Christian ZetzscheFinal Day in Macau - who becomes the High Roller champion?
The first day of the HK$100,000 High Roller Event of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour at the "PokerStars LIVE Macau at City of Dreams" started and ended fast and furious with a total of 75 unique entries and 30 rebuys. After 12 40-minute levels, only 30 players bagged up chips and Steve O'Dwyer claimed a comfortable lead with 941,000 chips.
Liang Yu (685,000) and Shashank Rathi (644,000) complete the overnight podium whereas other notables include Shing Fung "Rono" Lo (513,000), PokerStars Team Online member Randy Lew (464,000), HK$50,000 runner-up Jack Hu (362,000), Tom Alner (304,000) and Sunny Jung (267,000).
JP Kelly (203,000) and Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin (158,000) are among the short stacks when Day 2 kicks off in about half an hour from now at 14:30 local time with blinds at 6,000-12,000 and a running ante of 1,000. Only the top 11 spots get paid at least HK$293,000 while the first place is rewarded with a silver PokerStars trophy and a payday of stunning HK$2,492,500.
Make sure to tune into the PokerNews live reporting to find out who is crowned champion. The Main Event is also about to recommence and you can check out the updates from the final table here.
Zhou Zhou raised from the cutoff and Jack Hu called from one seat over before Zhidong Yang raised out of the small blind. Zhou got out of the way but Hu now jammed and was snap-called by Yang:
Hu:
Yang:
The was already a nail-biter and sure enough the appeared right away on the turn to lock up the hand for Hu. To make things worse and rub it in even more, the dealer burned and turned the river that didn't help Yang anymore either.
"Why can't I win a flip? At least it is better than busting with aces to kings," PokerStars Team Pro Celina Lin said after she was just being sent to the rail by Zhou Zhou. The latter had raised to 32,000 from the cutoff and Lin jammed for 131,000 out of the small blind with .
Steve O'Dwyer had raised from under the gun and called a three-bet by Chang He to see a flop of . The Irish American check-raised all in and He made the call with after having hit top pair. O'Dwyer turned over for one over card and the flush draw, but the turn and river bricked.
The start-of-the-day chip leader was in the big blind next and called all in for 72,000 with . JP Kelly had pushed from the small blind with and the board blanked out in .
Shashank Rathi defended his big blind against an under-the-gun raise of Sunny Jung and check-called the flop to do so again for 170,000 on the turn. Both players had just over 100,000 chips behind and Rathi instantly moved all in after the river.
Jung was taking a long time and eventually called with slightly less chips than his opponent to muck his hand in disgust when he was shown the by Rathi. The dealer told him to reveal the cards as it was an all in showdown and he obliged and flipped over the before leaving the tournament area.
Steve O'Dwyer had lost a limped pot against Jack Hu and then moved all in for 565,000 from the button. Hu folded the small blind and Chang He peeked at his hole cards in the big blind, stood up and appeared to have a difficult decision. He then called and to the surprise of all other players on the table turned over his .
O'Dwyer held and the Irish-American was sent to the rail after a board of . The start-of-the-day chip leader was not necessarily happy and Hu as well as the other Chinese players told He, after he was done celebrating the hand, that this was not really good poker etiquette.
O'Dwyer walked into the tournament area again a few minutes later and also past our media table in a very calm manner "I am okay with it."
JP Kelly open-shoved for 315,000 from early position and Randy Lew tank-called out of the big blind for his last 265,000 with the . Kelly held and failed to improve on a board of to fall back to 50,000 as a result. Two hands later he was forced all in out of the big blind and faced two opponents, who checked down the board.
Hao Tian showed the for quad fives out of the small blind and scooped the pot.
At the same time, Liang Yu was all in for 205,000 and Marcus Lau reshoved for more than 600,000 to isolate successfully.
Yu:
Lau:
The board ran out and Yu doubled on the stone-cold bubble. Hand for hand mode has been activated but first the two tables had to be balanced.
Hajime Haraikawa moved all in from the small blind and Liang Yu checked his cards before asking for a count. He then made the call with and the Japanese was at risk for 430,000 with while being covered for only two big blinds.
The board ran out and all the prayers of the Japanese for an ace went unheard as he bubbled the High Roller in 12th place.
Shashank Rathi opened the action with a raise to what looked like 90,000 and Zhou Zhou defended his big blind to see a heads-up flop of . Zhou check-called a bet of 100,000 and checked again the on the turn. Rathi moved all in and Zhou tank-called for his last 500,000 with the for a straight.
Rathi however had that beat with and the on the river sent Zhou to the rail in 11th place just shy of the next break.
Within three hands, the chip distribution on table 4 has changed dramatically and the final table of the last nine is set.
Shashank Rathi limped the button and Randy Lew moved all in for 445,000 to scoop the pot without showdown.
One hand later, Lew shoved from the button and Asa Smith called all in for his last 475,000 with out of the big blind. The PokerStars Team Online member held and the board ran out to leave "nanonoko" with less than two big blinds.
Rathi limped again the very next hand and Lew moved all in for 105,000 from one seat over. Smith reshoved from the small blind for exactly 1 million chips and Rathi made the call!
Lew:
Rathi:
Smith:
The board ran out and Lew tripled whereas Smith was sent to the rail in 10th place. Rathi is the big chip leader going to the final table and there is now a short break to set up the final showdown.
was already a nail-biter and sure enough the 
appeared right away on the turn to lock up the hand for Hu. To make things worse and rub it in even more, the dealer burned and turned the 
river that didn't help Yang anymore either.
.
and got there on a board of 
.
. The Irish American check-raised all in and He made the call with 
after having hit top pair. O'Dwyer turned over 
for one over card and the flush draw, but the 
turn and 
river bricked.
. JP Kelly had pushed from the small blind with 
and the board blanked out in 
flop to do so again for 170,000 on the 
river.
by Rathi. The dealer told him to reveal the cards as it was an all in showdown and he obliged and flipped over the 
.
and the Irish-American was sent to the rail after a board of 
. The start-of-the-day chip leader was not necessarily happy and Hu as well as the other Chinese players told He, after he was done celebrating the hand, that this was not really good poker etiquette.
to fall back to 50,000 as a result. Two hands later he was forced all in out of the big blind and faced two opponents, who checked down the 
and Yu doubled on the stone-cold bubble. Hand for hand mode has been activated but first the two tables had to be balanced.
on the turn. Rathi moved all in and Zhou tank-called for his last 500,000 with the 
to leave "nanonoko" with less than two big blinds.
and Lew tripled whereas Smith was sent to the rail in 10th place. Rathi is the big chip leader going to the final table and there is now a short break to set up the final showdown.