Tricket Wins One from Cheong, Multiple Chops

We caught Sam Trickett in action in a hand against Cheok Ieng Cheong on a flop of with over 20,000 already in the pot. We are not sure what the pre-flop action was but Trickett, sitting in the small blind, checked the action over to Cheong, sitting in middle position, who took his time over the decision but chose to check it back.

The turn saw Trickett reach for two yellow 5k chips and announce a bet of 8,500, sending Cheong deep into the think tank where he remained for a good few minutes before eventually deciding to give it up to drop down to 70,000 while Trickett climbed up to a little over 55,000.

“Good fold,” the British pro said, flashing Cheong for a flopped top set.

Some of the other players are wasting no time getting into the thick of things and we have witnessed two all-ins so far. Unfortunately, both of these have resulted in anti-climatic chops.

The first was between Lucas Greenwood and the recently arrived Paul Phua and we arrived on the river on a board reading with over 50,000 already in the pot.

Greenwood had put Phua to the test just as we arrived and had moved all-in. Phua thought it over and called for his tournament life with for the full house and Greenwood chuckled and turned over for the chop.

“Phew, that was lucky,” chuckled Phua as the pot was divvied up. Both players were left sitting on around 53,000 after the chop.

Daniel Cates and Xi Luo got all the chips in pre-flop with Luo the at risk player with the dominated hand.

Xi Luo:
Daniel Cates:

The flop came down and while Luo picked up a flush draw when the hit the turn the river saw another chop.

“Awesome,” said Cates dryly as the pot was chopped. Still, a chop is always better than a loss. Both players made a princely 1,800 chips a piece there in blinds and antes.