Thursday, 28th March 2024 18:11
Home / Uncategorized / APPT Macau: Martirosyan leads with 18 left in ACOP Warm-Up

Play has concluded for the night for Day 2 of the $25,000 (HKD) Asia Championship of Poker Warm-Up event. Just 18 remain, all of whom will be returning tomorrow to play down to a champion. David Martirosyan of Russia — chip leader to end Day 1a — will enjoy the overnight chip lead once again, as he ended Day 2 with the most chips of everyone with nearly one million chips.

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David Martirosyan

Here’s a recap of how the last two-and-a-half levels of the night played out.

Levels 16 and 17

Levels 16 and 17 saw another 11 players eliminated, leaving 22 to battle onward.

A half-dozen short stacks went out in rapid fashion to start Level 16. James John King (33rd, US), Andreas Chalkiadakis (32nd, Greece), and David Allen (31st, Australia) each earned $40,000 (HKD) for their finishes. And Ping Chang Yung (30th, US), Yoichi Fujiya (29th, Japan), and Kaue Vinicius de Souza (28th, Brazil) ended with paydays of $47,900 (HKD).

Then just before Level 16 concluded, David Xin Zhao of Australia was knocked out in 27th ($47,900 HKD) after running 10♥ 10♠ into the A♦ A♥ of Johan Wengelin, then watching the board roll out 8♣ 3♠ 5♠ 6♣ K♦ .

At the start of Level 17 Hai Bo Chu of China was the next to go after getting involved in a somewhat impossible three-way situation with [A][8] versus two players who had him outchipped, one of whom held [10][10] and the other [A][9]. The tens held, and Chu hit the rail in 26th, also worth $47,900 (HKD).

The next five out would earn $55,900 (HKD) apiece.

First it was Martirosyan — amid riding a bit of a rush — claiming another victim as he continued his rise, in this case using K♣ K♦ to beat the pocket eights of Sascha Pagnia and eliminate the German in 25th.

Korea’s Yudeug Cha was then eliminated in 24th soon after pushing his short stack with Kâ™  7♥ , getting called by Julian Powell holding K♦ Q♦ , and finding himself drawing dead by the turn. And Jurg Niederberger of Hong Kong went out in 23rd when his [A][3] failed to improve against an opponent’s [A][Q].

Level 18

The remaining 22 players crossed over into the next level, with the plan going forward being to finish the level or stop when 18 were left. As it happened, it would take just about 40 minutes more to play down to the final two tables.

First Macau’s own Aaron Gustavson committed the few chips he had left with J♥ 5♣ and was called by Adam Latimer who held Aâ™  Q♣ . Five community cards later — 6â™  2♦ 4â™  K♣ K♥ — they were down to 21.

Ted Wang of China was the next out in 21st after meeting with significant misfortune, especially so late in the event. All in on a 8♥ 5♥ A♣ flop with 5♠ 5♦ against Martiryosan, Wang watched as his opponent flipped over 8♠ 8♦ for a better set. The turn and river failed to bring Wang the case five, and he was eliminated in 21st place.

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Ted Wang

A little while later Rui Bao of China would lose most of his stack to Julian Powell when the Brit’s Aâ™  Kâ™  won a race versus Bao’s 10â™  10♦ . All in soon thereafter with K♥ Q♥ , Bao was drawing thin against Joseph Cheong’s A♦ K♣ . The flop came 8♦ J♥ 5♥ , then the Qâ™  on the turn provided a little drama. But the river was the 4♥ , and Bao was out in 20th, earning $75,900 for his finish.

Play continued for another several minutes while players negotiated whether or not to switch the starting time tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. (They decided to go with the later time.)

Finally a hand arose in which Adam Latimer opened from early position for 18,000 (a bit more than 2x), then the American Kevin Kung reraised to 50,000. It folded back to Latimer who pushed all in, and Kung called with the 120,000 or so he had left behind.

It was bad news for Kung whose Q♥ Q♣ was well behind Latimer’s Kâ™  K♣ . The dealer spread the 7♣ 7♦ 8♣ flop, the 2♣ turn, and the 3♦ river, and Kung was sent to the cashier’s desk to collect his payday of $75,900 (HKD).

As mentioned, Martiryson carries the chip lead to tomorrow’s final day of play, with Jeffrey Rossiter not too far behind in second position. Joseph Cheong is still in with a healthy stack. And so is this guy…

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Johnny Chan

Here’s how the counts will look when play resumes:

1. David Martirosyan (Russia) — 990,000
2. Jeff Rossiter (Australia) — 927,000
3. Andrey Shatilov (Russia) — 601,000
4. Rong Fan (China) — 555,000
5. Joseph Cheong (Canada) — 494,000
6. Adam Latimer (UK) — 457,000
7. Hiu Man Ng (Hong Kong) — 455,000
8. Johnny Chan (US) — 394,000
9. Gordon Huntly (UK) — 381,000
10. Bobo Chen (China) — 310,000
11. Renyong Hu (China) — 303,000
12. Jan Zeuschner (Germany) — 300,000
13. Johan Wengelin (Sweden) — 219,000
14. Julian Powell (UK) — 184,000
15. Katsuhiro Muto (Japan) — 150,000
16. Stanislav Avanesian (Russia) — 142,000
17. Ping Lin (China) — 118,000
18. Munkhbayar Nyamsuren (Mongolia) — 51,000

We’ll be back tomorrow to tell the final few chapters of the ACOP Warm-Up story. Thanks for following the coverage today, and if you happened to miss any of the Day 2 posts, check them out:

Day 2: ACOP Warm-Up just getting hot, Day 2 awaits
Day 2: The international game of poker — it’s a win-win
Day 2: Let them eat cake
Day 2: The hunger for chips
Day 2: It’s hard to guess Rong
Day 2: Rossiter rolling following money bubble bursting

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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