Level: 9
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
2017 Poker King Cup Macau
Main Event
Day: 1b
Cheung Beats Bloggers Curse
Level 9
: 400/800, 100 ante
In recent tournaments, Day 1A included, every time we watch Sparrow Cheung in action things go badly for the Hong Kong player. However, proving that this is just coincidence rather than our fault Cheung has just managed to win a race.
The hand was eerily similar to the one that played out yesterday against Geoff Mooney where Cheung raised the button and was shoved on by the big blind. Only this time things worked out a little differently.
It all started with a limp from a player in early position, with the recently arrived Fabian Quoss making the call from the cutoff before Cheung made it 5,000 to go from the button.
The small blind folded but big blind Ning Sun decided to put Cheung to the test and moved all-in. Both the original limper and Quoss got out of the way and the action was back on Cheung who had a decision to make as, with just over 30,000 left, the call would be for his tournament life. However, Cheung made the call quite quickly and the cards were turned over.
Sparrow Cheung: 
Ning Sun: 
The main difference between this hand and the one that played out yesterday is the fact that Cheung had 
then and his opponent Mooney had 
. This time Cheung is racing rather than being a 3-1 dog but he would need to hit to survive.
The 
flop gave Cheung some additional outs to go with his two overcards, but he didn’t need them as the 
hit the turn to give him the lead. The 
river locked in the double for the Hong Kong player and he climbed to 63,200 while Sun dropped to 22,500. While we can’t take any credit whatsoever for Cheung’s victory it’s just nice to know that we are not bad luck…
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
63,200
22,175
|
22,175 |
|
22,500
22,500
|
22,500 |
Liu Folds to Pressure
Level 9
: 400/800, 100 ante
We caught the embattled Xiaojie Liu in a big hand against an opponent who chose to put her to the test. There was already a little over 15,000 in the pot on the flop with the board reading 
and Liu had just led out for 8,500.
Liu’s opponent, sitting on the button, quickly moved all-in to send Liu deep into the think tank, where she remained as level nine ticked over into level ten. With 29,500 behind and the all-in bet in the region of 55,000 the call would be for Liu’s tournament life.
While Liu looked sorely tempted she eventually chose to let it go and the pot is shipped to her opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,900
-5,300
|
-5,300 |
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
Notable Stacks Going into Last Two Levels
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
With the start of level 10 the 75 remaining Day 1B entrants have just this level and one more before play concludes for the day so here's how the field is stacking up:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
148,000
92,800
|
92,800 |
|
142,500
39,500
|
39,500 |
|
134,000
39,000
|
39,000 |
|
123,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
119,200
200
|
200 |
|
112,000
112,000
|
112,000 |
|
110,000 | |
|
|
98,000 | |
|
81,000
29,000
|
29,000 |
|
||
|
|
80,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
61,000
14,300
|
14,300 |
|
|
54,800
-8,400
|
-8,400 |
|
|
54,000
2,500
|
2,500 |
|
38,600
12,050
|
12,050 |
|
||
|
37,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
Guoliang Extends Lead
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
We caught current top dog Wei Guoliang involved in a blind on blind battle with Taiwan’s An Lin. With the flop of 
Guoliang had led out for a pot sized bet of 11,000 and Lin was in the tank.
Eventually, Lin made the call and the dealer turned over the turn, bringing in the possible diamond flush. Guoliang kept up the pressure and fired a second barrel, this time for 13,000 and Lin gave him a skeptical stare down before making the call.
The landed on the river and Guoliang plonked a stack of blue 5k chips into the middle of the table totaling a bet of 50,000. Being as he only has 25,000 behind this put Lin all-in and he looked less than pleased at this.
Eventually, Lin grudgingly mucked and Guoliang raked in the pot. It’s hard to tell exactly how many chips he has now as the Chinese player has them all stacked up in four giant towers, but we are going to guestimate that it is close to 200,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
195,000
47,000
|
47,000 |
|
|
25,000
-36,000
|
-36,000 |
Jun Doubles Through Gu
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
We caught a huge hand to end level 10 and bring us into the last level of the day with China’s Bao Jun and Macau’s Huidong Gu doing battle in a hand that started five minutes before the end of level 10 and finished five minutes into level 11 after all the thinking and bantering that went on.
Pre-flop it was Jun who was the initial aggressor, opening to 2,700 from middle position. Gu, sitting to Jun’s direct left, peeked down at his cards and immediately announced ‘raise’ making it 8,100 to go.
