This is an archive of a previous day’s coverage. Click through for the latest action from the tournament floor.
Juicy Li squeezes competition to lead Day 1B
The main event at APPT10 Macau has now played 16 levels, but in poker terms it’s still only a day old. Following yesterday’s eight-hour Day 1A, another 311 hopefuls arrived to PokerStars LIVE poker room at the City of Dreams for Day 1B.
That brought our total to 533 players, the most since 2011, when Randy “nanonoko” Lew beat a record turnout. This time, our winner will earn $2,694,000, which represents a record since the buy-in was set at HK$25,000.
At this stage of proceedings, it’s a familiar face from round these parts with the most chips. Sixiao Li is very well known in Macau, and further afield actually, although she usually goes by the name “Juicy”. Call her what you like, she is in the box seat, bagging 219,000 chips tonight.
In keeping with a tournament that attracted a more sizeable crowd on the second flight, the stacks around the room are bigger than yesterday’s. Cao Juncong has 194,400, which is only a whisker behind, while Erdun Xu has 149,000. Jurg Niederburger leads the European contingent. He has 114,000.
Team PokerStars Pro started today with four representatives, but by the time day was done, only two of them survived, both of them named Lin. The former, Chen An Lin, bagged 64,400 chips, while Celina Lin has 29,000.
Although neither of those stacks are what you might call mighty, Celina Lin is just happy to have anything. The last APPT Macau she played lasted three hands, and she was down to six big blinds today. But she bounced back.
The complete field consolidates for the first time tomorrow, when the 86 who survived yesterday join forces with the 130 (approximately) who made it through today.
It’s the players’ party now, over at D2 Club & Lounge in Fisherman’s Wharf. We’ll have full chip counts up as and when they’re with us, and tomorrow’s seat draw too. Go have fun kids–or, if not, read through today’s coverage below.
Day 1B full coverage:
10:20pm: Biiiig prizes
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
With only 15 minutes to go on Day 1B, the tournament organisers have released details of the prize pool.
From the $11,891,230 total, the winner of this one will get $2,694,000. Sixty-three places are paid, with a min-cash worth $47,150. (All prizes in HKD.)
See the payouts page for the full prize structure. — HS
10:20pm: Five more hands
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
It’s official – we only have five more hands remaining on Day 1b.
Stay with us to find out who will survive to Day 2 and who will emerge as the end-of-day chip boss. — BK
10:10pm: Lin lets it go
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
Celina Lin is one of only two Team PokerStars Pros left in the hunt (alongside Chen an Lin) and she recently got involved in a hand in the dying stages of Day 1b.
After a preflop raise to 2,200, Lin bumped it up to 5,400 from the button. The move piqued the interest of the player in the big blind, who asked to see the Team Pro’s stack before cold-calling. The initial raiser threw it away and the two remaining went to a flop of 8â™ 10♣ 3♦ .
It was then that the cold-caller opted to lead out for an even 5,000. Lin paused momentarily but decided to let it go before her opponent flashed J♠J♣ for the overpair.
Lin nodded and was left with only 22,500 to play with. — BK
9:50pm: Brutal runout sends Ward packing
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
Thomas Ward is no stranger to big scores in Macau. Just last year he finished runner-up in the ACOP Macau Main Event for almost half a million dollars.
Unfortunately for the New Zealander, however, he won’t be making a deep run in this APPT after somewhat of a bad beat.
After a tablemate opened to 2,000, Ward moved all in for what appeared to be 20,600 in chips. Ward was called and at risk as players turned their hands over.
Ward: A♠Q♣
Opponent: Kâ™ 10â™
Ward had the best of it and found top pair on the 3♥ J♦ Q♥ . The other player had picked up a straight draw but the Qâ™ killed half of those outs – with any ace improving Ward a full house.
Needing to fade a nine and a nine alone he couldn’t do it as the 9â™ rolled off to signal the end of his tournament. — BK
9:40pm: Juicy squeezes on up to Chao
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
Much like yesterday, we could have a tie at the top of the counts when day is done in 45 minutes. Juicy Liu just won a pot of about 80,000 to build her stack close to 200,000–right alongside Jun Chong Chao. A lot can still happen, but those two are the favourites at the moment. — HS
9:25pm: Already a champion
Level 8: 500/1,000 (100 ante)
Off we go into the last level of the day, where the rich will get richer. Before we get there, a quick look at what happened yesterday, when China’s Yue Feng Pan won the HK$50,000 freezeout.
