Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2018 Poker King Cup Macau
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 Poker King Cup Macau
Buy-in
16,500 HKD
Prize Pool
7,536,900 HKD
Entries
518
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Zhong Cai Peng Tops Opening Flight of Poker King Cup Macau 2018 Main Event
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
The opening flight of the Poker King Cup Macau 2018 Main Event is done and dusted, with an impressive 166 players anteing up the HKD 16,500 entry fee and battling it out at the baize.
A total of 76 players successfully circumnavigated the tournament minefield to bag up chips, with China’s Zhong Cai Peng the man to top the counts after concluding play with a stack of 198,200.
Peng began his climb to the top midway through the day after sending Belgium’s Bart Luyckx to the rail after the pair tangled on an ace-high flop, with Peng’s ace king outkicking Luyckx’s ace four to take the Chinese player over the six-figure stack mark.
Peng continued to chip up and claimed another scalp in the form of Italy’s Mauro Francolini when the two clashed in a big pot, Francolini’s flopped nut straight getting rivered by Peng’s backdoor nut flush, with all the chips going in on the river to cement Peng’s pole position.
While Hong Kong’s Winson Yau made a spirited attempt to take the top spot and enjoyed a stint out in front, Peng turned it on during the last level of play to lock up the lead, with Yau finishing in second with a stack of 185,000.
Macau’s Gary Lam (168,700) rounds out the top of the podium. Taiwan's Hsuan Chao Chen (152,500) also finished the day on a high with China’s Liang Tong (143,300) completing the top five.
Despite clashing with Peng, both Francolini (114,300) and Luyckx (32,200) made it though to Day 2. Other notables to make it through include China’s Dongzhe Yang (67,300), Korea's Jeho Lee (49,300), World Series bracelet winner Preston Lee (47,800), and Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (25,600).
Players who were less fortunate in their endeavours to lock up a Day 2 berth included the USA’s Samantha Cohen and Hong Kong’s Ben Lai, though with unlimited re-entries allowed for the duration of the three Main Event starting flights any player who failed to make the cut can try again on Day 1b and Day 1c which both run tomorrow, Saturday 22 September, at 1pm and 6pm respectively.
Play began at 1pm local time (GMT+7) with eleven 40-minute levels on the schedule, concluding a little after 10pm and will follow the same pattern tomorrow for Day 1b so join us then for more thrilling tournament action.
End of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
198,200 | |
|
185,000 | |
|
168,500 | -200 |
|
152,500 | 152,500 |
|
|
143,300 | 113,300 |
|
|
132,900 | 132,900 |
|
132,400 | 132,400 |
|
130,000 | |
|
114,300 | |
|
|
112,300 | 112,300 |
|
106,100 | |
|
|
102,900 | 102,900 |
|
102,600 | 102,600 |
|
|
102,000 | 72,000 |
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
99,100 | 99,100 |
|
|
97,000 | 67,000 |
|
96,200 | |
|
|
95,000 | 95,000 |
|
85,500 | -44,500 |
|
|
81,000 | 81,000 |
|
|
79,500 | 79,500 |
|
|
79,000 | 79,000 |
|
|
74,900 | 74,900 |
|
|
70,300 | 40,300 |
Assorted End of Day Counts
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
It appears that China's Zhongcai Peng won the chip lead race, bagging up a stack of 198,200 to edge in front of Hong Kong's Winson Yau, who concluded play with a stack of 185,000. There will be full end of day chip counts and a wrap to follow so watch this space.
Other notables are as follows:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
198,200 | 38,200 |
|
|
185,000 | 25,000 |
|
|
168,700 | 23,700 |
|
|
132,400 | 132,400 |
|
|
130,000 | 65,000 |
|
|
114,300 | 57,300 |
|
|
106,100 | 76,100 |
|
|
96,200 | 96,200 |
|
|
58,600 | 18,600 |
|
50,600 | 2,600 |
|
41,600 | -1,400 |
|
31,800 | 16,800 |
Some Luck for Luyckx at the Close
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Bart Luyckx has ridden the poker rollercoaster today and decided he wanted to come back with a playable stack so got a bit frisky to win the last two hands played on his table.
In the first Luyckx went all-in from the small blind to steal the big blind and promised the table he would go all-in blind the next hand. Proving true to his work, Luyckx moved all-in blind on the button out of turn for 14,300.
Hong Kong's Darwin Lai then decided to open the action from middle position with a raise to 20,000, which chased out all other customers and the pair flipped over their hands.
Bart Luyckx: 
Darwin Lai: 
Luyckx was in need of some luck and duly received it on the 
flop with the rest of the runout coming 
on the turn and 
on the river to give the Belgium a much-needed double. Luyckx will be returning for Day 2 with a stack of 32,200 while Lai will be coming back with 39,600. All that excitement concludes play for the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
39,600 | -48,400 |
|
32,200 | 17,200 |
Yang Takes From Lee as Last Five Hands Announced
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Preston Lee and Dongzhe Yang played a bunch yesterday in the High Roller, and by a strange quirk of fate have found themselves seating at the same table in the Main Event as the opening flight enters the closing stages.
The two played a sizable pot that was all decided pre-flop, with Yang opening the action from the hijack with a raise to 3,000. Lee gave Yang little credit for a hand and opted to three-bet to 8,500, only to see Yang respond with a four-bet and the Chinese player casually tossed out a handful of blue 5k chips to make it 25,000 to go in total.
Lee looked unimpressed at this turn of events, reconsidered Yang's hand range and thew his cards away, leaving the Chinese player free to rake in the pot and climb to 67,000 while Lee dropped to 45,000. The last five hands were announced right as the pair finished the hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
67,000 | |
|
45,000 | -1,600 |
Peng and Yau Tied at the Top
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
There is just half a level left before play concludes for the day, and the clock currently shows 25-minutes remaining, meaning that in 10-minutes it will be paused and the last number of hands will be drawn for the day.
At present, it appears to be a tie for the top, with both Winson Yau and Zhongcai Peng sitting on very similarly sized stacks - both close to 160,000 and change.
Other notable stacks include Korea's Daero Lee (130,000), China's Zhang Gui Fei (130,000), Macau's Gary Lam (145,000).
It appears that Hong Kong's Ben Lai has come a cropper and his seat is now empty - according to a social media post he ran pocket aces into pocket jacks pre-flop and was brutally two-outed - though fellow countryman Carson Wong is still in the running with a stack of 40,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
160,000 | -12,000 |
|
|
160,000 | 28,000 |
|
|
145,000 | 145,000 |
|
|
130,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
130,000 | 130,000 |
|
|
40,000 | -30,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 11
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
Last Break of the Day
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The 88 remaining Main Event players are on their last break of the day with just a single 40-minute level remaining in the opening flight when play resumes.
Mac Chipping Up
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
While Winson Yau is still very much the chip leader with a stack of 172,000 he has just passed a few chips the way of Hong Kong's Anthony Mac, though he got away fairly cheaply as he folded pre-flop. However, there was a player involved in that hand who paid a whole lot more, his whole stack in fact, and left so quickly after the hand that we did not even get a chance to find out his name.
It was Mac who was the pre-flop raiser, making it 2,200 to go from middle position, with Yau flat calling from the button before the player in question shipped in the lot from the small blind. Mac mulled it over and called while Yau made a speedy fold and the cards were revealed.
Anthony Mac: 
Opponent: 
Mac held both the best hand and had the covering stack, and looked happy enough with the 
run out, his top pair enough to send his opponent out the door and shoot his stack up to 95,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
172,000 | 17,000 |
|
|
95,000 |