Kosei Ichinose is in the running and is in the process of building a stack. We caught the Japanese player involved in a heads-up pot against an opponent who had defended from the big blind.
There was 26,000 already in the pot with the flop spread and the big blind had checked the action over to Kosei, who bet 8,600. Considering the size of the pot that is not a particularly big bet, but Kosei must have started telling a believable story pre-flop as his opponent eventually let it go and the Japanese player stacked up to 115,000.
On the next table over we caught Hong Kong’s Justin Chan is in action against fellow countryman Anson Tsang, who had defended his big blind against a Chan button open. There was 26,000 in the pot already and the community cards were spread and Tsang was considering calling a Chan bet of 13,300.
Eventually, Tsang decided to fight another day and laid it down, dropping to 43,300 while Chan padded out his already ample stack and climbed to 365,000.
Eugene Co began the day with a stack of 190,000 and has managed to spin this up to substantially more, though the Filipino player has just shipped some chips the way of Tian Hao.
We arrived just as Co, sitting under-the-gun plus one opened with a raise to 4,500 and action folded around to Hao on the button. With just 18,400 left in his stack Hao’s options were limited and he chose the most aggressive one available to him and moved all-in.
Co did not look happy about it but felt compelled to call off the other 13,900 and both players turned their cards over.
Tian Hao:
Eugene Co:
Hao had the best hand, but then he needed it as he was the man whose life was on the line and the runout was exactly the sort of board he wanted. Hao stacked up to 38,900 and while Co took a small hit the Filipino still has plenty of chips with a stack of 266,000.
Fredric Stephan (l) and Pete Chen (r) battle it out
Fredric Stephan raised it up to 5,000 from the hi-jack and Pete Chen was the only caller in the cutoff and the two went heads-up to a flop of .
The Frenchman fired out an 8,000 continuation bet and Chen quickly reached for raising chips, making it 25,000 to go and Stephan pushed out the extras.
The turn saw Stephan check the action over to Chen, who promptly announced he was all-in for 45,400 in total. Stephan counted down his stack and could afford to make the call and would be left with 81,000 behind if he did so and lost.
It looked like Stephan was flip-flopping between calling or folding and eventually prudence prevailed and he mucked, leaving Chen to pull in the pot and climb to 110,000 while Stephan dropped to 126,400.
It’s tough to tell exactly who is in front at present as there a plenty of players on or just above the 300,000-mark, but we scouted some stacks on the break so here’s how the tournament landscape is shaping up:
Juicy Li opened the action to 5,200 from under-the-gun and while Danny Tang looked like he was going to call he had a last minute change of heart and folded instead and the action folded around to Justin Chan on the button. Chan had plenty of chips, and position, so we were not at all surprised when he decided to re-raise, making it 12,800 to go.
Both the blinds bowed out and action was back on Li, who thought it over for a while before sliding out the call and it was heads-up to a flop of .
It was not a particularly exciting flop and the betting was not all that thrilling either with the action going check, check and repeating on the turn.
The river saw Li lead for 11,000 and that was enough to take it down. Li raked in the small pot but still has a great deal of work to do before the end of the day and is sitting on less than starting stack with 72,000. Chan looked to have given some of his chips away since the last time we caught him in action but still has a very respectable 301,000.
A short-stacked Bos Wim moved all-in for his last 35,000 from early position and neighbour Lu Fei made the call and the cards were turned over.
While Wim had the pretty looking the Dutchman was dominated by Fei’s and the flop was not really all that helpful, at least for Wim, though Fei looked as though he liked it just fine.
The turn left Wim drawing dead, Fei stacked up to 76,000 and the field is now short one Dutchman. Day 3 will still have some Flemish flair however, as Martijn Gerrits made it through to Day 3 yesterday after playing Day 2A.
The numbers are in and the prize pool and payouts have been announced. The total number of Day 1 2017 Suncity Cup entries (including the four prior legs held outside of Macau) comes in at 832 and combined with the 96 Day 2 direct entries brings the total number of runners up to an impressive 928.
All that action has generated a prize pool of HK$8,008,300, beating the HK$8 million guarantee by HK$8,300 so those hoping for some juicy overlay will have to contain their disappointment.
The tournament has already paid out HK$744,000 in cash to all the Day 2 qualifiers who made it through the respective Day 1's and although we are still a good 24 hours away from making the hallowed money spots it’s still nice to know what everyone is playing for (aside from the fun factor of course) and the top 35 places will be getting paid.
A min-cash is good for HK$50,900 but it is the top prize all will have their eye on and the eventual 2017 Suncity Cup champion will walk away with HK$1,925,000, in addition to the trophy and title – and of course the all-important bragging rights.
and the big blind had checked the action over to Kosei, who bet 8,600. Considering the size of the pot that is not a particularly big bet, but Kosei must have started telling a believable story pre-flop as his opponent eventually let it go and the Japanese player stacked up to 115,000.
and Tsang was considering calling a Chan bet of 13,300.
runout was exactly the sort of board he wanted. Hao stacked up to 38,900 and while Co took a small hit the Filipino still has plenty of chips with a stack of 266,000.
. 
turn saw Stephan check the action over to Chen, who promptly announced he was all-in for 45,400 in total. Stephan counted down his stack and could afford to make the call and would be left with 81,000 behind if he did so and lost. 
river saw Li lead for 11,000 and that was enough to take it down. Li raked in the small pot but still has a great deal of work to do before the end of the day and is sitting on less than starting stack with 72,000. Chan looked to have given some of his chips away since the last time we caught him in action but still has a very respectable 301,000.
the Dutchman was dominated by Fei’s 
flop was not really all that helpful, at least for Wim, though Fei looked as though he liked it just fine. 