Pan is a former winner of the Red Dragon here in Macau, back in August 2015, so now adds a second major title to his resume, and the small matter of HK$1.2 million. Wayne Weiyi Zhang finished third, a result that stretched his lead on the Asia Player of the Year rankings.
Take a look at all the side event results. — HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
9:25pm: Kitty clawing away
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
Kitty Kuo has been active of late and seems to be accumulating herself a nice stack.
She won a recent pot against Devan Tang after Kuo raised to 2,000 from early position preflop and Tang defended his big blind.
The flop was spread 8♥ 4♠J♥ and when checked to, Kuo continued to 2,500 in chips. Tang quickly reached for raising chips and bumped it up to 7,500. Kuo flicked in a 5,000-denomination chip to call and they saw the 2♦ turn roll off.
Despite Tang’s preflop raise the turn action went check-check before the 9â™ river.
Once again both players checked and Tang tabled K♦ 6♥ for a complete air-ball and Kuo showed K♥ J♦ for a flopped top pair and the winner.
Kuo is now hovering around the 72,000 chip mark. — BK
9:10pm: Chao on the charge
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
When you cover a lot of poker tournaments, you end up being able to see the future. No, really. OK, so you get a lot of predictions wrong, but you can often also see a storm coming, and at 8:05pm I wondered whether there could be a big-stack clash on Table 8.
That was at the time when Jun Chong Chao had emerged as the tournament chip leader, with about 120,000, but also when Satra Teja, with a stack of about 70,000, was two seats to his right.
I didn’t actually see this first hand, but Teja is now out of this tournament, while Chao has about 180,000 in front of him. I think the two things are probably related. — HS
9:10pm: 500 and then some
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
The final numbers are in for APPT10 Macau and this one is big. In addition to the 222 who showed up yesterday, Day 1B attracted 311. That gives us a total of 533. It allows us to fill in a few more boxes on this table that shows the history of APPT Macau:
| Season | Players | Buy in | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 352 | $2,500* | Dinh Le | $222,640* |
| 2 | 538 | $3,200* | Eddie Sabat | $453,851* |
| 3 | 429 | $5,160* | Dermot Blain | $541,072* |
| 4 | 342 | $40,000 | Victorino Torres | $3,246,200 |
| 5 | 575 | $30,000 | Randy Lew | $3,772,000 |
| 6 | 358 | $25,000 | Jeff Rossiter | $1,777,000 |
| 6 | 184 | $100,000 | Xing Zhou | $3,547,500 |
| 7 | 388 | $25,000 | Alexandre Chieng | $2,165,000 |
| 8 | 494 | $25,000 | Jiajun Liu | $2,776,000 |
| 9 | 493 | $25,000 | Tony Cheng | $2,525,000 |
| 10 | 533 | $25,000 | ? | ? |
*Buy-in in USD.
Full prize-pool information will be with us shortly. — HS
8.55pm: Team Pro update
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
As reported below, Bryan Huang’s elimination leaves us with only two Team PokerStars Pros left in the field. That’s two more than managed to survive yesterday, but neither Chen-An Lin nor Celina Lin (no relation) have enormous stacks.
Chen-An has about 30,000, which is a 50 percent increase on his starting stack. Celina has about 15,500, so she is entering the danger zone. Although no real need to panic just yet. — HS
8:45pm: Huang out to dry
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang has reportedly just been eliminated. He told us that he was short stacked and defended his big blind with ace-deuce suited. On a flop of A-7-3 he check-jammed but was called off by an opponent holding ace-ten.
That leaves only Chen An Lin and Celina Lin for our Team Pro contingent.
Also spotted up and out of his seat was Dong Guo, who headed to the registration desk. With the HK$3,000 starting only not long ago it’s a good bet he’ll be trying his luck in that. — BK
Level 7: 400/800 (100 ante)
That’s the end of registration for this event, so we’ll have a full number confirmed pretty soon. We know that 222 played yesterday and we had at least 308 today. We’ll double check in the next few minutes whether anyone sneaked in at the end. — HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 400 | 800 | 100 |
8:20pm: Final break of the night
It’s that time again.
