Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2018 Poker King Cup Macau
Main Event
Day: 1b
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
Zhang Chao Leads Day 1b of the Poker King Cup Macau Main Event
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
The second flight of the Poker King Cup Macau 2018 Main Event has concluded, with a total of 268 runners ponying up the HKD 16,500 entry fee and fighting it out at the felt, with 130 of them making it through to Day 2. Combined with the 166 Day 1a runners, this brings the total number of Main Event entries up to 434 with the third Turbo flight, Day 1c, still left to play out.
The action was fast-paced from the start, and chips were tossed around like confetti at a wedding with several players duking it out for the top spot as play progressed.
It was China’s Zhang Chao who finished atop the counts, however, bagging up a stack of 181,700. Chao started strong after winning a huge pre-flop coinflip with pocket queens to beat Junxiang Tan's ace king and climb to double the average stack before the day had even reached the halfway point.
A misstep from Yi Fan Yang gifted Chao the chip lead shortly afterward when the former moved all-in pre-flop with ace-eight offsuit for a little over 30-big blinds and Chao woke up one seat over with pocket jacks, which held to catapult her into the chip lead.
Chao did not get to enjoy the view from on high for long, with fellow countryman Hua Huan Feng ousting her from the top spot just before the dinner break after hitting a set of fives against an opponent’s ace-king.
However, Chao remained near the top of the leaderboard and after Feng took a backward step after the dinner break, Chao edged back in front, where she remained for the rest of the day’s play. Feng halted his fall to conclude play with a stack of 88,200.
The other top two stacks also belonged to Chinese players with Yue Wang (165,700) and Jiaxian Lu (132,000) rounding out the top three.
Other sizable stacks include Thailand’s Pakinai Lisawad (122,000) and Macau’s Eddie Lo (107,000), with Ireland’s Mark Gruendemann also enjoying a great day at the tables.
The Irish player was in the thick of the action for a large portion of the day, sitting on the most action-packed table in the room by far. Gruendemann rose to prominence after a set over set over set confrontation, his flopped set of jacks winning him a gigantic pot against Eric Tsai’s flopped set of three’s and another opponent’s flopped set of deuces and Gruendemann concluded play with a stack of 103,000.
Other notables to find a bag included High Roller finalist Wenling Gao who followed up her sixth place final table finish with a decent showing in the Main, finishing up with a stack of 91,100.
After failing to make the Day 1a cut, Hong Kong’s Ben Lai ran a great deal better on 1b to make it through with a stack of 48,000, with Portugal’s Antonio Martins (40,000) and China’s Yazhou Chen (28,400) also making the cut.
Not everyone was as fortunate though, and while High Roller specialist Quan Zhou started strong, a misstep against tablemate Bin Xu saw Zhou dust off the majority of his chips, exiting shortly afterward while Xu finished the day with a stack of 80,100.
Sparrow Cheung was another casualty, entering late and busting not long after, departing to try his luck in the third Turbo flight, which got up and running at 6pm.
In total, 130 players managed to earn their Day 2 berth and the 206 combined Day 1a and 1b survivors will unite for the first time on Sunday, 23 September for Day 2a – which kicks off at 1pm local time.
Level length will increase to 60-minutes and these survivors will play a single level before taking a 60-minute break so the Day 1c Turbo survivors can play their first Day 2 level with the two Day 2 flights combining for the second level of the day.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the action as it happens so join us then as we see who has what it takes to make it through to Day 3.
