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Hong Kong's Anson Tsang leads coming into Day 3
Just 63 players remain in contention out of the Poker King Cup Macau 2017 Main Event’s 490-strong field.
While all 63 are now guaranteed a payday of at least HK$26,000 ($3,338) when play resumes at 1pm on Thursday May 25 it will be the trophy, title, and lion’s share of the HK$7,129,000 (~$915,295) prize pool all will have their eye on.
The man best positioned to scoop the HK$1,389,500 (~$178,333) first prize is Hong Kong’s Anson Tsang, who bagged up over a monstrous 1.1 million in chips.
Denmark’s Frederik Farrington (704,000), Korea’s Lim Yohwan (687,000) and China’s Yang Song (557,000) round out the top five.
Other notables still in the running include Day 1A frontrunner Alex Lee (96,000), High Roller Quan Zhou (177,000) and Hong Kong’sJustin Chan (286,000). You can read a full recap of all the Day 2 action here.
Day 3 of the Main Event will play down until the final table is reached, however long it takes, and the PokerNews' live reporting team will be on the tournament floor to provide live updates of all the action. Keep your browser locked on this page to stay up to date as the tournament progresses.
Bluffing the chip leader is never a good idea, a fact that Korea’s Lim Yohwan has just discovered to his cost.
It was a battle of the blinds and we arrived during the aftermath as the stacks were being counted down but Tsang was more than happy to fill us in on the details.
We are not sure what the pre-flop action was but the flop was and Tsang check-called a Yohwan continuation bet and checked the turn. Yohwan shoved and Tsang called instantly. The Korean player held offsuit, and while this was slightly ahead of Tsang’s pre-flop the Hong Kong player had smashed the flop and Yohwan was drawing dead.
The river gave Yohwan a meaningless pair of nines and we lose one more and Tsang strengthened his already commanding lead and now has over 2 million in chips.
Zhu Qi kick-started the action with a raise to 27,000 from the hi-jack with the UK’s Simon Burns making the call from the button before Jun Wang fired out a tickly little re-raise to 56,000.
The action was back on Qi and he thought long and hard about his decision, tanking for a good 2-3 minutes before deciding to raise again, making it 136,000 in total.
Burns quickly folded and the action was back on Wang, who gestured at Qi to lift his arms so he could get a gander at his remaining chips – Qi had 450,000 behind. Seemingly satisfied that he had Qi covered Wang made the standard Macau all-in triangle motion with his hands and shoved for 550,000.
This sent Qi deep into the think tank, where he remained for a good five minutes as level 21 ticked over into level 22. It was a big decision for his tournament life so Qi was given some leeway by the rest of the table, who waited patiently for the Chinese player to make his decision.
Eventually, Qi chose to wait for a better spot and slid his hand face down into the muck and Wang won 170,000 without showdown.
Hong Kong’s Justin Chan has just narrowly missed out on the money ladder, departing in 28th place for HK$43,000. All remaining 27 players are now guaranteed at least HK$49,000.
It was chip leader Anson Tsang who was applying the pressure pre-flop with a raise to 35,000 from the cutoff. Chan, sitting on the button, looked down at his hole cards and moved all-in for 103,000 in total and action folded to Weizhou Zha in the big blind.
Zha glanced over at Tsang, who easily had him covered, and decided to flat call. Tsang gave a little chuckle and threw in the extras and the flop fell . Both Zha and Tsang checked the whole way with the turn and river running out and respectively.
Chan turned over but could not beat Zha’s , Tsang mucked and we lose another. Play has paused for a redraw now we are down to three tables.
Anson Tsang and Zhong Yuan Hang have just played a massive pot that has seen the chip lead change hands, though not quite in the way you imagine.
We only arrived in time to catch the aftermath as the stacks were being counted down but Tsang was kind enough to fill us in on the details.
Hang had opened the action with a raise and Tsang tried to leverage his monster stack and re-raised in position, with Hang making the call to take play heads-up to a flop of and this is where the fireworks happened.
