Wai King Cheung Enters 2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event Final Table As Chip Leader
Day 3 of the Poker King Cup Main Event has now come to a close, with the official final table of nine reached in just over five 60-minute levels.
In what proved to be an extremely action-packed day at the tables, the 32-strong field was whittled down at a brisk pace to the final nine contenders.
The man in pole position for the honor of becoming the first to claim the title of inaugural Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event Champion is Hong Kong's Wai King Cheung, who sits atop the counts with a mighty 2,135,000 stack.
Cheung returned for Day 3 third in the counts, and played a solid game throughout, seemingly content to let the other players gamble and remained amongst the top five stacks as the play progressed. It was not until the unofficial 10-handed final table was set that Cheung made his play for the top spot.
Cheung's move came late in the day in a gigantic hand against South Korea's Jae Wook Shin and the Philippines David Erquiaga; with blinds at 12,000/24,000 with a 24,000 big blind ante, Shin opened the action from under-the-gun with a min-raise and Cheung called from one seat over before an active Erquiaga three-bet to 200,000 from the cutoff.
Both Shin and Cheung called to swell the pot to a sizable 636,000 with all three players checking the ten-high two diamond flop. Cheung was the man to take the initiative on the four of spades turn, with Erquiaga the only caller, swelling the pot to over 1 million.
The Hong Kong player fired a second barrel of 300,000 on the queen of hearts river, and though he looked sorely tempted, Erquiaga eventually gave it up, leaving Cheung to climb into the lead without showdown, leapfrogging both Shin and Day 2 chip leader Chou Chien Fa to take the top spot.
Shin also enjoyed a great day at the tables and was by far the most active player, sending several protagonists to the rail as play progressed, including Terry Fan (12th for TWD 119,500/$3,810), and Henry Hou (13th for TWD 98,000/$3,125) to enjoy a stint as chip leader for a spell himself before Fa reclaimed his crown coming into the unofficial final table of ten. Shin will be returning second in the counts with a stack of 1,648,000, with Fa (1,234,000) rounding out the top three.
All the other returning finalists are sitting on less than a million, with the official final table turning out to be an international affair with seven different countries represented with the nine remaining finalists stacking up as follows:
PKC Taiwan Main Event Final Table Draw
| Seat | Name | Country/Region | Chip Stack | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat 1 | Wai King Cheung | Hong Kong | 2,135,000 | 89 |
| Seat 2 | Jae Wook Shin | South Korea | 1,648,000 | 69 |
| Seat 3 | Chou Chien Fa | Taiwan | 1,234,000 | 51 |
| Seat 4 | Yu You Ci Tsai | Taiwan | 995000 | 41 |
| Seat 5 | David Erquiaga | Philippines | 862000 | 36 |
| Seat 6 | Alex Lindop | United Kingdom | 722000 | 30 |
| Seat 7 | Lee Kuan Wee | Malaysia | 645,000 | 27 |
| Seat 8 | Ling He | China | 466,000 | 19 |
| Seat 9 | Kuang Hung Lee | Taiwan | 426,000 | 18 |
A seat at the official nine-handed final table is good for TWD 164,000 (~$5,230), with the eventual winner walking away with a TWD 1,639,000 (~$52,300) top prize in addition to something much more valuable than money — the accolade of becoming the inaugural Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event Champion!
PKC Taiwan Final Table Payouts
| Place | Payout (TWD) | Payout (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1,639,000 | 52,300 |
| 2nd | 1,150,100 | 36,670 |
| 3rd | 739,700 | 23,600 |
| 4th | 547,500 | 17,470 |
| 5th | 411,000 | 13,115 |
| 6th | 328,600 | 10,485 |
| 7th | 273,000 | 8,710 |
| 8th | 218,800 | 6,980 |
| 9th | 164,000 | 5,230 |
Day 3 began with 32 eager hopefuls all returning with one goal in mind—making the final table. Notables to fall by the wayside as play progressed included Hong Kong's Howard Ka Ho Sun (15th for TWD 98,000/$3,125), Canada's Mike Huang (18th for TWD 83,900/$2,675), Hong Kong's Wing Kei Chan (20th for TWD 73,500/$2,345), Day 1A frontrunner Edwin Gerard (27th for TWD 57,900/$1,845) Singapore's Richard Lim (30th for TWD 50,500/$1,610), and Taiwanese poker professional Chen An Lin (31st for TWD 50,500/$1,610).
Hong Kong's Ping Cheong Fung came within touching distance of making the unofficial final table, getting his chips in ahead with pocket eights against the pocket sevens of Yu You Ci Tsai, only for the later to turn and set and river quads to send Fung out in 11th place for TWD 119,500/$3,810.
Hong Kong's Dicky Tsang managed to earn himself a seat at the unofficial ten-handed final table. Unfortunately for Tsang, he came up just short of making the fourth and final day after moving all-in preflop from under-the-gun with king-queen only to run into big blind Tsai's ace-king to conclude the action for the day. Tsang departed in 10th place with TWD 119,500/$3,810 for his deep run.
The final will play out at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 20 with 48:12 remaining on level 24 with blinds at 12,000/24,000 with a 24,000 big blind ante and will play down to a champion. Join us then as we see who earns the right to call themselves the inaugural Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event Champion and claim the TWD 1,639,000 (~$52,300) top prize.
runout, departing in 10th place for TWD 119,500 ($3,810) to set up the official nine-handed final table.
river saw Cheung fire a second barrel, this time for 300,000 and Erquiaga made another lengthy visit to the think tank, before eventually electing to give it up, leaving Cheung to scoop the massive pot without a showdown. That sizable windfall means Cheung has edged into the chip lead for this first time this tournament, and he is now sitting on a stack of over 2 million in chips. Erquiaga dropped to around 850,000 or so after the hand.
leading Yu You Ci Tsai's 
.
river to appreciative 'ooohs' and 'ahhhhs' from the rest of the table. Fung saw the funny side and chuckled his way over to the payout desk to collect the TWD 119,500 ($3,810) on offer for 11th while Tsai stacked up to 611,000.
flop, though the 
turn gave Shin some backdoor flush outs. The 
river was not a heart, but it gave Shin a pair and a disgruntled looking Fan headed to the rail in 12th place for a TWD 119,500 ($3,810) payday.
.
.
river sealed Hou's fate, and he departed in 13th place for a TWD 98,000 ($3,125), while Shin stacked up to 1.65 million
river was merely a formality and the field is now down to 14 players.
