HomeIt took only five hours for Day 3 to come to an end here at the Macau Billionaire Poker in Babylon Casino with the Final 8 of the Main Event formed. Sitting high and mighty at the top of the heap was Chinese Taipei’s Jack En-Ching Wu backed by an enormous 940k stack.
Main Event Final 8 Chip Leader, Jack Wu
24 players returned to the APT Finale Macau Championships 2017 each one on the hunt for the money and a spot in the coveted Final 8. With only 18 places paid, this spelled eggs for six players. As expected, several short stacks burned out in the opening level with Andre Moracchini, the lone decorated APT Main Event champion included in that list. The biggest take down however was Du Ming Tsai whose Q-Q ran smack into Jack Wu’s A-A. This massive pot catapulted Wu to the leader’s seat which he held on to for the rest of the day.
Storming into second command was Malaysia’s Shyh Chyn Lim with 687k in chips. Lim entered Day 3 as part of the lower bracket with 19 big blinds. After picking up the first pot at his table, he cruised into the money round and claimed his first victim, Netherlands’s Wim Bos with A♦ A♣ over Q♦ Q♥. To close out Day 3, Lim landed another A♦ A♠ and railed Edward Yam Chun Ho in 9th place denying him a Final 8 berth.
Taking third rank again was Norway’s Kai Paulsen driving his stack upwards to 549k. Paulsen scored numerous pots all day along with claiming all of Kosei Ichinose’s chips to stop the pro in 11th place. Ichinose had Q♥ Q♠ and Paulsen with A♠ 10♥. The board ran A♦ A♥ 8♠ 7♦ 2♥.
Ending in the upper half with the leaders was Malaysia’s Michael Soyza, the day’s entering chip leader. Soyza enjoyed a steady stream of chips in the early rounds but when the field compressed to two tables and he found himself beside the massive chip leader Wu, they were bound to tango. This resulted in one of the biggest pots generated preflop (without a shove) that ended on a flop bet. Wu shipped in 130k of Soyza’s stack.
At the unofficial final table with 10 in the orbit, Soyza made up the lost chips by claiming a big pot from Anson Wong Fuk On. Soyza earned nearly 200K from Wong with his 5♦ 7♦ flush on a board of Q♦ 8♦ Q♥ J♦ 2♥ to end the day at 549k.
Out of the four players that comprised the bottom half of the chip rung, USA’s Austin Walton, India’s Varun Gupta, Hong Kong’s Anson Wong Fuk On, and Hong Kong’s Luen Hei Kwok, it was the latter’s presence that was quite impressive. Kwok entered Day 3 with 15 bbs, dropped even lower in the ensuing rounds, was frozen to a shove or fold option, yet still held on to make it into the Final 8. Kwok doubled up three times to stay in the running with 224k.
APT Finale Macau Championships 2017 Main Event Final 8
Here are the Final 8 players of the Main Event:
Jack En-Ching Wu – Chinese Taipei – 940k
Shyh Chyn Lim – Malaysia – 687k
Kai Paulsen – Norway – 549k
Michael Soyza Malaysia – 495k
Austin Walton – USA – 463k
Varun Gupta – India – 331k
Anson Wong Fuk On – Hong Kong – 247k
Luen Hei Kwok – Hong Kong – 224k
Bubble round
Just before the money flowed, it was a wild race for Japanese player Yoshitaka Okawa to avoid the rail as the bubble. After he doubled up Naohito Tamaya, his stack was severely crippled and from there, he battled to stay in the game. He was granted a double up against Kunal Patni with his K♦ 9♦ flush, won another double with A♣ 8♣ two pair, lost a big one to Andrew An, then tripled up with A♣ 8♦. His run ended at the hands of Wei Guoliang with his A-Q defeated by 9-7 suited completing a flush.
Payouts 9th– 18th
9th Edward Yam Chun Ho – Hong Kong – HKD 46,000
10th Kunal Patni – India – HKD 39,000
11th Kosei Ichinose – Japan – HKD 36,900
12th Lee Zong Chang – Singapore – HKD 36,900
13th Ryo Naito – Japan – HKD 31,700
14th Yang Zhang – China – HKD 31,700
15th Shiqiang Lin – China – HKD 31,700
16th Wim Bos – Netherlands – HKD 27,900
17th Andrew An – USA – HKD 27,900
18th Wei Guoliang – China – HKD 27,900
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Iori Yogo wins the No Limit Hold’em 1
No Limit Hold’em 1 Champion, Iori Yogo
Event 7: No Limit Hold’em 1 resumed today with 8 players back at the felt out of the 36 total entries. Taking it to the limit was a very familiar face in the spotlight stage, Japanese pro Iori Yogo. Yogo defeated fellow compatriot Koji Takaji in the heads up round to capture the HKD 55,800 first place purse and the event trophy.
Payouts
Prizepool: HKD 139,700
1st Iori Yogo – Japan – HKD 55,800
2nd Koji Takagi – Japan – HKD 34,900
3rd Wayne Heung – Hong Kong – HKD 21,000
4th Anthony Hope – Australia – HKD 15,400
5th Jia Tang – China – HKD 12,600