Main Event Day 1b | 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau

11-24-2017 23:21 UTC+8

Cheong Dominates Day 1B of 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau

RazorSharpPro

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 300 ante

The second of the of 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau starting flights saw 13 players battle it out at the baize and while the format offers unlimited re-entry none of the contenders chose to fire additional bullets.

With 15 percent of the field making it through to Day 2, it took just eleven 40-minute levels to thin the field down to the final two, with Macau’s Sam Cheong powering into a late chip lead after handing Hong Kong’s Justin Chan a brutal beat to seize the lead and cripple Chan, all in one fell swoop.

The decisive hand saw Chan and Cheong get all the chips in pre-flop, and while Chan’s pocket queens were leading Cheong’s king-eight the Macanese player hit a straight when the board ran out to crush Chan’s hopes and dreams and give Cheong the chip lead.

It was all over the next hand with Chan getting his last 3.5 big blinds in the middle with both Cheong and Taiwan’s Pete Chen making the call and checking the action all the way to the river. Cheong hit trip twos to send Chan to the rail and guarantee himself a Chen an HK$6,000 payday, in addition to a Day 2 seat each, worth HK$38,000.

Day 1B of 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau Survivors and Day 2 Draw

Position	Name	Country	Chip Count	2A Table/Seat	2B Table/Seat
1	Sam Cheong	Macau	168,800	7-6	-
2	Pete Chen	Taiwan	26,200	-	6-3

Cheong endured a rough start to the day and found himself as the shortest stack when play became nine-handed. However, a setup hand saw the Macanese player wake up with pocket aces when the USA’s [Removed:151] moved all-in pre-flop with pocket kings. That hand catapulted Cheong to the top of the leaderboard, where he remained for the majority of the day before dishing out that brutal beat to Justin Chan.

Chen by comparison, was a late arrival, joining a level before late registration closed. The Taiwanese player is a seasoned tournament hand though and showcased his skills by ducking and diving at the right time to earn several crucial double ups and squeak into the money.

Cheong now finds himself sitting fourth in chips in the current Day 2 standings, though with six more starting flights to play (including two turbo flights) this could well change before Day 2A begins at 1pm on Wednesday, 29 November.

That concludes the PokerNews live coverage for the day with Day 1C getting underway on Saturday 25 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: Justin Chan Pete Chen Sam Cheong

11-24-2017 22:10 UTC+8

Cheong Cripples Chan

RazorSharpPro

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 300 ante

The best thing about poker is that anything can happen and unexpected turns of events keep things decidedly spicy. It was Sam Cheong who was adding the spice in this particular hand, at it was a doozy.

After Pete Chen folded the button Justin Chan chose to get cute and just complete from the small blind. Sam Cheong decided to try and end the hand pre-flop and moved all-in and Chan beat him into the pot.

Sam Cheong:
Justin Chan:

Chan was in great shape and looked to be primed to come back for Day 2 with a decent sized stack when the flop came down . However, the poker gods had other ideas and the turn gave Cheong additional gutshot straight outs to go with his one overcard.

You can guess what happened next… and you would be right if you guessed that Cheong got there, binking his runner, runner gutter when the completed the hand.

Cheong celebrated with a fist pump and a cheer while Chan looked like he wanted to puke all over the table and dropped down to 6,000 while Cheong climbed to the giddy heights of 150,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Cheong	150,000	75,000
Pete Chen	39,000	7,000
Justin Chan	6,000	-82,000

Tags: Sam Cheong Justin Chan

11-24-2017 21:27 UTC+8

Justin Chan Flushes Out Wingkei Chan

RazorSharpPro

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Pocket kings were no good for Wingkei Chan

A huge hand has just played out that has brought Wingkei Chan’s tournament to a close, with Justin Chan the man to show him the door.

It all started with a Sam Cheong raise from under-the-gun. Pete Chen got out of the way and Wingkei Chan moved all-in for 25,500 in total.

Justin Chan made the call from the big blind and now Cheong had a decision on his hands. Eventually, he decided to fold, showing the table before pitching his cards into the muck.

That was good news for Wingkei, who turned over and seemed happy to know there was an ace gone when Justin turned over .

Unfortunately for Wingkei, the flop was just the one that Justin was after and the turn brought Wingkei’s tournament to a close. That makes Pete Chen the short stack now, though he managed to catch at timely double up with pocket eights shortly afterward at the expense of Sam Cheong to climb to 25,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Justin Chan	95,000	31,000
Sam Cheong	75,000	-10,500
Pete Chen	25,000	13,800
Wingkei Chan	Busted

Tags: Justin Chan Pete Chen Wingkei Chan

11-24-2017 20:15 UTC+8

Chan and Chen Get There on the River -- Wong Out

RazorSharpPro

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Two big hands have recently played out that have changed the playing field, at least for the middle of the pack as Sam Cheong still holds the chip lead.