Hang now led out for a pot-sized bet, Tsang continued the aggression with a raise and Hang did not take long to get the rest of his sizable 860,000 stack into the pot and with chips to spare Tsang made the call and the cards were turned over.
Zhong Yuan Hang:
Anson Tsang:
While Hang had top pair he would need to fade Tsang’s hearts and did so when the turn and river completed the hand. Tsang took a big hit and dropped to 1.7 million while Hang climbed to a little over two million.
This now makes Longyun Li our current chip leader as he has a stack of 2.3 million currently.
Play had not long resumed following the break before there was another casualty. Down to his last 400,000 Korea’s Soojo Kim moved all-in from the button and after the small blind folded the action was on big blind Huang Qien.
Qien looked torn between calling and folding but the chance to thin the field was just too good to miss and he eventually chose to make the call.
Soojo Kim:
Huang Qien:
Kim was in great shape with a dominating hand and the flop kept his nose in front. The turn gave both players the gutshot straight draw and they both had each other’s out. Unfortunately for Kim he hit top pair on the river, which gave Qien Broadway and we lose one more.
Down to his last 260,000 Zhao Jie moved all-in from under-the-gun and neighbor Jun Wang re-shoved to isolate for 600,000 and the rest of the table took the hint and got out of the way.
Zhao Jie:
Jun Wang:
As is often the case at this stage in a tournament, it was down to a race and unfortunately for Jie, it was one he lost when the board ran out and he headed for the cash desk to collect his winnings while Wang stacked up to 835,000.
We have just lost another with Zhao Ting Ting unable to recover after that bluff against Weizhou Zha. A few hands later she was all-in, moving her last 590,000 into the middle from the cutoff with Longyun Li making the call from the big blind.
Zhao Ting Ting:
Longyun Li:
Unfortunately for Ting Ting the window card was the with the rest of the board running out and her tournament is now over, meaning the Main Event is now an all-male affair, while Li stacked up to 2.6 million, which makes him chip leader once more.
With the elimination of Jun Wang play has now paused for a re-draw as the 10 remaining players are moved to a single table.
When Wang’s end came it was quick, at it was certainly memorable. Down to his last 350,000 Wang moved all-in from the button and Longjun Li made a very quick call from the big blind and the cards were turned over.
Jun Wang:
Longyun Li:
Li had Wang out-pipped and even had his suits, so it was not looking good for the latter. It got a whole lot worse on the flop with Li binking middle set. The only silver lining for Wang was the fact he had picked up the open-ended straight draw but the turn was of no help.
Wang was on his feet calling for the straight but was mocked by the poker gods who chose to favor Li and the hit the river to give him quads, to excited shouting from the rest of the table. That’s certainly a stylish way to set up the final table at any rate.
While the final table has now been reached, it is not the official 8-handed final table so play will continue until we lose to more. Full chip counts and redraw info to follow so watch this space.
and Tsang check-called a Yohwan continuation bet and checked the 
turn. Yohwan shoved and Tsang called instantly. The Korean player held 
offsuit, and while this was slightly ahead of Tsang’s 
pre-flop the Hong Kong player had smashed the flop and Yohwan was drawing dead.
river gave Yohwan a meaningless pair of nines and we lose one more and Tsang strengthened his already commanding lead and now has over 2 million in chips.
. Both Zha and Tsang checked the whole way with the turn and river running out 
and 
but could not beat Zha’s 
, Tsang mucked and we lose another. Play has paused for a redraw now we are down to three tables.
and this is where the fireworks happened.
turn and 
river completed the hand. Tsang took a big hit and dropped to 1.7 million while Hang climbed to a little over two million.
turn gave both players the gutshot straight draw and they both had each other’s out. Unfortunately for Kim he hit top pair on the 
and he headed for the cash desk to collect his winnings while Wang stacked up to 835,000.
