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What a week it’s been here at PokerStars LIVE Macau!

A new record for the summer edition of the MPC Red Dragon saw a field of 945 where a champion has now been crowned.

After three days of play it took less than six hours for that champion to emerge tonight. China’s Yue Feng Pan made light work of the final table after starting this afternoon fourth in chips. His reward – HK$2,108,000 and the best looking trophy in poker.

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MPC23 Red Dragon champion Yue Feng Pan
Pan entered heads up play with a more than 2:1 chip lead and never relinquished it. His final opponent Shao Po Liu almost brought things back to even at one point but ultimately Pan was just too good.

It was a flop of 6♣ 10♠ 10♥ that brought on the end of the tournament. After Pan had checked from the small blind, Liu put out a bet of 375,000 before Pan played back at him for 450,000 more. Liu decided his best play was another raise, this time to 1,625,000, and it was then that Pan moved all in for his 10 million in chips and enough to cover his opponent.

Liu called off for his tournament life and would need running cards to survive.

Pan: 10♦ 4♥
Liu: Q♥ 6♠

Pan had a stranglehold on the hand with trip tens against Liu’s two pair. The Q♦ turn meant Liu could catch another queen to double up but the 6♣ river meant Pan was the new champion.

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Yue Feng Pan and Shao Po Liu shake hands after proceedings
Liu was the fifth player to be eliminated by Pan who seemed to steamroll the final table.

The first casualty of the day, however, was at the hands of Tse Jui Tsai when he knocked out Bin Wen Ren. Ren got his money in preflop against both Tsai and Pan with 6♣ 6â™  but couldn’t fade the four overcards of Tsai’s A♣ J♣ and Pan’s K♥ Q♦ as the two of them checked down the A♦ 5♣ 4♦ 10♦ 8â™  board.

8th place went to Huafeng Gu who four-bet all in with ace-three and was called by Long Wen Zhu with pocket eights. Gu couldn’t improve and was eliminated with a consolation prize of HK$196,000.

Xong Xin Liu was the next to go. He got it in good with A♥ Q♦ against Pan’s K♥ J♣ but the eventual champion was running to good. The board ran out 7â™  K♦ Q♥ K♣ Qâ™  with Liu already drawing dead from the turn.

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Xong Xin Liu – 6th place
It would take an hour for the next elimination when Ming Min Wu moved all in on a flop of Q♣ J♥ 9♦ . Wu held A♥ J♠ for middle pair top kicker but Pan made the call in front with K♠ Q♠ . The Q♦ turn and A♠ river peeled off to see Wu hit the rail in 6th place.

Following Wu out the door was Long Wen Zhu. He moved the last of his chips in preflop with pocket threes and ran into the pocket nines of Shao Po Liu. Chasing a three to keep his tournament dream alive the board run out of 6♣ A♣ 8♣ 6♥ Jâ™  couldn’t save him.

And then there were four when Zhixiong Tan made an ill-timed jam from the small blind holding king-eight off suit. Tsai woke up with pocket kings in the big blind and Tan couldn’t find a miracle to stay alive. He finished fourth for HK$539,000.

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Fourth place finisher Zhixiong Tan
The last elimination of the day besides Liu was Tse Jui Tsai in third place. With the flop reading 9â™  K♦ 4♣ Pan check-raised Tsai’s bet of 350,000 up to a total of 725,000. Tsai made the call and the dealer turned the A♣ . Seeing the ace Pan made a quick move all-in and Tsai went into the tank so long that the clock was called. With about 40 seconds until his hand was dead Tsai committed his stack with J♦ J♣ but was way behind Pan’s Kâ™  9♦ two pair. The river bricked off and Tsai was knocked out just before heads up play where Pan would overcome Liu for the title.

MPC23 Red Dragon – Final Table Results
1st: Yue Feng Pan (China) – $2,108,000
2nd: Shao Po Liu (China) – $1,239,520
3rd: Tse Jui Tsai (Chinese Taipei) – $750,000
4th: Zhixiong Tan (China) – $539,000
5th: Long Wen Zhu (China) – $269,500
6th: Ming Min Wu (China) – $269,500
7th: Xong Xin Liu (China) – $225,500
8th: Huafeng Gu (China) – $196,000
9th: Bin Wen Ren (China) – $166,500
All amounts in HKD

Congratulations to Yue Feng Pan and thanks to the City of Dreams casino for hosting another exciting Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon. Our coverage continues tomorrow for the HK$80,000 High Roller and we hope you can join us then here at the PokerStars Blog!

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