Main Event
Day 3 Completed
PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Asia Championship of Poker
Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Asia Championship of Poker
Buy-in
95,000 HKD
Prize Pool
27,092,100 HKD
Entries
291
Level
30
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Yaxi Zhu Leads Final 24; Sunny Jung Looks for Title Defense
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
On Thursday, the final 62 players returned to the felt for Day 3 of the PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Asia Championship of Poker. After six full levels of play, just 24 players remain. Leading the field heading into Day 4 and the only player with over one million in chips is Yaxi Zhu, who bagged an impressive 1.019 million to end the day.
Zhu consistently thrived throughout the day, but truly hit her rush in the final level. A large confrontation that allowed her to soar into the chip lead occurred with just 30 minutes left in the day. During this hand, Zhu opened with a raise and found calls from Vladimir Troyanovskiy on the button and Mike "Timex" McDonald in the small blind. The trio took a 
flop and action checked to Zhu who continued out for 18,000. Troyanovskiy folded and McDonald stuck around to see the 
on fourth street. McDonald checked, Zhu continued her aggression for 39,000, and McDonald came over the top with a check-raise to 110,000. Zhu called and the 
finished off the board. McDonald moved all in for approximately 240,000 and was instantly called by Zhu who rolled over 
for the nut straight. McDonald's 
was pulled into the muck and Zhu soared to the chip lead.
Zhu, of course, was not the only player to thrive on Day 3. Konstantin Pogodin is close behind with 901,000 in chips. Rounding out the top three is Meng Dian Peng who put 834,000 in the bag.
Reigning ACOP champion Sunny Jung will also return for Day 4, bagging 822,000 in chips which is good for fourth place overall. Jung pocketed HK$4,352,000 for his victory just one year ago and is now a mere 23 eliminations away from a bigger payday and a title defense. Other notable players to survive the day include Joseph Cheong (527,000), Raiden Kan (405,000), Terrence Chan (365,000), start-of-day chip leader Sorel Mizzi (362,000), 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event champion Dimitar Danchev (361,000), Ami Barer (252,000), PokerStars Team Pro Celina Lin (91,000), and Byron Kaverman (73,000).
The day began with each returning player hoping to be among the top 31 players and score a guaranteed cash of at least $HK202,000. Unfortunately for exactly half of the returning field, that was not the case. Players like PokerStars Team Pro Raymond Wu, Jack Salter, Connor Drinan, Scott Davies, Dan Smith, Buyanjargal Bold, Billy Argyros, and Daniel Colman all saw an unfortunate end to their day before the money was reached.
The money bubble burst when EPT 10 Barcelona High Roller champion Thomas Muehloecker fell at the hands of Zuo 'ST' Wang. Muehloecker found himself all in holding 
against Wang's 
. A runout that read 
ensured that the bubble would burst and Muehloecker would be the last player to leave the tournament empty handed.
Players will return on Friday at 3 p.m. to play down to an official final table. Be sure to check back in with PokerNews as we provide all of the updates from the tournament floor.