In the first, it was Justin Chan and Wingkei Chan battling it out once more, with Justin opening the action from under-the-gun for 2,200. This is the third hand in a row Justin had raised and rather than just calling Wingkei chose to play back at him and re-raised to 6,200 in total, leaving himself around 33,000 behind.

While Wingkei had Justin covered it was pretty close between the two and after mulling it over Justin chose to play the hand in position and made the call.

The flop saw Wingkei fire for another 6,000 and Justin thought things over for a few minutes before deciding to call again to keep the action heads-up to the turn.

That did not look like it changed much so Justin looked as surprised as we were when Wingkei checked the action and while Justin looked sorely tempted he decided to not to shove and checked it back – after at least 4 minutes in the tank.

The river saw both players check once more and Wingkei turned over and looked less than impressed when Justin rolled over for a rivered top pair to take down a decent sized pot and climb into second on the chip stack rankings.

Pete Chen got his last 8,000 in from the cut off the very next hand and was looked up by Fat Cheong Wong, who re-shoved to isolate from the button.

The cards were turned over with Chen’s trailing to Wong’s . It was all looking good for Wong when the board ran out . However, having covered Mr. Chen before we know he gets there on the river a lot of the time, and this time was no exception with the giving the Taiwanese player a double up and putting Wong on life support.

Wong was left with just 2,200 in chips and could not recover, departing right before the 40-minute dinner break with the rest of the field stack up as follows:

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Cheong	101,200	21,200
Justin Chan	52,300	12,300
Wingkei Chan	23,600	-27,800
Pete Chen	20,400	5,400
Fat Cheong Wong	Busted

Tags: Fat Cheong Wong Justin Chan Pete Chen Sam Cheong Wingkei Chan

11-24-2017 19:11 UTC+8

Wingkei Chan Clips Leung

RazorSharpPro

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Sometimes things just don’t go your way at the tables and that seems to be the case for Chunkit Leung today. Leung had been pretty quiet all day and the majority of the hands he did play someone either pushed him off or had a better hand.

It was the latter in this particular case, with Wingkei Chan opening the action with a raise to 2,000. Leung peeked down to see and with close to 17 big blinds remaining in his stack, he decided this was enough to get it in with.

Unfortunately for Leung, Chan actually had a hand and his dominated that of his opponent. There was no jack or miracle chop on the runout and just like that we are down to four.

Player	Chips	Progress
Wingkei Chan	51,000	14,000
Chunkit Leung	Busted

Tags: Chunkit Leung Wingkei Chan

11-24-2017 17:53 UTC+8

Flying Visit for Tam

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

It looks as though Tek Lon Tam was only paying a flying visit and he lasted less than a single level. We arrived at the table and caught him in action in a blind versus blind battle against Justin Chan, who had just bet the 2,000 into a pot of roughly 4,000 with the board reading [x][x] with the paint arriving on the river.

Tam called but folded when Chan turned over , dropping down to a little under 10,000. This shrank still further the following hand after when Sam Cheong made it 1,200 to go from middle position and Tam (button) and Justin Chan (small blind) made the call to take the action three-way to a flop of .

Both players checked the action over to Cheong, who fired for 2,000 with Tam making the call and Chan bowing out to take the action heads-up to the turn.

Cheong loaded up a second barrel and flexed his monster stack, putting Tam all in and he quickly folded.

The very next hand he was out. It all started with a Joey Wong middle position raise to 1,250, which was called by Wingkei Chan before Tam shoved for his last 6,025 from the cut-off.

Wong folded quickly but Chan decided to look Tam up and the cards were turned over.

Tek Lon Tam:
Wingkei Chan:

Tam’s race was over almost as soon as it started with the window card getting him to stand up and start packing his bag. The rest of the board ran out to see Chan’s flopped set improve to a full house and that was that for Tam’s Day 1B.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Cheong	60,000	3,000
Wingkei Chan	30,600	10,950
Justin Chan	26,500	3,500
Tek Lon Tam	Busted

Tags: Tek Lon Tam Wingkei Chan

11-24-2017 17:31 UTC+8

Cheong Straightens Out Hui

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

And just as we were writing about no action there is a sudden burst of activity. We came running but were already too late and arrived in time to see Aric Hui depart at the hands of Sam Cheong.

Hui, holding , had turned two pairs and had a club flush draw to go with it when all the chips went in on the turn. Unfortunately for Hui, Cheong, holding had a higher flush draw and the eight that had given Hui two pair had completed Cheong’s straight.

