HomeThe two-day Main Event Warm Up was the only APT Finale Macau Championships 2017 event to wrap up today. The action resumed from last night’s break with 17 players out of the 59 total entries returning to the Macau Billionaire Poker at Babylon Casino. After six hours at the felt, Korea’s Yohwan Lim “Boxer” overcame the odds to capture the HKD 63,500 first place purse and the event trophy.
Warm Up Event Final 9 Players
Picking up the action with 9 remaining players and everyone having just entered the money round, it wasn’t looking good for Boxer. He had one of the shortest stacks and was limited to either shoving or folding. Just before he risked it all, he first watched Hung Sheng Lin plunge downward in a hand against Rohit Dwarkadas Bellani.
During the hand, everyone folded to the small blind Lin who took the opportunity to bully. He shoved and to his shock, was snap-called by big blind Bellani. Lin sheepishly turned over 10♦ 5♦ while Bellani revealed his lovely Q♦ Q♥. When the flop and turn dropped K♦ 6♦ 8♣ 10♥, Bellani had a bit of a scare but with the river 3♠, he won the hand and punished Lin to less than one big blind.
The subsequent hand was when it all began to change for the Korean gamer Boxer. He moved all in from the cutoff seat and was joined by two other players, Lin and Han Xiao. Boxer had 9♦ 8♠, Lin 10♥ 6♣, and Xiao with A♣ J♣. With the board running 2♠ 2♣ K♦ 3♥ 9♠, Boxer was saved by the river while Lin took 9th. As for Xiao, he spiraled down to one small blind and was soon put out of his misery in 8th place by Yoichi Uesugi.
Two rounds later, Boxer went on a card rush that drove his stack up the wazoo while sending Sam Keng Lon Cheong near the gutter and Bellani out of commission. The first hand was a preflop showdown with Cheong holding A♦ K♦ and Boxer risking it all with 9♦ 9♥. The board bricked out and Boxer’s pair was good. On the following hand against Bellani, the shoves happened on the flop 5♥ 7♦ 4♦. Boxer had Q♦ Q♥ and Bellani 10♠ 10♦. No luck came for Bellani on the turn and river and he had to settle for a 7th place berth. Not long after, Cheong was railed in 6th by Binrui Wang.
All Boxer to the finish
Main Event Warm Up Champion, Lim Yo Hwan
Throughout the final table, Wang was the dominant force at the table not because he was running away with all the chips, but more so for his very big stack. After he railed Cheong, he was first to cross the seven-digit chip mark. However, the game was far from over and Boxer was about to take full command of the felt, eventually railing all of his opponents.
He surged past a million chips by sending Law Chi Wai out in 5th place with his K-10 partnering up on the board to dust Wai’s 6-6. Before Boxer claimed his next victim, he took a sizeable chunk out of Wang’s stack to further cement his dominance. Getting Boxer’s boot in 4th place was Lee Yiu Tai Sammul with A♠ 10♠ finding no gems against Boxer’s 5♣ 5♦ turned set. Uesugi fell next with A-8 way behind Boxer’s A-Q to bring about the heads up round against Wang.
However, with all the heads claimed, it wasn’t much of a final duel with Boxer ahead 6:1 in chips. Although Wang managed to double up, it still wasn’t enough. The final hand was delivered with Boxer pushing on A♦ Q♠ and Wang gambling it all with J♠ 9♦. The board bricked out and Boxer’s five-card spread earned him the hard-earned title.