Drinan Leads the Final 23, Wang Bubbles
Twenty three players survived Day 3 of the 2015 PokerStars.net APPT ACOP Main Event, including those who surged, and others who had more of a steady rise. The tournament, which began with 260 entries and created a total prize pool of $24,206,000 HKD, will see the winner take home $5.85-million HKD ($759,232 USD approx), while a min-cash will be worth $193,000 HKD ($24,899 USD approx).
Connor Drinan shot to the lead after a three-way all in put him on top around the midway point of the day. Drinan had 
versus two players, Alexander Kuzmin, who had 
, and Chen Wang, who held 
. Drinan managed to bust both players on the hand to vault over 700,000, and he went on to finish Day 3 as the chip leader with 861,000.
On the other hand, Patrick Mahoney rose slow and steady all day, building his stack up from 185,300 to 820,000. Mahoney is sporting a bright-multicolored hoodie, however, his face is a single color of determination which seems to be giving nothing away to his opponents. Mahoney’s finish was good to end the day in third place.
Thomas Ward sat down today with 105,400. He doubled up early with 
against the 
of Billy Argyros and didn’t look back, peaking at 730,000. That was fairly early in the day and the natural attrition of a poker tournament has taken it’s toll and Ward, who now sits at 195,000.
It looked as though either Drinan or Mahoney would be wrestling over the chip lead, with the other finishing the day in second. However, Yat Wai Cheng made a late surge and snatched the second-place spot from Mahoney with 835,000.
Cheng won the APPT Macau Main Event earlier this year. Cheng is also 19th on the Asia Player of the Year leaderboard. A win in this tournament will put him in the top spot. However, Ka Cheong Wong (169,000), who is currently second in the APOY race and Yuguang Li (249,000), who is fourth, might have something to say about it before the tournament is over.
Team PokerStars Online Pro Mikhail Shalamov is the lone PokerStars Pro in the field, but will have some work to do if he wants to make it to the final six as he ended the day at 100,000.
Erik Seidel, PokerStars Pros Bryan Huang and Isaac Haxton were among the pros to hit the rail on Day 3, while Andy Chan earned the distinction of being the bubble boy. It happened in Level 18 (3,000/6,000/1,000) Chan shoved for his last 81,000 in the small blind. Sergey Lebedev called. Chan was frustrated after the call and seemed to think he was far behind. He showed 
and Lebedev showed 
. The board ran out 
and that was the end of the line for Chan, who exited in 28th place ensuring the remaining players a minimum payday of $193,000 HKD. ($24,900 USD approx).
Steve O'Dwyer, Russell Thomas, Matthew Wakeman, Raymond Wu, Tom Alner, Thomas Ward, Christoph Vogelsang, Patrick Mahoney, and reigning APPT Macau champion Tony Cheng return for Day 4 action, which will begin at 2 p.m. local time on Friday.
While you wait, check out this video of the ACOP Players' Party:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
861,000 | 41,000 |
|
835,000 | 105,000 |
|
820,000 | 20,000 |
|
515,000 | 175,000 |
|
490,000 | 170,000 |
|
486,000 | 26,000 |
|
443,000 | 78,000 |
|
341,000 | 71,000 |
|
334,000 | -36,000 |
|
|
293,000 | 113,000 |
|
260,000 | -65,000 |
|
258,000 | -2,000 |
|
250,000 | -99,000 |
|
249,000 | -101,000 |
|
228,000 | -62,000 |
|
195,000 | -70,000 |
|
174,000 | -3,000 |
|
169,000 | -3,000 |
|
163,000 | -19,000 |
|
141,000 | -39,000 |
|
126,000 | -37,000 |
|
100,000 | 54,000 |
|
82,000 | -38,000 |