The first of two days for the inaugural Asia Pacific Poker Tour Season 9 HK$50,000 Freezeout saw a field of 81 entrants take to the felt at the PokerStars LIVE Macau at City of Dreams. After 12 levels of play, Sheng Sun topped the field of 26 survivors with 365,000 chips, while Allen Wang (318,000) and Rajeev Raut (274,000) round out the top three.
Action got underway at 18:00 local time and at the end of the second level, the first participant had run out of his 50,000 starting stack entirely. Darian Tan followed soon after and quite a few other notables hit the rail as the day progressed including 2014 Asia Player of the Year (APOY) Pete Chen and the current 2015 ranking leader Yuguang Li. The UK's JP Kelly registered late and lasted all of two hands, while Aaron Lim's and Xing Zhou's day on the felt wasn't any more fortunate either.
Winfred Yu, who recently hosted the grand opening of the Poker King Club (which was attended by Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Johnny Chan) as well as 2014 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific Bracelet winner Sam Higgs didn't make it to the end of Day 1 either and the last level of play saw the departure of both Bryan Huang and Celina Lin within a mere five minutes. WSOP APAC champion Scott Davies almost went the same route but tripled up in the last four hands to bag up 173,000.
Other big stacks and notables include Kim Wittendorff (242,000), Jack Hu (223,000), Thomas Ward (158,000) and David Steicke (93,000). Day 2 will resume at 15:00 local time with blinds at 3,000-6,000 and a running ante of 1,000. The remaining 26 players will fight for the top 10 spots, guaranteeing at least HK$ 110,790 whereas the winner takes home HK$ 997,100.
Day 1A of the HK$25,000 Main Event also gets underway on Wednesday as well, and the PokerNews live reporting team will bring you updates from both events as of 14:00 local time. Have a good night and thanks for tuning in today!
Once the clock was stopped and Sheng Sun had drawn the last number of hands, Scott Davies moved all in for 51,500 from under the gun. Percy Yung called from two seats over and Sun then reshoved out of the small blind to isolate successfully.
Davies:
Sun:
The chip leader had peeked at 400,000 chips but the run good came to an early a bit early, as the board ran out to give the 2014 WSOP APAC champion a triple up.
We just spotted PokerStars Team Pro Bryan Huang standing outside the tournament area with his head buried in his phone.
He was polite enough to tell us of his elimination.
The hand started with Huang raising to 11,000 before Alberto Gomez bumped it up to 22,000. With the decision back on Huang he moved all in for his last 78,000 and was called.
Huang tabled his and was up against Gomez’s but would find no help as Gomez improved to a set on the flop to take down the pot.
"After all this time," Celina Lin added with a wry smile on the face and Rajeev Raut was almost apologizing with a shrug over on the table that had just featured Lin. Both players had flopped a set but the queens of Lin were no good to Raut's kings, the miracle via one outer didn't come anymore.
"I need a miracle," Billy Argyros said just before the start of the hand. The Australian had to give up his big and small blind previously and then moved all in for just over 10,000 from the button. Sheng Sun had just been moved to the table and called from one seat over before both players poked some fun and very slowly turned over their cards.
Argyros:
Sun:
The flop was great for Argyros as he made top two, but the turn and river completed a back door straight for his opponent instead.
The action started with PokerStars Team Pro Bryan Huang raising to 1,400 from under the gun plus one. His opponent to his immediate left made the call before Yuguang Li bumped it up to 3,900 from the button. Huang made the call before the player to his left raised it once more to 8,900. Li thought about his decision before tossing in another raise totalling 18,900 in chips.
Huang was taken back by all the action but eventually moved all in for 34,825 after summing up the play. The player to his left flung back in his chair, not expecting the raise.
“I wasn’t worried about him,” said Huang, whose main focus was on Li’s eventual decision.
The player to Huang’s left folded before Li asked for a count.
“No snap call? I feel better now,” cheered Huang, as he watched the dealer cut out his stack.
Li then made the call and both players tabled their cards.
Huang:
Li:
Huang was in great shape to double up before the dealer produced the flop. Li had a gut-shot straight draw but would not get there as the board ran out the and to see Huang win with his monster pair.
A big smile came across Huang’s face as he raked in a pot just over 80,000 in chips.
Macau is a place where dreams can come true, be it hotels and attractions showing up left an right or high-stakes cash games running and with Millions to be won. The new "Las Vegas of Asia" already boasts unique places such as the Venetian, but the "City of Dreams" hotel complex and casino on the Cotai Strip surely showcases the ambitions of the small peninsula in mainland China. The "PokerStars Live Macau" poker room is in here and that's also the host of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour stop in Season 9.
All thirteen events count towards the Official Asia Player of the Year ranking and the festival has kicked off a few days ago on May 20th with everything leading up to the final on May 31st 2015. The buy-ins range between HK$ 1,500 and HK$ 100,000 and the two-day HK$ 50,000 Freezeout is the second-most expensive event on the schedule. In fact, the tournament has just been introduced and takes place for the first time ever.
The action gets underway in about one hour from now at 18:00 local time (six hours ahead of CET) and the first nine 40-minute levels will then see an increase of the duration per level to 60 minutes each. Late registration on Day 1 remains open for six hours with a maximum of eight to nine hours being played and the tournament will resume tomorrow as of 15:00 local time. May 27th also features the first starting day of the HK$ 25,000 Main Event and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to deliver updates from both events simultaneously. Same also applies for the HK$ 100,000 High Roller event on May 30th and 31st as well.
Among the familiar names expected heading to Macau are Randy "nanonoko" Lew of Team PokerStars Online, Kitty Kuo, 2014 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific Main Event champion Scott Davies and the Team PokerStars Pros Bryan Huang, Celina Lin, Kosei Ichinose, and Aditya Agarwal
to give the 2014 WSOP APAC champion a triple up.
and was up against Gomez’s 
flop was great for Argyros as he made top two, but the 
river completed a back door straight for his opponent instead.
flop. Li had a gut-shot straight draw but would not get there as the board ran out the 
and 
to see Huang win with his monster pair. 