That’s a bit of a sickening hand, especially when you are short-handed. Hui hit the rail and that pot puts Cheong firmly in the driver's seat with the chip lead and a stack of 57,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Cheong	57,000	21,000
Aric Hui	Busted

Tags: Aric Hui Sam Cheong

11-24-2017 15:24 UTC+8

Hui Flushes Out Lok

RazorSharpPro

Level 3 : 100/200, 25 ante

For a time it looked like Gino Lok’s tournament was moving in the right direction but that is no longer the case with Aric Hui bringing Lok’s tournament to a premature close.

We missed all of the carnage but were filled in on the action by Justin Chan. It was Aric Hui who was the initial aggressor from late position with Gino Lok getting aggressive on the button and re-raising, though we are unsure of the exact amounts.

Lok called and all the fireworks happened on the flop, which came down a car-crash-tastic – as you will see from the hands below.

Hui checked it over to Lok, who fired for 2,000, Hui re-raised to 6,000, Lok shoved and Hui called and the hands were turned over.

Gino Lok:
Aric Hui:

Unfortunately for Lok the came straight in on the turn to complete Hui’s flush and there was no pair up on the river and we have our second casualty of the day and a new table captain with Hui now holding an early lead.

Player	Chips	Progress
Aric Hui	35,600	21,450
Gino Lok	Busted

Tags: Aric Hui Gino Lok

11-24-2017 15:02 UTC+8

Chan Draws First Blood

RazorSharpPro

Level 2 : 50/100, 0 ante

Kaiyuan Zhan (left) is all-in against Wingkei Chan (centre)

Nine players have quickly become eight with an interesting hand playing out just as we arrived at the table. According to Sam Cheong (whom we asked after the hand had played out), it was Kaiyuan Zhan who started it all off with an under-the-gun limp.

Neighbour Wingkei Chan popped it up to 225 from UTG+1, Justin Chan called the button and Cheong called from the big blind. The flop came down and the action was checked around to Wingkei Chan, who continuation-bet 600, which Justin Chan called, as did Cheong before Zhan check-raise squeezed for 5,500 in total.

Wingkei Chan called, Justin Chan folded and Cheong decided to come along for the ride as well. There was no more betting in the hand as, with over 17,000 in the middle already, both Cheong and Chan seemed happy to check the turn and river.

Zhan rolled over for a missed open-ended straight draw, Chan turned over and Cheong mucked, leaving Chan to scoop a tasty pot and edge out in front while Zhan headed for the exit.

His seat was not empty for long however, with Hong Kong’s Fat Cheong Wong joining the fray before Zhan’s seat had even got cold.

Player	Chips	Progress
Wingkei Chan	26,300	11,300
Fat Cheong Wong	15,000
Sam Cheong	14,275	-5,700
Kaiyuan Zhan	Busted

Tags: Sam Cheong Wingkei Chan Kaiyuan Zhan

11-24-2017 11:33 UTC+8

Day 1B of the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale, Macau Set to Start

RazorSharpPro

Welcome back poker fans 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 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.

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, with a further 4 players making it through from Day 1A of the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau:

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	Kilian Loeffler	Germany	108,600	9-4	-
8	Chan Shin Hung	Taiwan	105,500	-	4-8
9	Trifie D. Montebon II	Philippines	105,000	5-8	-
10	Chang Tian Lin	Taiwan	102,500	3-8	-
11	Sio Fat Lau	Macau	97,700	-	9-5
12	Chen Sheng Wen	Taiwan	93,000	-	2-6
13	Chen Wen Kai	Taiwan	92,000	7-4	-
14	Keisuke Hikosaka	Japan	91,000	-	8-1
15	Hung Yu Shin	Taiwan	85,000	-	9-3
16	Liao Po Hao	Taiwan	80,800	-	8-2
17	Tsai Du Ming	Taiwan	77,800	6-1	-
18	Chien Jen Yen	Taiwan	67,800	4-1	-
19	Yao Jin Chen	China	64,500	10-4	-
20	Wu Chia Yun	Taiwan	63,500	10-2	-
21	Zhou Qiangbo	China	60,000	2-2	-
22	Lin Chin An	Taiwan	53,000	1-3	-
23	Hong Cheng Han	Taiwan	50,800	6-6	-
24	Yueh Ko-Chiang	Taiwan	45,200	-	5-6
25	Tsuyoshi Ishibashi	Japan	44,900	6-2	-
26	Chen Yazhou	China	39,400	8-10	-
27	Yoshinori Sugie	Japan	35,600	3-1	-
28	Wang Yong Siang	Taiwan	19,800	-	7-9

Day 2 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, with Day 1B kicking off at 1pm local time (GMT+8) so stay tuned and we’ll bring you all the action as it happens.