HomeThe first trophy of the Asian Poker Tour Finale Macau 2016 was up for grabs with 54 players returning to the Crystal Palace in Casino Lisboa for the final day of the opening event, the Poker King Cup HKD300,000 Guaranteed. After nine intense hours, Malaysia’s Michael Boon Kean Chan overcame a deficit at three-handed to eventually run away with the trophy and the HKD84,300 first place purse.
Poker King Cup 300K GTD Champion, Michael Chan
This was truly an exciting victory for Chan who not only captured his first-ever APT title but it was also his first-ever APT appearance. Chan entered the final day as the overall chip leader, bagging up the largest stack from yesterday’s combined entry flights.
The final day began with many players falling to the wayside. Included in the list were notables SJ Kim, Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, and defending champion Lim Yo Hwan. By the time the bubble burst, Chan had a healthy arsenal however China’s Ou Yang Bo was on a killing spree, amassing a towering stack which he brought into the final table of ten players.
Final Table Action
The final table saw Bo continue to accumulate chips, eliminating Jun Saito in 10th place. Hong Kong’s Tracy Ho ran into Alexander Beresnev’s pocket kings and fell in 9th place. Sau Chin Ng gambled on an open-ended draw at the flop but with no further improvement, Hungjun Zhang’s top pair sent him packing in 8th place. Ireland’s Jacque Patrick Ramsden joined the railbirds in 7th place, then Beresnev’s A♦ K♥ lost a coin flip against Zhang’s 7♦ 7♠ to end his day in 6th place.
With five players remaining, Reo Wada, who happened to be playing his first-ever tournament, grabbed the chip lead from Bo with a massive double up. During the hand, Bo three-bet shoved Wada’s raise and was snap-called by the newcomer. Wada had A♠ A♥ and Bo had 8♠ 8♦. With no help on the board for Bo, Wada rose to nearly a million chips. A few hands after, Wada shut the door on Bo in 5th place with his A-Q finding a lady on the board to dust Bo’s A-K.
At four-handed, Qilong Zhang doubled up through Hungjun Zhang with A-8 landing a higher pair on the board against pocket queens. Hungjun retaliated and ousted Qilong in 4th place with his K♣ J♠ straight crushing 7♠ 7♦ set on a board of Q♣ 7♥ 10♥ K♠ A♣.
With all the crazy action happening around him, Chan entered the three-handed match way behind Zhang and Wada. It didn’t take long for him to change his situation, calling Wada’s bully shove on his big blind. Wada had J♦ 4♦ and Chan with K♠ 6♠. Chan was awarded a double up to nearly a million chips when the board ran K♣ 5♠ A♣ J♣ 10♣. Minutes after, Chan zoomed into the chip leader’s seat after railing Wada in 3rd place.
Chan’s winning moment
Entering the heads up round, Chan had over 2:1 in chips against Zhang. Action was very quick, seeing only three hands for it to be over. The final hand saw Chan shove with A♣ 2♦ and Zhang call for his tournament life with K♠ 7♠. Though not needed, the board improved Chan to a dominating nut flush giving him the victory and the coveted first trophy of the festival.
The opening event saw 170 total entries, bumping up the prize pool to HKD329,800. There were 18 players who made it in the money.
Payouts
1st Michael Boon Kean Chan – Malaysia – HKD84,300
2nd Hungjun Zhang – China – HKD49,300
3rd Reo Wada – Japan – HKD34,100
4th Qilong Zhang – Hong Kong – HKD24,900
5th Ou Yang Bo – China – HKD20,600
6th Alexander Beresnev – Russia – HKD17,000
7th Jacque Patrick Ramsden – Ireland – HKD14,000
8th Sau Chin Ng – Hong Kong – HKD11,700
9th Tracy Ho – Hong Kong – HKD10,100
10th Jun Saito – Japan – HKD8,600
11th Hyo Won Son – Korea – HKD8,100
12th Hao Lai – China – HKD8,100
13th Ling Yiping – China – HKD6,900
14th Pete Yen Han Chen – Taiwan – HKD6,900
15th Shin Suk Jae – Korea – HKD6,900
16th Jun Huang – China – HKD6,100
17th Kwan Ngai Li – Hong Kong – HKD6,100
18th Neng Lon Chong – Macau – HKD6,100