Main Event Day 1a | 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau

11-23-2017 11:25 UTC+8

2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau Day 1A begins

RazorSharpPro

Greetings poker fans and welcome to the PokerNews live coverage of the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau, brought to you from the Poker King poker room at the Venetian Macau.

The ten-day festival, running Nov 23 – Dec 2, boasts a host of events including an HK$12,000 buy-in side event with an HK$1 million guarantee, an HK$80,000 buy-in High Roller event and an HK$20,000 buy-in deep-stacked tournament.

You can view the full schedule here

However, it is the $8M GTD Suncity Cup Main Event that will be attracting the most attention when it kicks off at 1pm local time (GMT+8) on Thursday, 23 November, and this will be the only event with PokerNews live coverage.

Boasting an affordable HK$6,600 (~US$845) buy-in the tournament looks primed to attract an eclectic mix of keen recreational players and seasoned professionals, all eager to win a share of the HK$8M (~US$1M) guaranteed prize pool.

There are eight starting flights to chose from, including two with turbo structures, giving players the ultimate in flexibility when it comes to choosing when and how to begin their quest for glory, although the PokerNews live coverage will only be for the six non-turbo flights.

Players buying into any of the Day 1 Main Event flights sit down with 15,000 chips and play eighteen 40-minute levels with blinds starting at 25/50. Late registration is open until the start of the level 10 and multiple re-entries are permitted while late registration is available.

Players are allowed to play more than one Day 1, but should they progress to Day 2 more than once, only their largest stack is taken through with them. Play continues on Day 1 until only 15 percent of the field remains, with these players making it to Day 2.

In a small twist, it is possible to buy into the HK$8 million guaranteed Main Event on Day 2A or Day 2B for HK$38,000 (US$4,850). Anyone taking this route will receive a 100,000-chip starting stack.

You can check out the full structure here

Everything you should know about the upcoming Suncity Cup

With four prior legs already having played out; the first in Jeju, Korea, running September 24-30, the second at the Poker King Club, Manila, Philippines, running October 13-16, the third at CLBC The Flagship, Taipei, Taiwan, running November 3-5 and the fourth taking place at Paradise City, Incheon, Korea, running November 10-12 a total of 24 players have already locked up their Day 2 seat:

2017 Suncity Cup Main Event Day 2 Qualifiers

Position	Name	Country	Chip Count	2A Table/Seat	2B Table/Seat
1	Sahashi Hideki	Japan	374,200	2-3	-
2	Hsiao Jialing	China	245,800	-	4-3
3	Asakura Yasuyuki	Japan	189,400	-	1-9
4	Hsieh Chi Han	Taiwan	164,000	-	10-8
5	Kuo Ting Wei	Taiwan	130,200	-	3-4
6	Thomas Lee	Canada	120,000	-	5-1
7	Chan Shin Hung	Taiwan	105,500	-	4-8
8	Trifie D. Montebon II	Philippines	105,000	5-8	-
9	Chang Tian Lin	Taiwan	102,500	3-8	-
10	Chen Sheng Wen	Taiwan	93,000	-	2-6
11	Chen Wen Kai	Taiwan	92,000	7-4	-
12	Hung Yu Shin	Taiwan	85,000	-	9-3
13	Liao Po Hao	Taiwan	80,800	-	8-2
14	Tsai Du Ming	Taiwan	77,800	6-1	-
15	Chien Jen Yen	Taiwan	67,800	4-1	-
16	Wu Chia Yun	Taiwan	63,500	10-2	-
17	Zhou Qiangbo	China	60,000	2-2	-
18	Lin Chin An	Taiwan	53,000	1-3	-
19	Hong Cheng Han	Taiwan	50,800	6-6	-
20	Yueh Ko-Chiang	Taiwan	45,200	-	5-6
21	Tsuyoshi Ishibashi	Japan	44,900	6-2	-
22	Chen Yazhou	China	39,400	8-10	-
23	Yoshinori Sugie	Japan	35,600	3-1	-
24	Wang Yong Siang	Taiwan	19,800	-	7-9

Day 2A begins at 1pm on Wednesday, 29 November and 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+8) so stay tuned and we’ll bring you all the action as it happens.