Action folded back around to Jun who reached for chips, but they were for raising with and he three-bet to 18,200 only to see Gu instantly jam the rest of his sizable stack (he started with around 122,000) into the center of the table.
Jun rocked back in his chair and the two started jabbering away in Mandarin, and while we don’t speak it, poker is the same in any language and Jun was quizzing Gu intently about what he had, guessing that it was probably ace-king and he said as much.
The call was for Jun’s tournament life but he chose to make it, turning over 
and his guess about Gu’s hand was spot on as the Macanese player turned over and it was off to the races.
The board ran out 
and Jun nearly had a heart attack when he saw paint on the river thinking it was a king, but fortunately for the Chinese player it was the 
to grant him a timely double, and all that action concluded the level.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
98,600
98,600
|
98,600 |
|
|
74,500
-68,000
|
-68,000 |
Level: 11
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
Kan and Hu Tangle Before Last Five-Hands Carnage
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
In a hand that started not long after we had just finished reporting on the Huidong Gu vs Bao Jun epic around 10-minutes into the last level of the day, there was another marathon hand that developed between Raiden Kan and Rain Hu.
We were lurking by chip leader Wei Guoliang’s table trying to decide if he was still in fact chip leader when the following hand played out.
Malaysia’s Raiden Kan opened the action with a raise to 2,500 from middle position, with the neighboring Rain Hu the only caller. The flop fell 
and Kan continuation bet 5,000, which Hu called.
The 
turn saw Kan Hollywood, which took around 3 minutes or so, during which time the tournament director came over and asked Wei Guoliang to draw for the last number of hands. Guoliang picked out the meaning the magic number was five.
Back to the hand in question, Kan eventually decided to check the action over to Hu, who obligingly bet 8,000 reasonably promptly. Kan tanked some more before counting out a sizable amount of blue 5k chips and slid them over the betting line for a check raise of 24,000 in total.
Hu seemed a little taken aback at this and sat back in his chair while thinking over his decision, but eventually elected to make the call and the dealer peeled off the river card to pair the board.
Kan counted out chips and bet 48,000, leaving himself 40,000 behind and Hu thought long and hard about his decision. Some of the other tables had already finished their last five hands by this point the hand took so long to play out.
After an ice age, Hu anti-climatically decided to fold, leaving Kan to scoop the pot and climb to 127,000 while Hu dropped to 141,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
141,000 | |
|
|
127,000 |
Xu Wins Three-way, Huge Cooler for Cheung to Close Day
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
While there were several more crazy hands that occurred while we were watching the following dramas unfold (we know because we could hear lots of shouting) but we could not get them all. We did save the best for last, however.
There was a flurry of cards, chips and a great deal of excited shouting as we made our way over to Huidong Gu’s table, and while the Macanese player was not involved in the hand he was certainly enjoying his front row seat.
Three players were on their feet with their hands face-up on the felt and there were cards and chips scattered all over the table. The only player we recognised in the hand was He Xu, which was extremely fortunate as he actually won, and his two opponents stalked off scowling so hard after the dust settled that we did not have the heart to ask them who they were – after all, busting right at the close of the day is not really that much fun…
All the chips had gone in pre-flop and Xu had both other players covered and was holding 
, the first of Xu’s unfortunate opponents had 
and the other had 
and the dealer had just spread the 
flop, which was what all the shouting was about as Xu had gone from favourite to underdog extremely quickly.
However, the timely appearance of the gave He top pair and the lead in the hand and with no spade, nine or ace making an unwelcome appearance on the river Xu busted both unfortunate opponents and finished the day with 73,200.
There was another huge roar from across the card room and we arrived in time to see Sparrow Cheung and Li Zu Jie involved in a pre-flop all-in confrontation.
Sparrow Cheung:
Li Zu Jie:
Jie was the at-risk player and while this sort of confrontation usually results in a chop that was not the case here and we caught the action on the turn with the board reading 
.
Cheung did not look too happy with the way things had turned out, almost as if he could tell what was going to happen next. You guessed it, the river was a heart, the to be exact, which brought a fist pump and ecstatic cry of ‘Yes!’ from Jie and a huge groan from Cheung. Jie finished on 53,000 and while Cheung did not bust, he did not have all that many chips left either. There will be full chip counts to follow shortly, but all that action concludes the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
73,200
73,200
|
73,200 |
|
|
53,000
53,000
|
53,000 |