the break, Cho dropped in a call.

Cho:
Sekiya:

Cho seemed to regret the decision, and rightfully so as he was a 2-1 dog. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Sekiya was a 65.48% favorite while Cho would come from behind 33.68% of the time. Much to Sekiya's dismay, this was one such time as the flop delivered Cho a set to make him a 91.21% favorite. Neither the turn nor river delivered Sekiya the case king, and he became the first elimination of the day.

Player	Chips	Progress
Shingo Cho	55,000	55,000
Yosuke Sekiya	Busted

Tags: Shingo Cho Yosuke Sekiya

10-28-2013 15:48 UTC+8

Setting the Stage in the City of Dream

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 50/100, 0 ante

No place in the world has grown as fabled in the poker world as Macau, a tiny island located just a short distance from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. For years word has spread across the globe of legendary high-stakes cash games that have attracted some of the game's best including Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Ben Lamb and Greg Merson, just to name a few. In more recent years, Macau has played host to some of the most prestigious tournaments in the East.

So what's it like in Macau, or at least here in the PokerStars Live poker room here at the City of Dreams? Let us set the stage.

The first thing that strikes you (at least this newcomer) is the grand scale of things. The buildings are similar in aesthetics compared to those in Vegas, but here in Macau they seem to be a bit bigger and better. Imagine if you can a blending of Sin City, Cannes and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. I've been to all three and Macau seems to have incorporated the best parts of each.

You might also be surprised by the sheer number of table games on the casino floor, which in an odd twist to other gaming floors seemingly outnumber the slot machines. The poker room is comprised of a couple dozen tables, each magnificently constructed and branded with the PokerStars logo. What's more, each table is surrounded by eight high-back black leather chairs — again each with a PokerStars logo.

As far as the chips in play, there are currently five denominations:

Yellow = 5,000
Blue = 1,000
Purple = 500
White = 100
Green = 25

There are no slot machines to drown out the chip crickets, and no smoke to pollute the lungs (it's a smoke-free room). Toss in bright lighting, well-positioned monitors and friendly service, and you have one of the best venues this tournament reporter has ever been to (and believe me I've been to a lot).

Macau really is a "City of Dreams," and in the 2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker, at least one player's dream of either poker immortality, a big payday, or both will come true.

10-28-2013 15:14 UTC+8

My Stack App Available for 2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 50/100, 0 ante

The PokerNews My Stack App is available for players here at the 2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker, allowing players to directly update their chip count on the PokerNews Live Reporting page for their friends and family to see.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.

Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.

Tags: My Stack

10-28-2013 12:20 UTC+8

ACOP Main Event is Here!

[user80015]

Welcome to the PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams in Macau for the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 Main Event!

Following the success that the ACOP saw in 2012, the ACOP Main Event prizepool guarantee has been doubled to a whopping HK$20,000,000 (approximately $2.58 million). The buy-in however remains the same at HK$100,000 (approximately $12,900) which makes this definitely the premier event in the Macau and surrounding Asia regions due to the buy-in size, prestigious nature of the event and the honor bestowed to however is left standing at the end of the five days of play.

That honor last year belonged to China's Xing Zhou who defeated a final table that featured ANZPT Sydney Champion Michael Kanaan, WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichen and Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon winner Tom Alner. With Zhou topping the 184-player field, he collected the HK$3,547,500 first prize after making a deal with eventual runner-up Andy Ying Kit Chan.

There is strong word that the guarantee will be eclipsed as a plethora of International pros have made the trip to Macau already and will be using this ACOP Main Event as their own possible warm-up to the HK$250,000 (approximately $32,250) High Roller (with one rebuy) set to begin on the weekend. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov was spotted playing cash games last night, while Randy "nanonoko" Lew and the PokerStars Team Asia pros have been out in force all week. EPT Barcelona Champion Tom "hitthehole" Middleton is also here while a mix of Macau regulars, Australian tournament grinders and PokerStars Online Qualifiers will be taking part over two opening flights.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on the hand for the duration of the tournament providing all the live updates that you at home need to follow along with the 2013 ACOP Main Event! Play is set to begin at 3:00 p. m. local time, so make sure to keep your browser locked to PokerNews.com!

Tags: Xing Zhou