The players are on a 10-minute break. — BK
8:15pm: Three way action
Level 6: 300/600 (75 ante)
We just saw a lot of action in a recent hand that began with Victor Chong opening to 1,500 from under the gun. Saehoon Lee made the call from the button and the player in the big blind also committed the chips.
On a flop of 8♦ 7♦ 6♥ Chong checked it to Lee who made a bet of 2,500. The player in the big blind immediately moved all in for 9,050 and the decision was on Chong. He called and so did Lee before the 8♥ was revealed on the turn.
Chong checked and Lee bet 8,500 into the empty side pot. After studying Lee’s stack and giving it some thought Chong called the bet and players saw the 3♣ river.
Chong checked for a final time and Lee bet 8,600 on the end. This time Chong’s decision was a lot quicker as he flicked in a call and saw he was beat.
Lee held 8♣ 4♣ which was good enough to claim the side pot, but couldn’t beat the third party’s 10♣ 9♦ for a flopped straight.
Chong mucked and the dealer push the pots to the appropriate players. — BK
8.05pm: Big stacks
Level 6: 300/600 (75 ante)
There are at least two stacks in the room worth more than 100,000. One belongs to Christopher Soyza, who has continued the fine run he started back in Level 3, when he spiked a queen against David Man’s jacks (see 4:45pm post). Soyza, the Aussie Millions Accumulator winner, has right around the 100,000 mark.
If he looked over his right shoulder, however, he’d see Jun Chong Chao, whose 120,000 is probably the biggest in these parts.
Chao has every chance to grow it too because Satra Teja’s stack of about 70,000 is directly to his left. — HS
7:45pm: Lin moves in
Level 6: 300/600 (75 ante)
Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin was previously nursing somewhat of a short stack but she appears back in contention after winning the hand just gone.
Things started when Takashi Ogura raised to 1,300 from under the gun, and after picking up a caller, Lin also came along from the big blind.
The flop brought J♥ 8♥ 3♣ and it was checked around before the 9♣ fell on the turn. It was then that Lin led for 2,800. Ogura called and with the final player out of the way the dealer revealed the K♥ river.
With the action on Lin she paused for a moment before sliding in her remaining 7,200 in chips. Ogura considered his options but in the end he gave it up and the pot was pushed to the Team Pro.
Lin is now back to a moderate 17,000 in chips while Ogura drops to right around the start bank of 20,000. — BK
Level 6: 300/600 (75 ante)
It’s not easy to unpick what just happened over on Table 10, but here’s what seemed to go on.
It looked like Erdun Xu limped from under the gun, which persuaded two other players to limp before the action reached Chen Yue in the small blind. He raised to 3,600.
Xu had been up to no good because he now three-bet to 10,600 and the two other limpers (limpets?) limped off.
Yue wasn’t going anywhere. He shoved for 15,500. Xu, who we soon found out was sitting with Q♦ Q♥ , may have wondered whether he had actually trapped himself. He seemed to be thinking about a fold, but was obviously priced in.
He called and showed those queens, which were ahead of Yue’s J♣ J♦ . The board ran 7â™ K♣ 4♥ 2♣ 9â™ and Yue hits the rail. — HS
7:20pm: Ward wastes little time
Level 6: 300/600 (75 ante)
Thomas Ward has sat down on Raiden Kan’s table and has wasted no time in getting his stack up to around 55,000. It seems highly likely that a lot of that has come from Rathi Shashank, to his immediate right.
Shashank was one of the biggest stacks in the room an hour or so ago. He had at least 70,000 when we last took a peek. He has a more modest 30,000-ish now and the talented Kiwi to his left, vacuuming up his chips. –HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 300 | 600 | 75 |
7:15pm: Guo grinding away
Level 5: 200/400 (50 ante)
China’s Dong Guo is well known around these parts. With over half a million in total live earning to his name he’s a force to be reckoned with at the tables.
He hasn’t had such a solid start here today, but is now fighting back as the night continues on.
In a recent hand Jan Petzholdt opened to 900 from under the gun and Guo played back at him with a raise of 2,325. Petzholdt made the call and they went to a flop of 9♦ 3♦ 4♥ .