End of Day Counts (full)
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
There will be a full end of day wrap and official counts to follow shortly, so watch this space, but below are a selection of notables and big stacks who made it through to Day 2.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
181,700 | |
|
165,700 | |
|
158,400 | 158,400 |
|
|
153,300 | 153,300 |
|
|
152,400 | 152,400 |
|
|
148,200 | 148,200 |
|
|
144,200 | 144,200 |
|
|
132,200 | 132,200 |
|
|
124,800 | 124,800 |
|
122,000 | 7,000 |
|
114,700 | 114,700 |
|
114,300 | 114,300 |
|
|
113,500 | 113,500 |
|
|
112,900 | 82,900 |
|
111,700 | 111,700 |
|
|
111,000 | 111,000 |
|
110,600 | 110,600 |
|
|
110,100 | 80,100 |
|
|
109,600 | 109,600 |
|
107,000 | 107,000 |
|
|
106,500 | 106,500 |
|
|
104,500 | 104,500 |
|
103,000 | 6,000 |
|
|
97,400 | 97,400 |
|
|
96,100 | 96,100 |
Main Event Day 1b Done and Dusted
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
That's a wrap folks and Day 1b of the Poker King Cup Macau is now in the books with players in the midst of bagging up their chips. The tournament clock reads 133 players remaining out of 268, but that is certainly not going to be accurate.
It was Zhang Chao who climbed the highest over the eleven 40-minute levels, bagging up an impressive 181,700 with tablemate Yue Wang a close second with 165,700.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
181,700 | 16,700 |
|
|
165,700 | 135,700 |
Last Five Hands
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
The clock has been paused and there will be just five more hands played before then end of the day.
Stack Check
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
With close to 25 minutes remaining on the last level it appears that China's Yue Wang has sneaked into a late lead with a stack of 170,000. Yue's tablemate Zhang Chao still has heaps, as she has had all day and is sitting in second with 165,000. Both Bart Luyckx and Sparrow Cheung are no longer in the running and here's how the rest of the landscape is shaping up:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
170,000 | 170,000 |
|
|
165,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
115,000 | 115,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 110,000 |
|
101,000 | 71,000 |
|
|
97,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
90,000 | -5,000 |
|
87,000 | -18,000 |
|
70,000 | 40,000 |
|
60,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
55,000 | -29,000 |
|
|
55,000 | 15,000 |
|
53,000 | -12,000 |
|
52,000 | 2,000 |
|
50,000 | 19,000 |
|
42,000 | 30,000 |
|
40,000 | -3,000 |
|
37,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
35,000 | 35,000 |
|
32,000 | 32,000 |
|
|
30,000 | -8,000 |
|
27,000 | 4,000 |
|
25,000 | 25,000 |
|
|
7,000 | -23,000 |
|
Busted |
Day 1b Registration Closed
Level 11
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Registration is now closed for Day 1b of the Poker King Cup Macau Main Event with the second starting flight drawing 268 entrants, with 160 of these still in the running at the start of the last 40-minute level of the day.
Level: 11
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
Last Break of the Day
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The tournament clock reads 160 players remaining out of 263 entrants, and these remaining runners are off on their final 10-minute break of the day with a single 40-minute level remaining when play resumes.
Set Over Set Over Set Juices Gruendemann's Stack
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
Alan Lau could not survive the carnage on Mark Gruendemann's table, and the ridiculous levels of action continued with Taiwan's Eric Tsai kind enough to relay us the following hand details after the fact.
According to Tsai it was Gruendemann who was the initial aggressor, min-raising from under-the-gun plus one and picking up four callers with a player one seat over calling, as well as a player in the lojack, Tsai from the small blind, with the big blind coming along also.
So it was five-way to the flop, which was of the rainbow variety, falling 
and the action checked round to the lojack player, who took a stab for 4,500. Only Tsai and Gruendemann made the call to take the action three-way to the 
turn, which brought all four suits into play.
All checked to the player in the lojack once more, and this is where things got interesting when the man in question fired for 9,000. Tsai went for a check-raise to 19,000, Gruendemann went all-in for a little over 21,000 and Tsai called with chips behind meaning there was a main pot and a live side pot.
The rest of the chips went in on the 
river and hands were revealed. The lojack had by far the worst of it with bottom set and busted. Tsai won the side pot with for a set of threes and Gruendemann was laughing all the way to the bank with flopped top set.
Tsai ended up with 40,000, Gruendemann jumped up to 87,000 and the shell-shocked lojack player headed for the exit.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
87,000 | 46,000 |
|
|
40,000 | 40,000 |