Level: 10
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
Level: 10
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
The four remaining players are on a 40-minute dinner break with late registration closing when play resumes.
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 |
The start of the new level has brought some fresh blood with Taiwan’s Pete Chen joining the action to bring the total number of entrants up to 13 and bring the field back up to five.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Pete Chen | 15,000 |
Level: 9
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
With the field now down to four, the short stack is currently Fat Cheong Wong, who has significantly less than the other three with around 10 big blinds to his name.
Sam Cheong is still table captain, and while we don’t see that changing anytime soon both Justin Chan and Wingkei Chan are just one double up away from the chip lead themselves.
The two are pretty close in chips and are currently taking it in turns to try and steal each other’s blinds and pressure Wong, though they seem to be battling it out against each other more than most.
While there have been no particularly huge hands recently, the small ones can all add up too and both Chan’s seem eager to get their hands on all the chips they can.
Wingkei Chan has limped his small blind into Justin Chan’s big blind for the last couple of orbits and both times Justin has responded with a raise, which Wingkei has called both times and the two have fought it out over the table.
It is Wingkei who has had the best of these exchanges so far, setting a trap with a flopped top pair with on a flop and check calling Justin all the way to the river, though Justin did save himself some chips by checking the river back, mucking when Wingkei turned over his hand.
Wingkei won the next encounter as well, with Justin the aggressor from under-the-gun, making it 1,200 to go and Wingkei choosing to defend his blind. The action was checked to Justin on the flop, and he bet out 1,300, which Wingkei again called, doing so again on the turn after Justin fired for 2,300.
The river paired the board and saw Wingkei lead for close to full pot (5,500) and Justin quickly let it go. Here’s how the four players are stacking up:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Sam Cheong
|
80,000 | 4,000 |
Wingkei Chan
|
51,400 | 400 |
Justin Chan | 40,000 | 6,000 |
Fat Cheong Wong | 8,600 | -7,400 |
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 |
Level: 8
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
It was Justin Chan who was the initial aggressor in this particular hand, making it 1,300 to go from under-the-gun with Wingkei Chan choosing to defend from the big blind.
The flop fell an extremely wet and Wingkei checked the action over to Justin, who checked it right back. The paired the board and brought another check from Wingkei and Justin decided to take a stab for 1,100.
This was quickly called and the river came down, completing all sorts of draws. Now Wingkei decided to spring into action and led out for 3,000.
Justin did not look too thrilled about this, but found the fold to drop down to 34,000 while Wingkei climbed to 37,000 with the rest of the field stacking up as follows:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Sam Cheong
|
76,000 | 1,500 |
Wingkei Chan
|
37,000 | 6,000 |
Justin Chan | 34,000 | -4,000 |
Fat Cheong Wong | 16,000 | -12,000 |
Chunkit Leung
|
14,000 | 4,000 |
We arrived to see Justin Chan in action once more, this time in a hand against Fat Cheong Wong. We picked up the action on the turn with close to 9,000 in blinds and antes already in the middle with the community cards spread just as Wong checked the action over to Chan.
Chan thought it over for several seconds before deciding the right amount to bet was 6,000, which Wong called.
The river completed four to a straight and a possible backdoor spade draw and Wong quickly moved all-in for his last 18,700.
This sent Chan deep into the tank, where he remained muttering to himself for a while before counting out the call and checking how much he would have left behind should he call and lose (9,200).
Eventually, Chan slammed down the call and the cards were turned over. Wong showed for the rivered straight and Chan rolled over for a chop. The irony of the situation was not lost on the two players, who shared a chuckle as the pot was divvied up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Justin Chan | 38,000 | 3,000 |
Fat Cheong Wong | 28,000 | 9,000 |