It was checked to Guo and he continued for 2,700 which was enough to take down the pot. He rakes in that one and climbs back over the starting stack. — BK
7:05pm: Team Pro down
Level 5: 200/400 (50 ante)
Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal is out of the APPT Macau Main Event race. He took to Twitter to inform his followers how he was eliminated. — BK
Bustod 67ss vs AQ in 3b pot on A67Qss3 board, cudnt find a fold on the river. 5k bounty event tomorrow and then Vegas on 30th #APPTMacau
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) May 26, 2016
6:55pm: Best hand wins, best hand loses
Level 5: 200/400 (50 ante)
Two doubles ups to report, not always with the best hand.
In the first, Jiang Tao Liu found A♣ J♠and that was enough to three-bet shove his stack of 6,500 into the middle, especially after Jerry Goh had opened. Tao is the table big-stack, possibly the tournament leader, with more than 90,000 and has likely been playing a lot of hands.
Tao called with only A♠2♠and the board ran 10♥ Q♥ 10♣ K♠9♦ . The jack filled a straight.
Over the other side of the tournament room, Shuai Zhang opened to 1m100 from the hijack but was forced to make a decision after Kyle Sivak shoved for 8,825 from the small blind.
Zhang took a while over the decision, which made it surprising that he turned over A♦ K♣ after he eventually did call. Sivak was in a spot of bother with Kâ™ Jâ™ , but spiked the card he needed on the flop of 6♥ 9♥ J♣ . The Q♣ turn and the 9♣ river were blanks. — HS
6:45pm: Battle of the blinds goes Soyza’s way
Level 5: 200/400 (50 ante)
We just lost another player as we cross the halfway mark after two players went to war in the blinds.
Christopher Soyza and the latest evictee got the money all in preflop and saw that they were flipping.
Soyza: A♣ Kâ™
Opponent: 10♥ 10♣
It was a fair fight until the Q♣ A♥ 4♦ saw Soyza jump ahead. He held that lead through the 9♦ turn and 8â™ river to knock his tablemate out and boost his stack to around 68,000. — BK
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 200 | 400 | 50 |
6:10pm: Break time
That’s the end of Level 4 and the half-way point of today’s action. There are now 303 players registered for today, which brings our total to 525, with two hours still left to get involved.
When they return at 6:20pm, they’ll be playing 200-400 (ante: 50). — HS
6:05pm: Cracking aces
Level 4: 150/300 (ante: 25)
We’ve got a new chip leader to report, although the whelps that came from Satra Wijiya Teja’s table didn’t come from him. They were from Yao Zhao, who lost with aces and was knocked out.
There was pretty obviously a big hand brewing by the time I passed by: Teja had 8,500 out in front of him, which was at least a four-bet, and Zhao wasn’t going anywhere. He moved all in for 36,900 more, which was at least a five-bet.
Teja actually looked like he might be considering folding, asking for a precise count and then asking the dealer to drag in the chips to see the size of the re-raise. In the end he called and saw the precise hand he probably feared. Zhao had A♠A♥ and Teja had to show his K♥ K♠.
With even the suits covered, Teja needed to hit his two outer. But lo and behold, there it was on the flop: 7♦ 6♦ K♦ . The rest of the table erupted and started telling tales between them about a previous skirmish between these two, in which Teja had hit another two outer. (I don’t know the full details.)
The 5♥ on the turn and 4♥ on the river meant there was no re-out-draw and Zhao is toast.
Teja has about 90,000 which is the most in the room. — HS
6:00pm: Boucher building
Level 4: 150/300 (25 ante)
Matthew Boucher is continuing to stack chips after he found himself on the winning end of a dicey board with four-way action.
Boucher raised to 600 preflop and after three callers they all went to a flop of J♠9♥ 5♥ . The action checked around and the 10♠arrived on the turn.
It was then three checks before Erik Spets took the betting lead, making it 1,400 to go. The three other contenders all stuck around and the four players saw the Kâ™ roll off on the river.
The action checked around once again and Boucher tabled A♦ Q♠for a rivered Broadway straight.
Two players mucked but Spets flipped up Q♣ J♥ presumably not seeing Boucher’s hand.
“Straight” Spets announced about his own hand in confusion. His tablemates pointed to Boucher’s cards and eventually Spets realised he was beat.
With that hand Boucher climbs to 44,000 in chips. — BK
5:40pm: Aggression from Agarwal
Level 4: 150/300 (25 ante)
Indian Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal just added a good portion to his stack without having to go to showdown.
