Main Event Day 1e | 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau

11-27-2017 21:30 UTC+8

Zhou Out; Double for Cong

RazorSharpPro

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

With the elimination of the short-stacked Yu Zhou the field is now down to 34. Another shorty whose chip stacks is moving in the right direction is Tang Wei Cong.

We caught Cong in action against Damaso Garcia. It was the Spaniard who was the initial aggressor, opening the action to 4,200 from the cutoff.

Cong was on the button and took several minutes to think things over before he re-raised to 10,500 and after both blinds bowed out the action was back on Garcia, who made the ‘A’ symbol with his hands to signify he was all-in and Cong made a quick call.

Damaso Garcia:
Tang Wei Cong:

Cong was in the lead with the Cowboys and there was no ace to be seen on the flop. The turn meant Cong needed to fade the deck’s three remaining aces and did so with the river giving him an unnecessary full house and a double up to 58,200 while Garcia dropped down to 70,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Damaso Garcia	70,000 -20,000	-20,000
Tang Wei Cong	58,200
Yu Zhou	Busted

Tags: Damaso Garcia Tang Wei Cong

11-27-2017 21:39 UTC+8

Chong Doubles Alvarado

RazorSharpPro

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

We arrived at JC Alvarado’s table in time to see him earn a double-up at the expense of Victor Chong with all the chips going in pre-flop.

Alvarado, holding , won the race for his tournament life against Chong’s with the board running out .

The Mexican doubled to 75,000 while Chong took a hit and entered the danger zone with a stack of 26,000 – 13 big blinds.

Player	Chips	Progress
JC Alvarado	75,000 46,000	46,000
Victor Chong	26,000 -45,000	-45,000

Tags: JC Alvarado Victor Chong

11-27-2017 22:05 UTC+8

Stacks at the Break

RazorSharpPro

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

The Day 1E field is now down to 27 meaning we need to lose 9 more to wrap things up. One of the field who is hoping he can go the distance is Hong Kong’s Ip Ka Leung, who has just caught a timely double at the expense of an unfortunate player who hit the rail.

Leung moved all in for 32,000 from the button with and his opponent called of fhis last 30,000 from the small blind with . Leung spiked his ace on the flop and the turn and river thinned the field by one more and saw Leung climb to 64,000.

The remaining players are on a 10-minute break and here’s how some of the rest of our Day 1E protagonists are stacking up:

Player	Chips	Progress
Weizhou Zhang	150,000 -7,000	-7,000
Tang Wei Cong	143,000 84,800	84,800
JC Alvarado	138,000 63,000	63,000
Cheng Dong	136,000 120,000	120,000
Nevan Cheng	107,000 21,500	21,500
Keng Po Wong	85,500 18,500	18,500
King Ho Tsui	82,000 67,000	67,000
Vincent Tong	67,000 -9,500	-9,500
Ip Ka Leung	64,000 64,000	64,000
Jianfeng Xu	53,000 53,000	53,000
Linh Tran	52,100 14,100	14,100
Damaso Garcia	50,400 -19,600	-19,600
Andy Yingkit Chan	50,000
Victor Chong	31,000 5,000	5,000
Fredric Stephan	28,000 1,000	1,000

Tags: Ip Ka Leung

Level: 13

Blinds: 1,200/2,400

Ante: 400

11-27-2017 22:27 UTC+8

Alvarado Turns Up the Heat

RazorSharpPro

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

Since his double-up before the break against Victor Chong, JC Alvarado has become increasingly active and has climbed almost to the top of the ladder.

The only man standing in his way is Weizhou Zha and the two have not long played a decent sized pot together. Before that however, we caught Alvarado and Linh Tran tangling in a hand.

It was Tran who was the pre-flop raiser, making it 5,500 to go from middle position and Alvarado made the call from the small blind to take the action heads-up to a flop.

The action went check, check and the came in on the turn and brought an 8,500 Alvarado bet with it. Tran made the call and the river completed the hand, but not the betting.

After thinking it over for a few minutes Alvarado fired for 17,000 and Tran had a decision to make as, with 38,000 behind, the bet represented a significant portion of his chips.

Eventually, Tran made the call and Alvarado turned over for bottom pair and it was good. Tran dropped to 21,000 while Alvarado climbed to roughly 138,000.

Then Alvarado applied the heat to Weizhou Zha the following hand in a blind versus blind battle. We are not sure what the pre-flop action was as we picked up the hand on the turn with the board reading just as Alvarado led out for a bet of 8,500 into a pot of close to the same.

