Sheng Sun Wins APPT9 Macau 50K Freezeout for HK$997,100 (USD$128,598)
The second and last day of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Season 9 HK$50,000 Freezeout at PokerStars LIVE Macau at the City of Dreams saw the final 26 players of an 81-player field return to battle down to a winner.
Only the top 10 spots were paid and the action started fast and furious with 2014 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific Main Event champ Scott Davies, start-of-the-day chip leader Sheng Sun, and Chinese Taipei's Jack Hu being among the most active. Those three players ultimately reached the podium, and it was Sun who emerged victorious to take down the silver trophy and the HK$997,100 (USD$128,598) first-place prize after knocking out both his opponents in quick succession.
Sun had three Hendon Mob entries to his name prior to the win, and all three happened to be third-place finishes. The biggest of them came at the 2012 APT Manila when he took home HK$4,650,000. Obviously he's now got the monkey off his back with a hard earned victory.
Within the first two 60-minute levels, the field was reduced to the last 14 hopefuls and the biggest surprise was surely the elimination of Rajeev Raut. The man from India started Day 2 third in chips, but all of them vanished within the first hour. Meanwhile, Hu and Sun dominated their table and the incredible heater of Davies started after an early hiccup where the American lost with kings to deuces.
Guiseppe Reina, Eddy Liang and Allen Wang then all bowed out in Level 15, and the bubble saw Percy Yung running out of chips as the last player without a payday.
The official final table started eight-handed because Alberto Gomez and Yung Bing Chu were sent to the rail simultaneously on their respective table.
Interestingly, Devan Tang missed the entire first hour of Day 2 and showed up late to run up his remaining five big blinds to more than half a million chips before losing a flip to Davies.
Meng Dian Peng had a kicker problem against Hu to bust in seventh, and then Thomas Ward had to settle for sixth place when his short stack merged with table neighbor Jung Jung Tang. The latter was the last woman in the field and finished in fifth at the hand of Kim Mittendorff.
The Dane was trying to break into the phalanx of his three dominating opponents, but busted if fourth after one of the most spectacular hands of the tournament where Sun's ten-high scooped the pot versus Mittendorff's six-high. A huge hero-call by the Sun made him the clear chip leader at the end of Level 19, and he took out Davies in third and Hu in second within 15 minutes. It obviously also helped that he picked up pocket queens and kings to do so.
Final Table Results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (HKD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheng Sun | China | $997,100 |
| 2 | Jack Hu | Chinese Taipei | $664,700 |
| 3 | Scott Davies | USA | $443,100 |
| 4 | Kim Wittendorff | Denmark | $369,300 |
| 5 | Percy Yung | Chinese Taipei | $295,400 |
| 6 | Thomas Ward | New Zealand | $258,500 |
| 7 | Meng Dian Peng | China | $221,600 |
| 8 | Devan Tang | Hong Kong | $184,600 |
| 9 | Yung Bing Chu | Chinese Taipei | $129,245 |
| 10 | Alberto Gomez | Spain | $129,245 |
We had a fun little chat with the champion Sheng Sun, and talk at length about that memorable hand with ten-high:
The APPT festival in Macau continues for another four days, and on Thursday at 14:00 local time the second starting day of the HK$25,000 Main Event gets underway. Of course the PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to keep you up to date on all the action.
*Winner picture by Kenneth Lim Photography courtesy of PokerStars LIVE Macau