It appeared that the action folded to Agarwal on the button and he put in a raise before Lulu Yang three-bet to 4,500 from the small blind.
Back on Agarwal he chose to move his entire stack of 15,600 into the middle. Yang deliberated for a few moments but ultimately gave it up as the pot was awarded to Agarwal.
The Team Pro is now back up over the 20,000 chip start bank. — BK
5:35pm: Cao cruising
Level 4: 150/300 (ante: 25)
Here’s a hand that corroborates our post from 5pm but undermines the one from 4:15pm. There was a lot of pre-flop action, but it took an age to get done.
It started when Juncong Cao opened to 775 from mid-position and Fang-Kai Yang called on the button. But Wei Ni wanted to play for more and three-bet squeezed to 1,775 from the big blind.
That was just fine by Cao. In fact, why not play for more? He made it 5,200. An anguished Yang gave up, but Ni was clearly very tempted indeed. After a good few minutes in the tank, he called.
So, the two of them saw the following flop: 4♥ 8♥ 5♥ . Ni checked. Cao, however, moved all in, with a stack that covered the 13,000-ish that Yang still had Ni still had behind.
Ni didn’t like it any more. He folded. Cao had the decency to show him the A♥ as he slid his cards forward in exchange for the decent pot. — HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 150 | 300 | 25 |
5:05pm: Sparrow taking flight
Level 3: 150/300
Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung is one of the most familiar faces on the Macau poker circuit, and unsurprisingly, here’s here and in the hunt for the APPT Macau trophy.
With 2014 APPT ACOP Macau and ACOP Platinum Series VIII titles to his name, his tablemates might not be thrilled about being seated with such a renowned player.
He recently took down a small pot in the dying stages of Level 3.
Cheung raised to 900 from under the gun and Jan Petzholdt came along from the button. On a flop of 6â™ Qâ™ 7♥ Cheung continued for 1,000 and took down the pot, bringing his stack up to around 22,000 in chips. — BK
Level 3: 150/300
Flops appear to be more expensive today than yesterday, when you could typically limp in and hope to improve. With the bigger field, and some more recognisable talents, there have been considerably more three- and four-bets. To wit:
On Table 4, Maxwell Curtis opened to what looked like 1,100 (maybe not; that’s a bit high) only to find Bjorn Wiesler three-betting to 2,775 from the small blind. It forced a fold from Curtis. (Wiesler three-bet his next hand too, from the button, and after getting a fold again, this time showed pocket kings. Good advertising.)
On Table 11, this went down: Yidong Yang opened to 700 from early position, but Jixue Yin made it 2,100 from one seat along. They weren’t done. Ye Liu four-bet to 4,500 and that show of strength persuaded out the other two.
Moments later on a neighbouring table, Wei Zhong opened to 750 from the cutoff and Bo Wu three-bet to 2,000 from the button. Action folded through the blinds back to Zhong and he four-bet–all-in, for around about 4,000.
Wu was priced in now and called, showing A♥ 4♥ . Zhong had him dominated with A♠6♠. The flop came 8♠2♠A♦ , which was only good for Zhong. And although the 5♥ on the turn gave Wu a gutshot, his missed on the 7♥ river.
That was a double for Zhong. — HS
4:45pm: A Soyza-ble value bet
Level 3: 150/300
Christopher Soyza began 2016 with a bang a few months ago. He scored himself a healthy six-figure sum for shipping the Aussie Millions Accumulator event in Melbourne.
Soyza is here this week for another shot at a big prize in this APPT Macau Main Event – and he’s well on his way.
In a recent hand, the board read 8♥ 8♦ 8♠Q♦ 7♥ and it was on Soyza to act. He decided on a bet of 4,500 and the other active player, David Man, took a few moments and called behind.
Soyza: A♥ Qâ™
Man: J♠J♦
Soyza’s eights full of queens only just trumping Man’s eights full of jacks as the latter tabled his hand despite not having to show. Man tapped the table and the pot was shipped Soyza’s way. — BK
4:35pm: Through 500
Level 3: 150/300
There are still a handful of people wandering over to the tournament room to register in this event. We already have 286 on the list for today, which takes us through the 500 total for the event. There were 222 yesterday, so we’re at 508 and counting. Registration is open until 8:30pm local time. — HS
4:25pm: Hard to make a set
Level 3: 150/300
Kan He didn’t seem to be all that interested in this pot, taking a passive line pre-flop, but then suddenly snapped into gear when he saw three cards in the middle and action in front of him.
