The elimination of Benjamin Wu took play down to 8-handed meaning the remaining players were hand-for-hand on the bubble.
An increasingly active Fedor Holz raised almost every hand and hoovered up every chip not nailed down before Zuo Wang took a stand and called all-in for his tournament life from the big blind after Holz moved all-in from the small blind. However, as a hand was in progress over on the other table both players had to wait before the cards were turned over.
Gabe Patgorski had just three-bet shoved on Xuan Tan over on the other table and while Tan took his time about it the Chinese player eventually found the fold meaning the action was back on Holz and Wang.
Zuo Wang:
Fedor Holz:
While Wang held the best hand he was the at risk player and Holz immediately paired his two when the flop came down . The turn and river gave Wang no help and he headed for the rail in 8th place empty handed while all remaining seven players are now guaranteed an HK$386,000 (~$49,464) payday.
The elimination of Manig Loeser opened the floodgates for a slew of speedy eliminations with five players falling in the space of 30-minutes.
Not long after the German had departed and we had another all-in and a call with an increasingly active Fedor Holz throwing chips around like confetti at a wedding, which seems to be working out for him just fine.
Holz was the initial aggressor, making it 11,500 to go from early position before Cheok Ieng Cheong moved all-in with Holz making a speedy call.
Cheok Ieng Cheong:
Fedor Holz:
Cheong was the at risk player and found no help when the board ran out to send the Chinese player to the rail in 11th place while Holz stacked up to 410,000.
Sam Trickett followed less than a minute later, getting his last 160,000 in chips in on a flop of with with Gabe Patgorski making the call with .
Unfortunately for Trickett the turn and jc] river were not the spade he needed to survive and he hit the rail in 10th place while Patgorski stacked up to over 300,000 in chips.
Wu followed Trickett to the rail just two hands later, moving all-in from the button with and running into Predrag Lekovic who woke up in the blinds with . The board ran out meaning the Montenegran’s pocket pair held to send one-time frontrunner Wu to the exit in 9th place.
The players had not long taken their new seats before we had and all-in and a call with Cheok Ieng Cheong getting his last 61,500 in chips in from under-the-gun plus one and Manig Loeser making the call in late position.
Cheok Ieng Cheong:
Manig Loeser:
Cheong was the at risk player but won his race to double to 125,000 in chips when the board ran out while Loeser dropped to 37,000. Several hands later and it was all over for the German, who departed in 12th place, though unfortunately, we were unable to catch his exit hand.
The chips are changing hands rapidly at present and Lucas Greenwood has become the latest casualty, falling at the hands of the current man on fire, Su Hao.
We missed the action as we were watching a hand play out between Fedor Holz and Gabe Patgorski – which Holz won with the mighty which was leading Patgorski’s pretty looking .
However, we digress as it was not a particularly relevant hand, but we were fortunate enough to get the details of Greenwood’s demise from former tablemate Alan Sass.
According to Sass, Greenwood was holding against the of Hao with all the chips finding their way into the middle on the river on a board of .
Unfortunately for Lucas, his king-high straight was not enough to best Hao’s Broadway straight and the Canadian headed for the rail while Hao stacked up to 400,000.
Play paused briefly for a redraw following Greenwood's departure with the field stacking up as follows:
A massive hand played out between Fedor Holz and Devan Tang that saw the former briefly take the chip lead before Su Hao sent Winfred Yu crashing out of the tournament minutes later to edge in front.
We missed the pre-flop betting in the Holz versus Tang hand but arrived in time to see Tang, sitting in the big blind, lead out for 19,000 into a pot of over 35,000 on a flop of .
Holz, sitting on the button, took his time about it but made the call to swell the pot to a little under 75,000 and the dealer burned and turned the .
Tang tanked for a good few minutes before sliding out a tower of chips for a bet of 35,000, leaving himself around 75,000 behind. Holz called fairly swiftly and the completed the hand.
Tang thought it over for several seconds before opting to pull the trigger but was beaten into the pot by Holz, who tabled for a flopped top pair and a rivered diamond flush.
Tang did not show but there was talk of a prop bet on the strength of his hand for several minutes between Holz, Tang and Gabe Patgorski. However, no compromise could be reached and Tang mucked without showdown and headed for the rail while Holz stacked up to over 300,000 in chips.
Very shortly afterward there was a call of ‘player out!’ from Winfred Yu’s table and the Poker King President was kind enough to tell us of his demise at the hands of Su Hao.
According to Yu, he made it 7,500 to go pre-flop from the small blind holding when the action folded around to him and Hao made the call from the big blind.
The flop came down a monochrome and Wu checked the action over to Hao, who fired for 9,000. Yu made the call and the landed on the turn, prompting Yu to pull the trigger for his remaining chips.
Hao called quickly with for a flopped two pair and with no ten, jack or club forthcoming on the river, Yu headed for the exit while Hao stacked up to 320,000 and seized the chip lead.