29 players return today for Day 3; Degracia and Jung Kim win trophies

There are three days left in the Asian Poker Tour Macau 2016 with lots of poker side events still on deck at the Crystal Palace of the Casino Lisboa. Today will host two highly popular and enjoyable events, the Monster Stack and the Super Deep Stack Turbo. However, getting on the floor first will be the highlight tournament of the festival, the APT Macau Main Event with 29 players returning for Day 3.

The Main Event began three days ago with two starting flights and late registration open just before the starting gun of yesterday’s Day 2. There were a total of 108 entries for a grand prize pool of HKD 2,074,000. The money round begins at 18 players which will be surpassed today with Day 3 regulation play scheduled to end once the Final 8 is reached.

Leading the troops into today’s battle at the felt is Spanish pro Sergio Aido who bagged up a massive stack of 476,000. UK pro Daniel Tang holds the second chip lead also with a huge stack of 415,000, and in third is Taiwanese pro Terry Fan with 380,500. In addition to the leaders are an impressive number of pros in the field including defending champion Henrik Tollefsen from Norway.

We will be posting today’s action in the Live Updates section of the website. You can also view the Chip Counts right here.

Side Events Today

The Monster Stack is the first of the two side events heating up the floor today. It starts at 2pm with an entry fee of HKD 5,500. This is a scheduled two-day event. At 6pm is the Super Deep Stack Turbo event with an entry fee of HKD 2,200.

Side Event Winners

Two side events wrapped up late last night, the No Limit Hold’em 2 and the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Turbo. Below are the results and the final hands of the winners.

A big happy victory for Guam’s Toniyoung Degracia at the NLH 2 event

No Limit Hold’em 2 Champion, Toniyoung Degracia

Jumping straight into the No Limit Hold’em 2 event after she busted out of the main, Guam’s Toniyoung Degracia outlasted a field of 35 entries to capture her first-ever APT trophy. Degracia was overjoyed at her victory, finally overcoming the bridesmaid position.

Catching the action at three-handed, Degracia was armed with the largest stack. When Sweden’s Erik Billgren fell to China’s Hongwei Li in 3rd place, the heads up match saw her still in the lead but by a very small margin. Several pots were exchanged back and forth with Li eventually taking the slight edge. However, that would all change with Degracia shipping in a huge double up that gave her a 6:1 chip lead. During the hand, both players were all in preflop with Degracia holding Q 10 and Li with Q Q. The board ran 9 J 8 4 2 for a winning straight to Degracia. That pretty much did it because two hands after, Degracia took it down with a full house holding K-5 on a board of 5-6-Q-5-K. Degracia earned the first place purse of HKD 54,300 and the event trophy.

Jung Whan Kim wins the WLS Deep Stack Turbo event

WLS Deep Stack Turbo Champion, Jung Whan Kim

It was a rollercoaster ride to the finish line for Korea’s Jung Whan Kim at the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Turbo event. Kim held the shortest stack at three-handed and faced fellow countryman Chul Ho Bae and Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung. In an all in hand against Cheung, Kim held 8-8 and Cheung with A-J. The board ran J-K-Q-9-8 giving Kim the win with a set on the river. After his double up, Kim proceeded to eliminate Cheung in third place with his A-10 defeating 9-4, again on the river with the board running K-8-9-5-10.

The heads up round kicked off with Kim in the lead against Bae but not for long. Bae played aggressively and won several small pots to steal the lead. Kim quickly found a spot to recoup the lost chips with his J-10 landing two pairs for a sweet double up. Bae retaliated pushing all in with 8 3 and Kim calling with J K. Kim landed two pair on but Bae rivered a running trips on the board of 10 K 4 8 8.

Once again, they were back at it until Kim landed a full house with his pocket fours. The final hand saw Kim claim the title with K 7 defeating Bae’s Q Q when a king graced the felt. Kim won HKD 14,250 (deal made) and the event trophy. Bae earned HKD 11,850 (deal made) for his runner up finish. The WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo event attracted 60 players to the tables for a total prize pool of HKD 58,200.