11-23-2017 14:33 UTC+8

Ups and Downs for Kavrakov

RazorSharpPro

Level 2 : 50/100, 0 ante

Atanas Kavrakov takes his beats stoically

Atanas Kavrakov has been a busy bunny and had run his initial 15,000 starting stack up to close to 20,000 before Nan Jiang managed to slow the Bulgarian down with a timely catch.

While we missed all of the pre-flop betting action it looked as if Kavrakov and Jiang had become embroiled in a pre-flop raising war with Jiang having a bet of 1,200 on the felt in front of him which had been called by Keng Po Wong on the button.

Kavrakov, sitting in the small blind, mulled over his options but elected to just call and take the action three-way with close to 4,000 in chips in the pot already.

The Bulgarian led out immediately on the rather dry flop and Jiang, sitting in early position, quickly re-raised to 5,700 in total.

Wong quickly folded and action was back on Kavrakov, who thought things over at an unhurried pace before moving all-in for close to 30,000 in total. Jiang, who was sitting on 8,550 after all the pre-flop muscle flexing, made a speedy call and the cards were turned over.

Atanas Kavrakov:
Nan Jiang:

Kavrakov was in great shape against Jiang’s measly middle pair, until the came straight in on the turn to give the Chinese player trips and crack the Bulgarian’s pocket rockets.

The river saw Jiang scoop the pot and climb to 19,700 while Kavrakov took the hit stoically and dropped to 11,450 without even flinching.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nan Jiang	19,200 4,200	4,200
Atanas Kavrakov	11,450 -3,550	-3,550

Tags: Atanas Kavrakov Nan Jiang

11-23-2017 16:15 UTC+8

Welcome to the table Mr Martins…

RazorSharpPro

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

The total number of entrants has climbed to 22 with the late arrival of Portugal’s Antonio Martins, though the number of tables has shrunk from three to two as just 16 of these players remain in the running.

However, with the format offering unlimited Day 1 re-entries there is nothing, aside from bankroll management concerns, to stop any of the bust outs from giving it a second go.

Martins wasted no time getting into the swing of things, becoming involved in a multi-way pot not long after taking his seat. It was Germany’s Kilian Loeffler who was the initial aggressor in this particular hand, making it 900 to go from under-the-gun plus one and receiving zero respect for his early position raise with Yue Feng (button), Thin Tin Duong (small blind) and Martins (big blind) all making the call to take the action four-way to a flop of .

No one fancied the flop and the action was checked around, with Martins opening for 1,400 on the turn.
Loeffler made the call and both Feng and Duong bowed out to take the action heads-up to the river.

The arrival of paint did not slow Martins and he fired for 1,900, only to see Loeffler quickly re-raise to 7,000 in total. This sent the Portuguese player into the think tank for a good few minutes, before he grudgingly slid in the call.

Loeffler rolled over for a rivered two-pair, but this was not enough to best Martins’ rivered straight and he scooped the pot to climb to 27,500 while Loeffler dropped to 6,500.

Player	Chips	Progress
Antonio Martins	27,500 27,500	27,500
Kilian Loeffler	6,500 -3,450	-3,450

Tags: Antonio Martins Kilian Loeffler

11-23-2017 17:07 UTC+8

Kavrakov Out, then in; Loeffler Leads

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

We’re not sure how he’s done it, but Germany’s Kilian Loeffler has had a sterling reversal of fortune and has now edged into the chip lead. When last we checked at the start of the last level Loeffler had around 6,500 but is now sitting on a great deal more.

We don’t want to speculate on where he got these additional chips from but Antonio Martins is on a much-reduced stack, closer to starting stack than previously and Atanas Kavrakov’s seat is empty and he is currently re-entering over at registration desk.