It started when Nien Chi Chen opened to 625 from mid-position and He called from the cutoff. It got to Lei Su in the big blind and he wanted to play for more. He squeezed to 1,625.
Chen called and He called too, which meant they were three-way to the flop of 10♠2♥ 5♣ .
Su, the most aggressive player pre-flop, continued along the same lines with a bet of 2,275, and Chen called. But then He snap-shoved, for what turned out to be 8,350.
Su didn’t seem to like doing so, but folded. And Chen seemed to like it even less. “I hate poker,” he said, as he exposed a ten, on its way to the muck. “It’s hard to make a set,” Chen added. — HS
4:15pm: No messing with Hao Tian
Level 3: 150/300
If you’re accustomed to the ponderous action of the European Poker Tour, where there are some hands that get checked all the way down and still take about 25 minutes, the action is Macau is a glorious frenzy. Of course, there are still hand during which not much happens, but not much happens so much faster.
Case in point: Hao Tian just whizzed through this pot against Xian Li and Rui Chen, and although he only got a handful of chips, he didn’t waste any time getting them.
Tian opened to 700 from UTG+2 and Li called from the cutoff, with Chen calling from the big blind too. They saw a flop of 6♥ 7♣ 3♠, which Chen checked. Tian tossed out 900 in the blink of an eye.
Only Li called and they saw, and quickly checked, the J♦ turn. They also saw and immediately checked the 9♥ river. Really, the card was barely on the table before both players had acted and Tian had showed his 6♠5♠, which turned out to be the winner.
Next hand please! — HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 150 | 300 |
4:05pm: Take a break
It’s time for the first break of the day.
We’ll be back to the action in 10 minutes. — BK
4:00pm: Lost one as Li hero calls
Level 2: 100/200
Yuguang Li did almost the impossible last year – winning the MPC22 Red Dragon Main Event before amazingly winning the High Roller the very next day. It’s still early here for the APPT Macau Main Event Day 1b and already he’s reminding everyone that’s he’s one of the best with an impressive hero call.
We caught the action on the turn with the board reading 2♦ 8♦ 7♣ 6♥ and Jack Wu leading for 2,500 from the big blind. Li on the button decided to call and the 4♣ arrived on the river.
Wu then moved all in for 6,825 and after some serious consideration, Li decided to call it off with just one pair on the connected board.
Li: J♥ 8â™
Wu: A♣ 9♥
Wu had only ace high after missing a straight draw and Li’s pair was good to send his opponent packing. That call raises Li’s stack to almost double that off starting on 39,000. — BK
3:55pm: Energy in a can
Level 2: 100/200
We’re getting close to the end of Level 2, which will mean the first break of the day. Don’t forget there are eight levels scheduled for today, which will mean action will end at around 10:30pm. If you think that’s a long day, why not avail yourself of a nice wholesome can of Red Bull, official energy drink provider to PokerStars LIVE Macau. It’s all there in the fridges, go help yourself.
3:50pm: Yap nips Guo
Level 2: 100/200
Wayne Yap is pretty well known in these parts, especially after he won the HK$80,000 high roller tournament at the Macau Poker Cup here in March. That was  worth nearly US$300,000 and accounts for almost all of his recorded cashes.
He’s on a table today with Dong Guo, who won the ACOP warm-up last November, but who is arguably best known for a deep run in the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, where his 29th place finish was the best by any Asia-based player since Kenny Shih’s showing in 2011.
Guo and Yap just played a small-ish pot that may have got bigger had Guo not sensed something was amiss and got out before it got too costly.
Jan Petzholdt actually got things started, raising to 600 from  UTG+1. Guo called in the cutoff and Yap also called from the big blind, taking three of them to a flop of J♠8♣ 10♦ .
Yap, first to speak, led at it, betting 1,200. Petzholdt was out, but Guo called. That bought him a turn of J♦ . If he had been happy with the flop, Yap would have been happy with the turn too and he duly bet another 3,000. Guo seemed tempted to stick around, but thought better of it. He folded. — HS
3:40pm: Wu wins; Jin still jolly
Level 2: 100/200
Jiayi Jin has made a fast start here and had nearly 37,000 in his stack at the start of the following hand. It’s easy to think he may have got some of that from his immediate neighbour Jack Wu, who had less than 10,000. But Wu just got a small amount back.