Zha thought it over but eventually made the call and the came in on the river. This saw Alvardo bet big and he splashed out a chunky bet of 45,000 to send Zha deep into the tank, where he remained for several minutes before finding the fold and leaving Alvarado to scoop another and climb to 160,000 while Zha dropped to what looked to be 167,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Weizhou Zhang	167,000 17,000	17,000
JC Alvarado	160,000 22,000	22,000
Linh Tran	21,000 -31,100	-31,100

Tags: JC Alvarado Linh Tran Weizhou Zha

11-27-2017 22:50 UTC+8

Cheng Busts Lee

RazorSharpPro

Level 13 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

There are now 24 players in action with Nevan Cheng the man to thin the field. The short stacked Jeho Lee moved all-in pre-flop for his last 39,400 from under-the-gun plus one and action folded around to Cheng in the big blind.

It took Cheng some time to make his decision so it was quite a surprise to see him turn over the hand he did when he finally decided to make the call after around 2 minutes in the tank.

Nevan Cheng:
Jeho Lee:

It was a fair fight, but it was one that Lee lost immediately when the flop came down and with Cheng holding a diamond Lee found himself needing to hit the deck's one remaining non-diamond eight.

As you can clearly see from the post title, that did not happen and after the turn and river completed the hand Lee headed for the exit while Cheng stacked up to 151,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nevan Cheng	151,000 44,000	44,000
Jeho Lee	Busted

Tags: Jeho Lee Nevan Cheng

Level: 14

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 500

11-27-2017 23:10 UTC+8

Alvarado Busts Tran to Seize Lead

RazorSharpPro

Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

This tournament is fast becoming the JC Alvarado show and the Mexican player is running so hot right now it is a wonder he has not burst into flames.

We saw Alvarado push an opponent off a 45,000 pot after jamming the river on a fairly dry queen-high board to pad out his stack further before he put an end to Linh Tran’s Day 2 hopes and dreams the very next hand.

Tran was down to his last 20,000 and moved all-in from middle position with and Alvarado woke up in the small blind with and made the call.

The runout was not the one Tran was after and he hit the rail and Alvarado now has a massive 200,000-plus stack – we are not sure exactly how much for sure though as he has them unevenly stacked and does not know exactly how much himself. It’s definitely more than 200,000 though.

Player	Chips	Progress
JC Alvarado	200,000 40,000	40,000
Linh Tran	Busted

Tags: JC Alvarado Linh Tran

11-27-2017 23:15 UTC+8

Zha Retakes Lead and Brings in Bubble

RazorSharpPro

Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

A slew of quick bust outs following Linh Tran’s exit brought the field so close to the bubble the surviving 20 players could almost taste it.

The deep-stacked former frontrunner Weizhou Zha was moved to balance tables shortly after Tran’s elimination and not wanting to be outdone by Alvarado, Zha brought the field to the bubble in a hand that will give his opponent nightmares for years to come.

The unfortunate player left so fast we did not get a chance to get his name, but then he didn’t look like he was in much of a mood to give it had we had a chance to ask.

The man in question limped the cutoff (hoping to induce, as you will see) and after the button folded, the small blind completed and the cutoff got his wish when Weizhou Zha squeezed to 15,000 in total.

The cutoff moved all-in for 36,600 in total and, after the small blind bowed out, Zha tossed in the extras and the hands were turned over.

Cutoff:
Weizhou Zha:

Of course, poker being the totally unjust game that it is, the window card was the with the completing the flop and bringing an anguished groan from the all-in player. There was no help to be found on the turn or the river and the field was down to 19. Zha stacked up to over 270,000 and now the bubble had arrived the clock was paused with 18-minutes remaining on the level.

Player	Chips	Progress
Weizhou Zhang	270,000 103,000	103,000

Tags: Weizhou Zha

11-27-2017 23:18 UTC+8

JC Alvarado Washes Out Chen to Burst Bubble

RazorSharpPro

Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

In what was quite possibly one of the shortest bubbles of all time - lasting all of two hands - the short-stacked Lei Chen moved all-in pre-flop from middle position and table messiah JC Alvarado made the call from the small blind.

Lei Chen:
JC Alvarado:

While Chen had the best hand, the way Alvarado had been running meant the result was almost a foregone conclusion. The Mexican paired his eight on the flop and the turn was not the ace or jack Chen needed to survive.

The river just rubbed salt into the wound and Chen headed for the exit empty handed while the remaining 18 players have all made HK$6,000 and guaranteed themselves a Day 2 seat.

Player	Chips	Progress
JC Alvarado	227,800 27,800	27,800
Lei Chen	Busted

Tags: JC Alvarado Lei Chen