HomeAnother big day in store at the Asian Poker Tour Finale Macau 2016 with the final entry flight of the Main Event as the prime entrée. The Main Event kicked off yesterday with Day 1A seeing 104 total entries. With a buy-in of HKD11,000, the event is likely headed for a juicy prize pool so don’t miss out! One special prize that is up for grabs is the APT Championship Ring awarded only to APT Main Event champions since the start of the year. Fourteen of these gorgeous solid silver bands have already been claimed.
Main Event Day 1A attracts 104 entries
For players headed to the main, it is highly advisable to register early and have your chips in play by the starting buzzer of round one. By doing so, you will be eligible for the Main Event Bubble Protection. This protection is definitely one incentive you’d want to have as your fail-safe in the event that you find yourself eliminated as the bubble. Although you will still be eliminated from the tournament, you will receive one free seat to the next APT Main Event of the same value as a consolation prize. For re-entry players from Day 1A, you must qualify again in order to be eligible for the protection.
The Main Event begins promptly at 1pm. Players will compete for eight levels with blinds increasing every sixty minutes. Late registration and re-entry closes at the start of round 7.
Side Events Today
There will also be two side events running today, the No Limit Hold’em 1 Day event at 2pm with a buy-in of HKD2,200, and the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Turbo with an entry fee of HKD1,100 at 6pm. The No Limit Holdem 1 will also be on the floor today with the final 8 players returning from yesterday’s battle. Action resumes at 1pm.
For more information on the upcoming events, head to the APT Finale Macau 2016 event page.
Mitsuhiro Shiga wins the Head Hunter event
Japan’s Mitsuhiro Shiga overcame a field of 76 entries at the Head Hunter event to secure several bounties and the first place cash of HKD59,600.
Head Hunter Champion, Mitsuhiro Shiga
The event resumed yesterday afternoon with 8 players returning from a night’s rest. With ten places paid, all of them were already guaranteed extra cash in their wallets. The first player to receive a payout today was Shanqi Zhu who fell in 8th place. Zhu couldn’t recover after paying Ben Martin in full for his boat. Suprisingly, Martin was railed next. Martin was given the boot by Shiga in 7th place with pocket aces over pocket fours. The next elimination was also at the hands of Shiga, railing Zhutang Liu in 6th place with his pocket kings.
With five players remaining, Zurvan Tumboli claimed a bounty by railing Alexander Beresnev in 5th place. But just like Martin, Tumboli failed to protect his chips and lost it in two hands, with Hongru Zhu delivering the final blow. With Tumboli out in 4th place, three players remained.
It was at this time that Tomohiro Kato began putting the heat on Shiga and Zhu. He won a large number of pots and momentarily took the lead away from Shiga. His rise however would not last. Kato lost two crucial hands to Zhu that sent his stack spiraling down and out in 3rd place.
Heads up round between Shiga and Zhu
The heads up round between Shiga and Zhu began with Zhu ahead in chips. Shiga seemed to be on a mission to finish the game as he charged at Zhu at almost every hand. His aggression paid off and he took the chip lead. Not going down that easily, Zhu found a spot to retaliate and doubled up with his K♥ 9♦ outdrawing Shiga’s 6♠ 6♥ on a board of Q♦ 2♠ 9♥ 3♥ 7♣. Zhu rose to a 2.5:1 chip advantage.
But Zhu wasn’t able to close it out, instead he doubled up Shiga with his Q♥ 10♦ failing to improve against Shiga’s 6♥ 6♦. The final hand saw Shiga shove with A♠ 9♣ and Zhu calling with Q♥ J♥. The board ran 2♣ 4♠ 4♥ A♣ 9♦.
All the payouts of the ongoing festival can be viewed under the APT events tab of the website.