We caught Loeffler in action in a hand against Nan Jiang, who was the initial pre-flop aggressor having made it 1,500 to go from the hi-jack with Loeffler (big blind) the only caller.

The German checked the flop over to Jiang, who checked it back and the hit the turn. Loeffler checked once more and Jiang decided to take a stab for 1,800, which Loeffler quickly called. The river saw Loeffler change it up and he now led for 2,100 and after mulling it over Jiang tossed in the call.

Loeffler rolled over for second pair and Jiang flicked his cards into the muck. He dropped to 21,000 after the hand while Loeffler is sitting pretty on the chip lead and a stack of 45,000.

Macau's Sio Fat Lau is another new arrival and along with the re-entry of Atanas Kavrakov this brings the total number of entrants up to 24, 16 of whom are still in the running.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kilian Loeffler	45,000 31,700	31,700
Nan Jiang	21,000 -13,700	-13,700
Sio Fat Lau	15,000
Antonio Martins	13,550 -10,750	-10,750
Atanas Kavrakov	Busted

Tags: Kilian Loeffler Nan Jiang

11-23-2017 18:39 UTC+8

Lau Busts Dong to Take Lead

RazorSharpPro

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Cheng Dong and Sio Fat Lat became involved in a raising war that saw all the chips find their way into the middle pre-flop, with Lau the man to pull the trigger first.

We turned up just as Dong moved all-in as a three-bet over the top of a Lau big blind re-raise with the Macanese player making a quick call and the cards were turned over.

Cheng Dong:
Sio Fat Lau:

Dong was the at-risk player and would need some help, which he duly received when the flop fell to give him top pair. Unfortunately, the turn put Lau firmly in front and left Dong drawing dead. The river was merely a formality and the field is now down to 12. That pot saw Lau edge into the chip lead with a stack of 57,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sio Fat Lau	57,000 24,000	24,000
Cheng Dong	Busted

Tags: Sio Fat Lau Cheng Dong

11-23-2017 19:08 UTC+8

Hikosaka Overtakes Lau and Busts Cartwright

RazorSharpPro

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Nine quickly became eight with Oliver Cartwright and Keisuke Hikosaka duking it out in a hand that saw the former’s tournament come to an abrupt end.

It was Hikosaka who was the initial aggressor, opening the action from the cut off before Cartwright moved all-in from the big blind with the Japanese player making a speedy call.

Oliver Cartwright:
Keisuke Hikosaka:

Cartwright may have pulled the trigger first but was also the at-risk player and would need to hit to survive. As you can clearly tell from the title of this post, that did not happen with the board running out meaning Hikosaka’s pair of fours was enough to win a huge pot and snag the chip lead.

The Japanese player edges slightly in front of Sio Fat Lau with a stack of 108,000 with the remaining players stacking up as follows:

Player	Chips	Progress
Keisuke Hikosaka	108,000 80,800	80,800
Sio Fat Lau	106,000 -3,000	-3,000
Kilian Loeffler	45,500 -200	-200
Yao Jin Chen	42,500 25,425	25,425
Bos Wim	19,700 -11,800	-11,800
Thin Tin Duong	18,000 2,000	2,000
Antonio Martins	15,200 -2,100	-2,100
Atanas Kavrakov	9,000 -10,300	-10,300
Andrew An	Busted
Keng Po Wong	Busted
Oliver Cartwright	Busted

Tags: Keisuke Hikosaka Oliver Cartwright Sio Fat Lau

11-23-2017 21:50 UTC+8

Thin Tin Duong Eliminated to Conclude Day 1A

RazorSharpPro

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Duong came back from the dinner break as the shortest stack and despite a double-up, the Hong Kong player was still more than 55,000 in chips behind next closest rival Kilian Loeffler and could not catch the rest of the field, no matter how hard he tried.

Just 10-minutes into the new level and Day 1A of the Suncity Cup Finale Macau is in the books. Duong blinded slowly down until he decided to get the last of his chips in against Japan’s Keisuke Hikosaka.