Jin opened to 600 from the hijack, and Wu called from the cutoff, which was enough to persuade the blinds the allow those two to go it alone. They saw a flop of 7♥ 7♣ 2♣ and Jin bet 900. Wu called, which meant they saw the 4♣ on the turn.
Jin checked his cards, then checked the action, and that allowed Wu to bet 2,000. Jin didn’t delay too long before folding. — HS
3:35pm: Chua caught out
Level 2: 100/200
Ying Lin Chua had a great start to the year winning the Red Dragon here in February, but his APPT Main Event hasn’t started off too well here.
Rajkumar Ramakrishnan began the action with a raise to 550 before Chua made it 1,450 to go. Ramakrishnan matched the bet and the flop landed 7♣ 6♥ 8♣ .
Checked to Chua he fired for 2,000 in chips and Ramakrishnan called to see the 10♥ turn. The action then slowed with checks from the both players and the 8♠completed the board.
Ramakrishnan checked a final time and Chua made one last attempt with a 3,000 chip bet. After a quick call from Ramakrishnan, Chua flipped up K♦ Q♠for nothing but king-high, and Ramakrishnan showed the 6♦ 3♥ for two pair to claim the pot.
That hand knocks Chua down to 18,500 and brings Ramakrishnan to 32,000. — BK
3:25pm: Yang yanks one away from Agarwal
Level 2: 100/200
Yidong Yang just swiped a pot from Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal after getting a crafty river check-raise through.
Yang opened the action preflop with a raise to 600 before Agarwal defended his big blind. The flop fell a monochrome 5♦ 3♦ Q♦ and both players checked it through.
The K♣ turn saw Agarwal lead for 1,050 and Yang call behind as the 5♣ river rolled off. Agarwal fired again, this time for 2,200, but Yang opted to raise it up. With the bet now at 5,500, Agarwal glanced back at his cards before throwing them in the muck.
Yang tabled 10â™ 3â™ and Agarwal smiled despite having the pot stolen from him. The Team Pro falls to 16,000 in chips while Yang builds to 28,000. — BK
3:15pm: Record hunting
Level 2: 100/200
Further to the update below, here are a couple of other numbers to watch:
493 – number of players from last season’s 2015 APPT Macau main event
575 – record field for APPT Macau set in Season 5 (2011) and won by Team PokerStars Online’s Randy “nanonoko” Lew
My prediction is that we’ll coast past the first and fall agonisingly short of the second. But you never know…–HS
3:05pm: Big field, big names
Level 2: 100/200
We’re now up beyond 260 for the day, which puts us exceptionally close to the magic 500 for this tournament. Remember, 222 players were in action yesterday, so 278 today will hit the half century.
In addition to the familiar faces listed below, we now have the following also in the field:
Bryan Huang and Aditya Agarwal join their Team PokerStars Pro colleagues Celina Lin and Chen An Lin.
Meanwhile, defending APPT Macau champion Tony Cheng is in the field, as is 2013 winner Alexandre Chieng. Chieng became the first Chinese champion on the APPT in June 2013. Since then, there have been five more (Hao Chen, Yongjun Ma, Zhenru Xie, Jiajun Liu, Yuguang Li), so Chieng really did get something started.
Also seated today: reigning Asia Player of the Year Alan Lau and 2011 winner Hung-sheng “Shaq” Lin. Plus Red Dragon winners Raymond Wu, Yuguang Li, and current champ Ying Chua. — HS
| LEVEL | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 100 | 200 |
2:50pm: Liu moves in on Chen
Level 1: 50/100
Macau Poker Cup 23 High Roller Champion James Chen was just put to the test with a river decision for his tournament life in a hand against Minqin Liu.
The hand began with Liu raising to 250 from the hijack seat, and after the player in the cutoff called, Chen popped it up to 1,050 from the big blind. Liu called and with the third party out of the way the two players saw a flop of 5♠8♠10♥ .
Chen continued the aggression with a bet of 875 but was played back at to the tune of 2,100. The High Roller champ called and the dealer turned the 8♥ . A check from Chen prompted Liu to barrel for 3,500 and Chen called again.
