HomeNow that the APT Finale Macau Championships 2017 opening festivities have warmed up the felt, it’s time to heat things up! For the second day’s menu, we’ve got a few events lined up – the Warm Up, the Ladies of Poker, and another satellite to the Main Event. All these events will of course be sharing the tournament floor with the conclusion of the APT Game of Champions which kicks off at 1pm.
Before we go into detail on today’s games, we’d first like to thank everyone that participated in yesterday’s Ante Up for Charity event. There were 42 entries in total for a donation of HKD 21,000 to the Holy House of Mercy charity organization. Winning that event was Singaporean player Jing Kai Lim who defeated Hong Kong’s Luen Kwan Kwok at the final heads up round.
Ante Up for Charity Champion, Jing Kai Lim
For a brief recap, at 9 players remaining, Lim held a dominating lead and cruised all the way to the heads up round. As for Luen, he only scaled upwards during the uber-fast money round to take a slight lead entering the final duel. However, it didn’t’ take long for Lim to resume control. He doubled up with Q♦ 7♦ trips against Luen’s J♦ J♥ on a board of 9♠ 7♣ 7♥ 2♠ 6♠ with the shoves seen on fourth street. Two hands later, he shut the door on Luen with K♠ 10♦ defeating A♣ 9♣ on a final board of K♥ 7♣ 3♣ 6♠ 3♥. Lim earned the HKD 16,800 first place purse and the first trophy of the festival.
TODAY’S GAMES
APT Game of Champions Final Day
The APT Game of Champions may have only drawn in 18 out of the 151 qualified players but with everyone availing of the one optional add-on, and the pot further fattened by the USD 10,000 added incentive, the prize pool grew to a very lucrative HKD 174,300.
After 15 rounds of 40-minute blinds played, the night ended with the field down to the final 6 players. They will return at 1pm today for the race to the money. Only three of them will be looking at a piece of that sweet pie, broken down as:
1st HKD 87,100
2nd HKD 52,300
3rd HKD 34,900
Looking back at yesterday’s action, it was obvious that with everyone decorated as champions, it was going to be a tough first day. Being that this was a freezeout tournament, everyone was prepared for a long and drawn out battle. It was only in round 7 that the first fallout arrived with Ken Okada taken out of the running.
Shortly after, several others followed such as Andre Moracchini, Andy Li Queyan, Aso Seitaro, but the most surprising was Tetsuya Tsuchikawa. The Japanese pro began the day with the largest stack having qualified into the GOC ten times. He fell before the final table was even reached, eliminated by Korea’s Soo Jo Kim. Tsuchikawa’s 6♥ 6♦ set was crushed by Kim’s K♣ Q♣ flush on a board of 6♣ 2♦ 10♣ 5♣ 8♠ with progressive betting to the river. For Kim, he made it through the rough terrain and will enter the final day running second in chips with 206,500.
Claiming the chip leader’s status was Chinese Taipei’s Hung Sheng Lin with a towering 348,000 stack. One of Lin’s trophies today was eliminating Iori Yogo. Lin took a gamble by calling Yogo’s huge preflop shove. Yogo had A-10 offsuit and Lin with A♠ 9♠. The board spiked a nine on the turn for a pair to Lin to win it. He also railed Lim Yo Hwan with A-A over 6-6.
Here are the final six players and their chip counts:
Hung Sheng Lin – 348,000
Soo Jo Kim – 206,500
Stephen Nathan – 164,500
Kai Paulsen – 163,000
Sam Nee Aik Chuan – 79,000
Yoichi Uesugi – 79,000
The final 6 resumes at 1pm today starting at level 16 with blinds at 1500 – 3000 ante 500. Average stack is 173,333. Good luck to all!
Warm Up event
Getting underway at 2pm is one of APT’s most sought after events, the Warm Up (Event #2). Ever since this event became a mainstay last year, it has repeatedly attracted many players looking to get in that early practice before the big one arrives. The Warm Up event offers the same structure as the highlighted APT Championships Event however the blinds increase every 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes. This is a scheduled two-day event. Details below:
Buy-in: HKD 4,400
Starting stack: 50,000
Opening blinds: 100 – 200
Late registration / re-entry: closes at the start of round 7
Ladies of Poker
Shortly after the starting gun of the Warm Up, the next side event joins in. At 230pm, the Ladies of Poker (Event #3) graces the felt. The title speaks for itself; this event is for all the lovely lady card sharks out there. Compete against other women in this relaxed tournament tailor-made for all of you. Come out and join the fun! Become the year-ending APT queen of poker. Buy-in is HKD 2,200.
Starting stack: 10,000
Opening blinds: 25 – 50
Level duration: increases every 30 minutes
Late registration / re-entry: closes at the start of round 7
The APT Finale Macau Championships 2017 runs from November 29 – December 10 at the Macau Billionaire Poker in Babylon Casino. The festival features two major events – APT Main Event and APT Championships Event – each of them boast of the best structures in the Asian region. Both events will run for five days with two starting days, Day 2, Day 3, and the Final 8.
For the eventual winner, the prizes include the APT Championship Trophy, an exclusive Meister Watch, and the APT Championship Ring. Event details below:
APT Main Event
Buy-in: HKD 11,000
Dates: December 2 – 6
Click here for tournament structure
*There are four satellites leading up to this event with the second one happening at 5pm today. Buy-in is HKD 1,200 with one seat awarded for every ten players.
APT Championships Event
Buy-in: HKD 22,000
Dates December 6 – 10
Click here for tournament structure
*There are four satellites leading up to this event. See the schedule for more details.
The finale also offers a total of 17 side events ranging from buy-ins HKD 1,500 – HKD 43,000. Last night, the first side event trophy was claimed by Jing Kai Lim at the Ante Up for Charity event. Many more are up for grabs so be at the felt for a chance at bagging one of those last APT trophies of the year.
See you at the tables!
Full APT Finale Macau Championships schedule