The hand started innocuously enough, with Duong opting to limp under-the-gun before Hikosaka pumped the action up to 8,000. That was enough to convince the rest of the table to get out of the way and it was heads-up to a flop of .

Duong checked Hikosaka bet another 8,000 and Duong moved all-in for close to 10,000 in total with the Japanese player calling immediately.

Thin Tin Duong:
Keisuke Hikosaka:

While Duong had caught a piece of the flop, so had Hikosaka, who had the bigger piece and the turn and river brought the day’s play to a close.

All four remaining players have locked up their Day 2 seat and made HK$6,000 while Duong will have to try again on one of the seven other starting flights.

Table re-draw and end of day wrap to follow shortly so watch this space.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kilian Loeffler	108,600 -3,400	-3,400
Sio Fat Lau	97,700 -8,300	-8,300
Keisuke Hikosaka	91,000 15,000	15,000
Yao Jin Chen	64,500 -500	-500
Thin Tin Duong	Busted

Tags: Keisuke Hikosaka Thin Tin Duong

11-23-2017 22:58 UTC+8

Kilian Loeffler Tops Day 1A of 2017 Suncity Cup Macau Finale, Japan’s Sahashi Hideki Still Leads Field

RazorSharpPro

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Germany's Kilian Loeffler leads Day 1A of 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau

A total of 21 players coughed up the HK$6,600 buy-in for Day 1A of the 2017 Suncity Cup Macau Finale, and with the format offering unlimited re-entry four of these chose to try their luck a second time to bring the total number of entries up to 25.

With 15 percent of the field making it through to Day 2, it took twelve 40-minute levels to whittle this down to four, with Germany’s Kilian Loeffler the man leading the charge.

Loeffler bagged up 108,600 at the close of play – the only player to break the six-figure stack mark – with next closest rival Macau’s Sio Fat Lau who finished play with 97,700.

Japan’s Keisuke Hikosaka (91,000) and China’s Yao Jin Chen (64,500) were the other two who managed to lock up their Day 2 seat with the Day 2 redraw as follows:

2017 Suncity Cup Finale Day 1A Survivors and Day 2 Draw

Position	Name	Country	Chip Count	2A Table/Seat	2B Table/Seat
1	Kilian Loeffler	Germany	108,600	9-4	-
2	Sio Fat Lau	Macau	97,700	-	9-5
3	Keisuke Hikosaka	Japan	91,000	-	8-1
4	Yao Jin Chen	China	64,500	10-4	-

Loeffler’s Day 1 began with his chip stack moving in the wrong direction and the German player was down to his last 6,500 at one point after running two pairs into the rivered straight of Portugal’s Antonio Martins. While Martins made the final nine he could not go the distance and departed just shy of the money spots.

However, Loeffler turned things around extremely quickly, running his stack up to the giddy heights of 45,000 by the start of level six. While the German was unable to maintain his lead he did not drop out of the top four for the rest of the day and a late run of form saw him edge in front of rivals Lau and Hikosaka as play wound down.

While Loeffler led Day 1A, the overall chip lead still belongs to Japan’s Sahashi Hideki, who qualified through the third leg held in Taipa from November 3-5, and is sitting pretty on 374,200. Loeffler currently sits in seventh in the overall standings, but with seven more starting flights left to play that could well change before Day 2A begins at 1pm on Wednesday 29 November.

Notables who began play but could not go the distance included Bulgaria’s Atanas Kavrakov and Dutchmen Bos Wim and Martijn Gerrits. Kavrakov had aces cracked early, rebought and busted again when play was six-handed while both Wim and Gerrits exited well before the last nine.

That concludes the PokerNews live coverage for the day with Day 1B getting underway on Friday 24 November at 1pm local time (GMT+8) so join us then as we see who’s got what it takes to go the distance and earn themselves a berth for Day 2.

Tags: Antonio Martins Atanas Kavrakov Keisuke Hikosaka Kilian Loeffler Martijn Gerrits Sio Fat Lau Wim Bos Yao Jin Chen