Zhong Cai Peng Tops Opening Flight of Poker King Cup Macau 2018 Main Event
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.
and Peng's 3,700 turn bet had been check-raised by Francolini in the big blind to the tune of 11,100. Peng deliberated over the decision long and hard, eventually throwing in the call to keep the pair in action to the 
river.
for the flopped straight, but could only shake his head in disgust at his misfortune as Peng, holding 
had rivered the nut flush. Francolini headed for the rail while Peng stacked up to 107,000, shooting him to the top of the counts.
community cards spread face up on the felt and action was on Lee, who was the player in position in the hand.
for the rivered backdoor runner, runner straight, something his opponent looked deeply unhappy about and she headed for the rail while Lee raked in his ill-gotten gains to climb to 73,000.