The 7♣ river saw a final check from Chen and a quick shove from Liu for around 14,000 – an almost identical stack to Chen.
With a tormented look on his face Chen tossed the hand away and now has some rebuilding to do. — BK
2:40pm: Lin lays it down
Level 1: 50/100
Team PokerStars Pro Chen An Lin is in attendance today and he just lost a small pot here in the first level.
It folded around to Lin in the cutoff and he raised it up to 300. Matthew Boucher flicked in a call and with the blinds out of the way the dealer spread a flop of 2♣ 6♠A♥ .
Lin continued for 400 which was met with a call before the turn brought the 9♦ . The action was then checked through and the 5♦ river peeled off.
Lin had a final stab at the pot for 550 before Boucher put in a sizable raise to 2,400. The Team Pro quickly laid it down and the pot went Boucher’s way. — BK
2:35pm: Backing down from early confrontations
Level 1: 50/100
The day is not yet a level old and yet there have already been a handful of pots that have cost (or nearly cost) players the vast majority of their stacks.
Within the first orbit, Corbin White and Zhenru Xie were two of three players to a flop of J♦ 2♠2♥ . White, who would have been in the small blind pre-flop, bet 525 at it, but Xie then raised to 1,350. (The third player, Shashank Rathi on the button, folded.)
White called, taking them to a turn of 6â™ . White now checked, but seemed to have his wishes fulfilled when Xie bet 1,800. White didn’t take too long before check-raising to 9,000 and putting Xie in the tank.
Xie thought about this one long and hard. That was nearly half his starting stack required to call this bet, but he ended up folding.
Not long after, Hiroyuki Noda and Lap Kay Chan got involved in a battle of the blinds. There was about 3,500 in the middle pre-flop and the 7♥ 9♠9♣ fanned on the table. Noda, who would have been the small blind, bet 1,200 but Chan raised to 3,600. Noda responded with a three-bet to 6,975 and then looked into the middle distance without an apparent care in the world.
Chan, on the other hand, studiously contemplated his options, before deciding to fold. — HS
2:25pm: In on the cheap
Level 1: 50/100
A boisterous last-chance satellite just took place in the PokerStars LIVE Macau card room, with eight players booking their seat into the main event for the princely sum of HK$3,500. That’s US$450, while the main event buy-in is HK$25,000 (about US$3,200).
It’s a decent route to take. Yesterday’s overnight chip leader, Deok-Yeong Lee won a live satellite to book his passage to the big one, as did Xinxin Feng, who was 18th in the counts, Ting Ting Du (29th) and another 11 of the 86 players who bagged up chips at the end of yesterday.
2:15pm: Faces in the field
Level 1: 50/100
Players are still streaming through the door here at PokerStars LIVE Macau, but among those already in their seats are the following:
Celina Lin (Team PokerStars Pro), Chen-An Lin (Team PokerStars Pro), Raiden Kan (MPC champion), James Chen (MPC high roller champion), Yuguang Li (Red Dragon winner) and the well-known Asian players Takashi Ogura and Luicy Liu, who have a string of high-profile results to their names. — HS
2:00pm: Shuffle up and deal!
Level 1: 50/100
And we’re off!
Once again PokerStars LIVE Macau’s Fred Leung welcomed our players here before Day 1b kicks off.
Just like yesterday there will be eight hours of play, with the surviving players bagging up around 10:30pm tonight.
Leung also reminded players about the APPT Macau Welcome Party which commences immediately after play today, where the Main Event runners will have a chance to unwind away from the tables.
For now though, cards are in the air!
Blinds begin at 50/100 and the starting bank is set at 20,000 in chips.
Follow along here on the PokerStars Blog for all your live reporting needs. — BK
1pm: Welcome to Day 1B
Welcome back to PokerStars LIVE Macau at the City of Dreams, where today there will not be a spare seat in the house. We’re expecting a bumper field for Day 1B of the APPT10 Macau main event, including many of the region’s most decorated talents.
The tournament gets under way at 2pm, so return here for all the action. In the meantime take a look back at any of the previous coverage via the links above.
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Macau: Brad Kain and Howard Swains. Photos by Kenneth Lim.
The APPT Macau festival at PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams runs until Sunday, May 29. Full details are available on the official APPT website or via the PokerStars Macau page.
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