HomeChi Fai Chong aka Gostinho was the first Macau player to lift up a trophy at the APT Macau Championships 2018 ongoing at Macau Billionaire Poker in Babylon Casino. Gostinho topped the 79-entry APT Japan Corp Main Event Warm Up event.
Down to three-handed, Gostinho had a commanding lead with nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. After a few rounds and still no major shift in chip sizes, the players agreed on an ICM deal to instantly end the game and award Gostinho the title. He earned HKD 63,200 in cash and the added value Main Event seat worth HKD 11,000.
The APT Japan Corp event ran a course of two days with 18 players returning to the felt for the final race. Gostinho entered with the largest stack but after a few eliminations, it was down to the bubble round – 15 remaining – with Korea’s Jae Kyung Joe in the lead. Joe ballooned further after delivering the bubble which he held on to entering the Final 8.
APT Japan Corp – Final 8
The first player to leave the final 8 was China’s Jianzhao Cheng, later followed by Germany’s Piet Pape. For Pape, his A♠ K♦ four-bet shove proved futile against China’s Xilian Liu’s A♣ A♦. Xilian was awarded a massive pot that catapulted him to the leadership status.
(L) Xilian Liu and Piet Pape (R)
China’s Wenrui Wang was next to exit, booted in 6th place with Joe’s A♠ 10♥ ahead of 10♦ 9♦ throughout the entire spread 2♠ J♥ 5♥ 3♦ J♦.
Jae Kyung Joe
At five-handed, the only Japanese player remaining, Koichi Aiba, landed a very lucky river to stay in the running. On a flop of 8♣ 9♦ 5♣, big-stacked Joe led out, Aiba shoved, and with J♦ 9♣ top pair, Joe called. Aiba had 6♦ 5♥ bottom pair gut shot draw. The turn K♣ looked like the end for Aiba but the poker gods said “no” as it banged out a four-outer 7♥ straight.
Koichi Aiba
At this time, Joe and Xilian were still backed by enormous stacks while on the other end of the rung was Gostinho. He managed to double it up by railing an even shorter stacked China’s Liu Guangli with A♦ 5♥ straight over A♣ 7♣ pair on a board of 4♣ 2♣ 3♦ 7♦ 10♦.
After several more pots shipped Gostinho’s way, he retook the chip lead for the first time since the start of day. During the hand, the blinds were 15K-30K ante 5K, db Joe raised to 75k, sb Gostinho and bb Xilian called. On the flop 4♦ 2♣ Q♦, Gostinho led for 140k, Xilian folded, Joe raised to 375k, Gostinho shoved, and Joe folded. This gave him 1.6M in chips with 3.95M total chips in play.
Not long after, Gostinho surged to a monstrous lead by knocking out Joe. Action began with Joe raising to 100k, Gostinho three-bet to 280k, Joe four-bet shoved, and Gostinho with the snap-call. Joe had A♣ 4♠ and was needing some luck against Gostinho’s A♦ J♦. No such luck came with the board running 10♣ 3♦ 7♣ 5♦ 3♣. Gostinho shipped in Joe’s enormous 1M stack.
Gostinho after railing Joe
With three remaining, Gostinho sat with an overwhelming 2.6M stack while the other two, Aiba and Xilian, split the remaining 1.35M. Xilian had the edge on Aiba but after 10 uncalled shoves, Aiba climbed to over 900k while Xilian dropped to around 600k. At this point, an ICM deal was proposed and eventually agreed upon. Gostinho was automatically awarded the trophy and the added value Main Event seat sponsored by APT Japan Corp.
Gostinho also cashed at the Welcome Event, finishing in 5th place. Impressively, this is first live tournament appearance, preferring to play online and cash games. Gostinho would like to send a big shout out “Thank You” to Stephen of HKPPA who shared ample advice on live tournament play that greatly helped his game.
Final 3: L-standing Koichi Aiba, R-standing Xilian Liu, middle – Gostinho
Payouts
Prize pool: HKD 306,500 – Buy-in HKD 4,400 – 14 paid
1st Chi Fai Chong aka Gostinho – Macau – HKD 63,200 + Main Event seat (deal made)
2nd Koichi Aiba – Japan – HKD 57,200 (deal made)
3rd Xilian Liu – China – HKD 51,200 (deal made)
4th Jae Kyung Joe – Korea – HKD 26,900
5th Liu Guangli – China – HKD 20,200
6th Wenrui Wang – China – HKD 15,800
7th Piet Pape – Germany – HKD 12,800
8th Jianzhao Cheng – China – HKD 10,900
9th Graham Cowan – Australia – HKD 9,600
10th Yuanjie Jin – China – HKD 8,400
11th Li Ta Hsu – Taiwan – HKD 8,400
12th Lei Liu – China – HKD 7,300
13th En Ching Wu – Taiwan – HKD 7,300
14th Hung Sheng Lin – Taiwan – HKD 7,300
SATURDAY, APRIL 28: EVENTS
Saturday, April 28 will see the Main Event take center stage with Day 1A kicking off at 4pm. This prestigious event muscles in with a rich HKD 2 Million Guaranteed prize pool. It is the first of two featured tournaments offered with the Championships Event following mid-next week.
All You Need to Know on the Main Event and Championships Event
13:00: Event 6 – NLH One Day Event 1
Before cards start flying for the main, we have one side event on deck. At 1pm is the NLH One Day Event 1. This event has grown in popularity with many weekend warriors coming out for a single day’s battle at the felt. Buy-in is HKD 2,200.
18:00: Satellite 4 – Last Chance “1 in 5” to Main Event
With the Main Event lighting up the floor today, players can still try to win a seat at a lower cost via the Last Chance “1 in 5” Satellite. Buy-in is HKD 2,400 with one seat awarded per 5 players.
Full APT Macau Championships 2018 schedule
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http://www.dzpk.com/201804apt/