Main Event Day 1a | 2017 Poker King Cup Macau

05-21-2017 23:07 UTC+8

Alex Lee Leads Day 1A of Poker King Cup Macau Main Event

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Level 11 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Singapore's Alex Lee tops Day 1A of Poker King Cup Macau

The first of the Poker King Cup Macau Main Event three starting flights saw 69 players ante-up the HK$15,000+1500 entry fee, with Singapore’s Alex Lee coming out on top after bagging up an impressive 191,500 in chips.

While Lee began the day slowly, poker is a marathon, not a sprint and the Singaporean chipped up at an unhurried pace before becoming involved in a big hand against Quan Zhou midway through level nine.

Zhou moved all-in over the top of a mid-position Lee raise holding pockets tens and the Singaporean made the call with pocket jacks, which held to send Zhou to the rail and shoot Lee into the top ten. Lee then leveraged his sizable stack to chip up further, pushing Gouki Yeung off a massive 100,000-chip pot on the last level of the day to power into pole position.

Joining Lee at the top was US player Benjamin Hamnett, who held the lead for the majority of the day after flopping trip sixes to win a huge three-way hand against China’s Jun Wang and Xinhao Xu to climb to 150,000. Hamnett further increased his stock by flopping trips again to bust the unfortunate Bobbie Suri, finishing the day on 180,900.

Hong Kong’s Arnold Chan was another who enjoyed a stellar day, turning quad aces against an unlucky opponent’s flopped second nut flush to reach the six-figure chip mark, finishing play with 123,800.

The UK’s Simon Burns (105,500) and China’s Zhao Ting Ting (96,800) round out the top five, with 34 of the 69 entrants successfully circumnavigating the tournament minefield to make Day 2.

Other notables to secure themselves a seat included China’s Yuan Li (84,200), Australia’s Geoff Mooney (72,000), ‘Juicy Sixiao Li (36,100) and APT 2016 Player of the Year Iori Yogo (10,800).

Play began at 1pm local time (GMT+7) with eleven 40-minute levels on the schedule, concluding a little after 9pm and will follow the same pattern tomorrow for Day 1B so join us then for more thrilling tournament action.

Tags: Alex Lee Arnold Chan Benjamin Hamnett Bobbie Suri Geoff Mooney Gouki Yeung Hongdi Zhao Jun Wang Quan Zhou Shaoming Li Sixiao Li Wai Yeung Xin Xu Xing Zhou Xinhao Xu Yuan Li

05-21-2017 20:30 UTC+8

Lee Shuts Down Yeung

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Level 11 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Level 11 has just started and this will be the last level of the day, with play concluding in a little under 40-minutes. Currently, 38 players remain out of the 69 Day 1A entries though whether all of these will make it through is anyone's guess.

One player who should though is Singapore's Alex Lee, who has just won a monster pot against tablemate Gouki Yeung. We only caught the tail end of the hand, picking up the action on the turn and while we have no idea what the pre-flop action was, there must have been plenty as, with the board reading , there is easily over 70,000 in blinds and antes in the center of the table.

Yeung was in middle position and had just fired out a sizable 33,000 bet on the turn and the action was on Lee. The Singaporean did not take long to make his decision, announcing ‘all-in’ and dropping down a tower of blue 5k chips to reiterate this fact.

Lee had Yeung easily covered but the latter shot Lee a grin tapped the table and mucked, leaving Lee to rake the monster pot without showdown.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alex Lee	160,000 80,000	80,000
Gouki Yeung	37,000 37,000	37,000

Tags: Alex Lee Gouki Yeung

05-21-2017 18:15 UTC+8

Hamnett Seizes Lead

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Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

We arrived at Benjamin Hamnett’s table just in time to see the US player involved in a huge three-way hand against Jun Wang and Xinhao Xu.

We have no idea what the pre and post flop action was but there had evidently been plenty as there was already well over 20,000 in blinds and antes in the middle of the table and the action was at the river with the board reading .

There are all sorts of hands the three players could have here, with full houses and a spade flush both possible. Jun checked the action over to Hamnett who fired out an 8,000 bet and the action was on Xu.

The Chinese player took his time over the decision but decided to raise, throwing out a bet of 19,000 and the action was on Jun who reached for chips, then some more chips but eventually decided to just call, swelling the pot still further.

While he did not look thrilled about it Hamnett threw in the extra 11,000 and waited with baited breath for Xu to turn over his hand. Eventually, Xu did so, rolling over for two pair – aces and sixes.

Wang quickly pitched his cards into the muck but Hamnett rolled over for trip sixes to scoop the massive pot and climb into pole position.

Player	Chips	Progress
Benjamin Hamnett	150,000 73,000	73,000

Jun Wang	56,000 -24,000	-24,000
Xinhao Xu	46,000 46,000	46,000

Tags: Benjamin Hamnett Jun Wang Xinhao Xu

05-20-2017 13:55 UTC+8

Poker King Cup Macau 2017 Main Event Day 1A

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Registration is open for the Poker King Cup Macau 2016 HK$15,000+$1500 Main Event

With over HK$2,919,800 (~US$375,145) in prize money awarded so far the Poker King Cup Macau 2017 is just warming up. With the HK$76,000+$4,000 High Roller appetiser already served (you can read a full recap here) and Taiwan's Chung Yuan Yu emerging triumphant over the 37-strong field for a HK$1,020,700 (~US$131,144) payday, it’s time for the tasty HK$5 million guaranteed HK$15,000+$1,500 Main Event main course.

There are still six days of scintillating poker action left with the three starting Day 1 flights running from May 21-23 with all surviving players returning to battle it out for the hallowed money spots from May 24-26 until a champion is crowned.

There is also still the one-day HK$3,000 Poker King Cup Queens Event on May 23 and the two-day HK$20,000 Poker King Cup King Size Stack on May 25-26 left to play. However, the PokerNews live coverage will conclude at the end of the Main Event on May 26.

Last year, when the tournament was at the Poker King Club Manila, it featured a smaller HK$4 million guaranteed prize pool and a reduced HK$15,000 buy-in. Team PKR MemberJason Lo outlasted a field of 279 players to win the top prize of ₱857,100.

Players can qualify into this year's Main Event for as low as HK$2,000 through any of the eight satellite tournaments running at the casino May 18-22.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to cover all the Main Event tournament thrills and spills, starting today as Day 1A kicks off at 1pm local time (GMT+7) so stay tuned and we’ll bring you all the action as it happens.