The new level started much as the last one finished – with lots of action. Anyong Dong lasted even less time than Tek Lon Tam did, falling at the hands of Justin Chan, who was kind enough to run us through all the carnage.
It all started with a Wingkei Chan raise and a Dong call before Justin Chan, sitting in the small blind with re-raised a hefty enough amount to get Wingkei Chan to fold out, but not Dong who made the call with the speculative .
The flop brought something for everyone, and Dong shipped the rest of his chips in after Chan sneakily checked the flop. Of course, Chan called and Dong did not hit a three or a four to bring the field down to five.
We missed how it happened as we were typing up the last hand, but Joey Wong is no longer in the running with Sam Cheong doing the honors there. Cheong is the man to beat now with the biggest stack by a mile.
There are still six players left however, with the late arrival of China’s Anyong Dong.
These six players are on a short 15-minute break while the green 25-chips are taken off the table and here’s how everyone is stacking up:
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.
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.
Sam Cheong is no longer the only Macanese player in the Day 1B field with Tek Lon Tam joining the action to bring the total number of entries up to 11 and the total number of remaining players back up to eight.
After all the early carnage the seven remaining players are taking it slow at present and while there have been plenty of flops most pots have remained small and there is a lot of blind versus blind action.
There has however, been no significant hands. The most interesting one we have seen saw Sam Cheong make it 1,000 to go from middle position with Fat Cheong Wong (cutoff) and Justin Chan (big blind) making the call to take the action three-way to a flop of .
Chan checked it over to Cheong, who checked it over to Wong and the dealer burned and turned the . This saw Chan reach for chips and he took a stab for 2,500 with Cheong the only caller.
The river brought in trips and Chan checked it over to Cheong, who tossed in a single blue 5,000 chip. Chan rechecked his cards and eventually folded leaving Cheong to take down the pot.