Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
2017 Poker King Cup Macau
Main Event
Day: 1a
Dong Busts Xu
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
We were up to 41 players in the Poker King Cup Main Event, though this has recently become 40 with Gui Dong busting the unfortunate Jie Xu who became the first of the Day 1A casualties.
It appears that a raising war developed between Xu (small blind) and Dong (under-the-gun) and we arrived just in time to see Xu ship the last of his 1,900 chips into the middle pre-flop with Dong making the call.
Jie Xu: 
Gui Dong: 
While it seems awfully early to be taking coin flips with less than 10% of his initial start stack remaining it did not look like Xu had all that much choice once he chose to re-raise Gui pre-flop.
The board ran out a distinctly paint-less 
and Xu headed for the rail while Gui climbed to 37,000.
Another of the new arrivals is Denmark’s Frederik Farrington and more late arrivals are starting to trickle in now to bring the number of entrants up to 46.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
37,000 | 12,000 |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
Busted |
Jiang Give Luo Warm Welcome
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Xixiang Luo is back in the thick of the action today and will be hoping to run slightly better than he did in the High Roller. That does not seem to be the case at present, however.
We caught Luo involved in a hand against tablemate Wang Jiang just as Luo opened the action from middle position with a raise to 500 with Jiang (button) the only caller.
Luo continuation-bet the 
flop to the tune of 325 and Jiang tossed in a single yellow 1k chip. It appeared Jiang wanted to raise, but being as he neglected to mention this all-important fact a single chip constitutes a call so he get’s some change.
The 
brings in trips and checks from both players and the 
hit the river to complete the hand. Now Luo decided to lead for 1,075 and Jiang made a speedy call. Luo mucked instantly and Jiang flashed him 
for a flopped full house, though we can see why he might not like the turn card.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
31,900 | |
|
28,100 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Dong Takes Early Hit, Song Profits
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
We caught WPT National Korea High Roller champion embroiled in a sizable pot against table mate Jianzhong Song with over 6,000 already in the middle of the table on the turn with the community cards reading 
.
Song had just checked the action over to Dong, who looked torn between betting and checked. After a couple of minutes in the tank Dong decided to play it safe and check it back and the dealer burned and turned the river to pair the board.
Song checked it over to Dong once more, who clearly thought something was up and checked it right back. Dong was right and Song turned over 
for a flopped set that had improved to a boat.
Dong gave a big sigh and folded, but whatever he had the Chinese player dodged a bullet there by checking it back. Dong dropped to 25,000 while Song had evidently been busy and raked in the pot to climb to 52,200.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
52,200 | 52,200 |
|
|
25,000 | -5,000 |
Chan Starting Aggressively
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
So far we only recognize around 3 of the 25-strong field, but it’s a good bet that many of Macau’s usual suspects will be turning up as the day progresses.
One of the players we do recognize is Arnold Chan, who has started aggressively. We caught the action on the turn on a 
board with over 6,000 already in the pot just as Chan fired out a 2,500 bet.
Chan’s opponent chewed over the decision but chose not to make the call and Chan wins a decent sized early pot. Chan tried to get some more action going 2 hands later, juicing the action up to 450 from the small blind after two late position limpers.
However, this did not quite work out how he expected with the big blind and both limpers making the call taking the action 4-way to a flop of 
.
Both Chan and the big blind checked and a player in the hi-jack decided to take a stab for 1,100, which was enough to get the other three players to give it up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
32,550 | 32,550 |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |
Cards in the Air
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Cards are now in the air in the HK$15,000+$1,500 Main Event, though it looks like a slow start with just seven players registered so far. However, poker players are notoriously late risers so we expect this number to climb as the day progresses.
Seven has quickly become 18 with Hong Kong's Park Yu 'Sparrow' Cheung and Arnold Chan and China's Gui Dong just some of the early arrivals.
Players are starting with a 30,000-chip start stack and have 40-minute levels in which to use them. This increase to 60-minute levels for any lucky or skilled enough to make Day 2.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Main Event
Day 1a Started
Poker King Cup Macau 2017 Main Event Day 1A
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.