Seven Fall on Day 5 as Heads-Up Play Will Have to Wait
The 2013 PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Macau Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 Main Event was supposed to come to a close at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams on Saturday, but what started with 203 players is going to take an extra day to complete. That’s because the night wore on too long and Tournament Director Danny McDonagh decided to continue the heads-up match between Devan Tang and Sunny Jung on Sunday.
When the match resumes, Jung will hold a 3.213 million to 2.877 million chip lead over Tang.
Despite not finishing, Day 5 did see some great final table action – which included seven eliminations. It took just five hands for the first elimination of the day to occur, and it happened in Level 19 (4,000/8,000/1,000) when a short-stacked Chane Kampanatsanyakorn moved all in under the gun for 80,000 and action folded all the way around to Yat Wai Cheng in the big blind. Cheng thought for about 45 seconds and then made the call.
Cheng:
Kampanatsanyakorn:
"Snap," someone on the other end of the table said, referring to the amount of time it took Cheng to call with a quality hand. Meanwhile, Kampanatsanyakorn was up out of his set and preparing to make his exit. The dealer then burned and began to put out the flop, which had the in the window. Kampanatsanyakorn's supporters began to cheer, but they were quieted when the and followed it.
"Wow, what a flop," another railbird quipped. The set-over-set flop left Kampanatsanyakorn drawing to either running straight cards or the case seven, and the turn made it so only the latter option was available. The dealer burned one last time and put out the . Kampanatsanyakorn missed and was sent to the rail in ninth place for HKD$495,000.
After Chenxiang Miao fell in eighth place, PokerStars Team Online’s Randy Lew, who won the 2011 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event for HKD$3,772,000, followed him out the door.
It happened in Level 19 when Yifan Zheng opened for 16,000 under the gun and Jonathan Depa, who was next to act, made the call. Lew then moved all in for his last 110,000 from the hijack, Zheng folded, and Depa made the call.
Lew:
Depa:
It was the exact same situation as Kampanatsanyakorn's elimination an hour early, and once again both players would end up with a full house after the board ran out . Lew's was inconsequential though as he had hit it on the river after drawing dead on the turn. Lew exited to a nice round of applause and took home HKD$792,000 for his seventh-place finish.
Six-handed play lasted quite awhile, but eventually Depa suffered a bad beat at the hands of Zheng to leave him on the short stack. Not long after in Level 20 (5,000/10,000/1,000), Zheng opened for 20,000 from the cutoff and Depa, who was the chip leader at the end of Day 3 with 25 players remaining, opted to move all in from the button for 230,000. Devan Tang then moved all in over the top from the small blind, which inspired Zheng to fold.
Tang:
Depa:
It was a classic flip, and according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Tang was a 56.65% favorite while Depa would survive 42.95% of the time. The flop paired Depa's king and made him a huge 87.07% favorite. Tang suddenly needed either a jack or running clubs to stay alive — something that would happen a mere 12.93% of the time.
The turn was a great card for Tang as it kept the latter option alive, and suddenly he had a 25% chance of eliminating Depa. Wouldn't you know it, the spiked on the river to give Tang the flush. Depa was clearly unsatisfied with the turn of events, but he had to console himself with HKD$990,000 for his sixth-place finish.
It took awhile for the next elimination to occur, but eventually Japan’s Yoshitaka Okawa fell in Level 22 (7,000/14,000/2,000) just before the dinner break. It took another two levels, but eventually Hong Kong’s Cheng was felled in fourth place.
In one hand during three-handed play, which happened in Level 25 (12,000/24,000/4,000), Jung opened to 50,000 from the button before Zheng moved all in from the small blind for 580,000. Tang called from the big blind and Jung quickly folded.
Zheng:
Tang:
With Zheng racing for his tournament life, the flop kept him in the lead before the turn gave him a flush draw and Tang a gutshot. Unfortunately for the start-of-the-day chip leader, the river landed the to put an end to Zheng's day in third place, which also ending his chances of becoming the Asia Player of the Year (only first would have earned him that title).
Things were relatively even at the start of heads-up play, so both Jung and Tang agreed to shave off some of first-place prize money and added it to second place – that meant the new payouts would be HK$4,352,000 for first and HK$3,667,000 for the runner up. It was at that point that the decision was made to come back for an impromptu Day 6.
2013 ACOP Main Event Results
Place | Player | Country | Prize (HKD) |
---|---|---|---|
1st | ??? | ??? | $4,352,000 |
2nd | ??? | ??? | $3,667,000 |
3rd | Zifan Zheng | China | $1,980,000 |
4th | Yat Wai Cheng | China | $1,485,000 |
5th | Yoshitaka Okawa | Japan | $1,188,000 |
6th | Jonathan Depa | United States | $990,000 |
7th | Randy Lew | United States | $792,000 |
8th | Chenxiang Miao | China | $594,000 |
9th | Chane Kampanatsanyakorn | Thailand | $495,000 |
PokerNews’ coverage of the ACOP Main Event will continue on Sunday alongside updates from Day 2 of the HK$250,000 High Roller.
Until then, check out Sarah Grant's jump from the world’s tallest bungee jump: