Jung Leads Final Table, Eyes Back-to-Back Victory
Welcome back to our coverage of the PokerStars.net APPT Season 8 Asia Championship of Poker! The starting field of 291 has been whittled down to the final table of nine. Leading the pack heading into the final day is none other then ACOP reigning champion Sunny Jung. Jung bagged the biggest stack on the penultimate day and will hold a lead of 1.81 million coming into the final table.
Jung currently sits in second place on South Korea's all-time money list for live tournament poker. A high finish in today's event could vault this poker professional into the top spot for his country. Last year he won this very event and pocketed a cool HK$4,352,000. This year, as he looks to go back-to-back, the stakes are even higher with a first-place prize of HK$6,300,000. Jung has been in this position before and is certainly a favorite to retain his championship title as he holds the biggest stack at the table.
That being said, recent Aussie Millions Main Event champion Ami Barer is right on Jung's heels. Barer bagged 1.76 million to end the day yesterday and will certainly be a serious force at this final table. He comes into the final table in second place overall.
Also present at the final table is tournament wizard Joseph Cheong, sitting on 1.027 million for fourth place overall in chips. This is Cheong second final table of the week, finishing fifth place in the 2014 ACOP “Macau Billionaire Poker” HK$500,000 Super High Roller just five days ago. Cheong pocketed $528,663 in USD for his efforts at that finale table and surely looks to improve upon his finish today.
Here's a look at the seat draw and chip counts heading into the final table:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zuo 'ST' Wang | China | 504,000 |
| 2 | Konstantin Pogodin | Russia | 1,165,000 |
| 3 | Ami Barer | Canada | 1,760,000 |
| 4 | Raiden Kan | Hong Kong | 488,000 |
| 5 | Sunny Jung | Korea | 1,810,000 |
| 6 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | 576,000 |
| 7 | Tore Lukashaugen | Norway | 369,000 |
| 8 | Gabriel Le Jossec | UK | 1,025,000 |
| 9 | Joseph Cheong | USA | 1,027,000 |
Play begins at 3 p.m. local time and the field will play down to a winner. As always, be sure to keep your browsers locked on PokerNews for all of the latest updates.