Day 4 Seat Draw and Chips (full)
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Table 20
| Seat | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bodo Sbrzesny |
| 2 | -empty- |
| 3 | Gabriel Le Jossec |
| 4 | Sorel Mizzi |
| 5 | Raiden Kan |
| 6 | Jorn Walthaus |
| 7 | Terrence Chan |
| 8 | David Douglas |
| 9 | Yaxi Zhu |
Table 22
| Seat | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sunny Jung |
| 2 | Ami Barer |
| 3 | Konstantin Pogodin |
| 4 | Celina Lin |
| 5 | Dimitar Danchev |
| 6 | Stephane Blouin |
| 7 | Kai Yat Fam |
| 8 | Meng Dian Peng |
| 9 | -empty- |
Table 23
| Seat | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Zuo "ST" Wang |
| 2 | Jian Zhang |
| 3 | Michael Tureniec |
| 4 | Tore Lukashaugen |
| 5 | Byron Kaverman |
| 6 | Joseph Cheong |
| 7 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy |
| 8 | Ronald Chun Long Yu |
| 9 | -empty- |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,019,000 | 79,000 |
|
901,000 | 51,000 |
|
834,000 | 109,000 |
|
822,000 | -18,000 |
|
527,000 | 52,000 |
|
488,000 | -72,000 |
|
419,000 | 14,000 |
|
405,000 | 135,000 |
|
365,000 | -10,000 |
|
362,000 | -43,000 |
|
361,000 | 1,000 |
|
351,000 | 46,000 |
|
351,000 | -19,000 |
|
272,000 | -8,000 |
|
252,000 | -18,000 |
|
179,000 | 34,000 |
|
152,000 | -38,000 |
|
114,000 | -111,000 |
|
94,000 | -21,000 |
|
91,000 | 1,000 |
|
77,000 | -43,000 |
|
73,000 | -37,000 |
|
53,000 | -47,000 |
Two More Hands
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Tournament staff has announced two more hands before bagging and tagging for the evening.
Table 20 Chips
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
940,000 | |
|
|
405,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
305,000 | 65,000 |
|
|
270,000 | -5,000 |
|
|
110,000 | -40,000 |
|
|
100,000 | -10,000 |
|
|
90,000 | -10,000 |
Mike McDonald Eliminated in 25th Place (HK$202,000)
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Yaxi Zhu raised to 12,000 from the cutoff and found calls from Vladimir Troyanovskiy from the button and Mike McDonald from the small blind. The flop came down and McDonald checked. Zhu continued for 18,000 prompting Troyanovskiy to fold. McDonald, however, stuck around.
The hit the felt on the turn and McDonald checked for a second time. Zhu continued her aggression with a bet of 39,000. McDonald came over the top with a check-raise to 110,000 and Zhu flatted.
The finished the board and McDonald moved all in for about 240,000. Zhu snapped him off, rolling over for the nut straight. McDonald tabled before his cards were pulled into the muck. He was eliminated in 25th place and Zhu assumed the chip lead with about 940,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
940,000 | 350,000 |
|
Busted |
Table 22 Chips
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
725,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
560,000 | -90,000 |
|
|
475,000 | -205,000 |
|
|
405,000 | 135,000 |
|
|
375,000 | |
|
|
360,000 | 205,000 |
|
|
190,000 | 95,000 |
|
|
120,000 | 30,000 |
Huge Pot For Pogodin
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Sunny Jung opened the action and Konstantin Pogodin flat called before Michael Tureniec three-bet squeezed. Jun opted to fold but Pogodin moved all in and got a call from Tureniec.
Pogodin had got tricky with but was up against the legitimate 
of Tureniec.
The board ran out 
and Pogodin scored a massive pot off the one time chip leader
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
850,000 | 410,000 |
|
220,000 | -385,000 |
Troyanovskiy Shoves the River
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Vladimir Troyanovskiy opened the action for 13,000 and Byron Kaverman three-bet to 33,000. Troyanovskiy thought it over and made the call.
They both checked the flop of 
and saw the turn come the . Troyanovskiy check-raised Kaverman’s 26,000 bet to 66,000 and Kaverman made the call.
The river was the 
and Troyanovskiy shoved for 130,000. Kaverman had 150,000 left and thought for a long time, checking his cards several times before folding. Troyanovskiy emerged from under the hood he had been hiding in and greedily grabbed his chips back before the rest were pushed to him.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
240,000 | 90,000 |
|
|
150,000 | 50,000 |
Table 23 Chips
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
840,000 | 200,000 |
|
|
605,000 | -110,000 |
|
|
440,000 | 50,000 |
|
|
370,000 | 170,000 |
|
|
280,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
270,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
225,000 | -105,000 |
|
|
145,000 | -125,000 |
|
|
115,000 | -15,000 |