2010 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Day 4: Torres Emerges Victorious
The 2010 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event concluded on Sunday night at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino, completing another successful stop on the tour and padding the pockets of champion Victorino Torres by 3,246,200 Hong Kong dollars (HKD). Torres emerged victorious after coming into the final table as the second smallest stack for the biggest win of his career.
Entering the day, New Zealander Cole Swannack held the chip lead by a small margin over the Dane Jeppe Drivsholm. Within 20 minutes, Swannack lost the top spot to Drivsholm just before the first elimination of the day.
Keith Hawkins entered the table as the most decorated player and left as the first one out the door. Hawkins moved all in on top of a raise from Torres in the first level of play. Torres made the call and held the 7♣7♥. He was in good shape against the A♣3♣ of the at-risk Hawkins. The board ran out 8♠3♠2♦J♦4♣ and Hawkins was gone in ninth place, taking home 254,608 HKD for his efforts.
Next to go was Albert Kim in eighth place. Kim made a splash at the 2008 World Series of Poker, placing 19th for nearly $260,000, so this wasn’t his first foray in a big event. Although he really felt as if he was going to win the title, his hopes were short-lived when his A♣9♣ went down to the pocket eights of Chong Cheong. Kim was able to pick up a straight draw after the flop came down 5♦4♦2♦ to go along with his two overcards, but the turn and river were the 10♥ and J♥ to send him to the rail with 350,100 HKD.
The eliminations seemed to come at a steady pace as Kai Paulsen was next to go a half an hour later. After Drivsholm raised from under the gun, and Cheong flat-called in the next seat, Paulsen reraised all in from the big blind. Drivsholm re-shoved all-in and knocked Cheong out of the way. He had Paulsen’s K♠7♠ dominated with his A♥K♥ and was in good shape to send Paulsen to the rail. A couple of aces flopped for Drivsholm as the board ran out A♠A♣J♣8♣4♠ and that was the end of the line for Paulsen. He won 445,600 HKD for his efforts while Drivsholm moved himself back toward the top of the pack in a tie for second.
Just as the bust outs seemed to flow steadily, there was a long break after Paulsen’s exit until another one came. The player who was eliminated next in sixth place was Brian Green from Costa Rica. On a flop of 8♥5♥2♦, Green fired 100,000 with Drivsholm as his opponent in the hand. Drivsholm raised to 500,000. Green had a little bit more than that left in his stack and knew that this was a decision that would be worth all his chips. Eventually, after tanking, Green moved all-in and Drivsholm made the quick call. Green’s 9♠8♦ was worth top pair on the board, but his kicker wasn’t looking good against the A♣8♠ of Drivsholm. After a 7♠ on the turn and a Q♣ on the river, Green hit the rail 572,900 HKD richer.
Kenny Nielsen was the next player to be eliminated. Nielsen didn’t play many hands all day and when he did stick some chips into the pot, they usually didn’t come back his way. Nevertheless, Nielsen grinded his way to a fifth-place finish for 700,000 HKD. Nielsen moved his last 300,000 into the middle with the A♥8♣, but was called by Torres who held a better A♣9♦. The board ran through J♣9♥8♥10♥6♣ to give Torres the win.
An hour and a half went by during which Torres climbed to the top of the board. Holding the chip lead, Torres took out the fourth-place finisher, Drivsholm. Torres made a big call with his A♦7♠ to see that he was up against Drivsholm's K♥5♥. The board of 10♠6♦2♣J♠8♠ was about as far as you could get from hitting for Drivsholm, and his chips were added to the stack of Torres, who then held a commanding lead on the other two competitors, Swannack and Cheong.
From there, it seemed as if Torres couldn’t do much wrong. He won almost every pot he played and steadily built his stack while chopping away at the other two players. He did pass the baton to Cheong, though, for the third-place elimination and let him do the dirty work.
Swannack moved all-in from the big blind after Cheong limped from the small blind. Little did Swannack know that Cheong had limped with pocket aces. Swannack held pocket twos. The flop, turn and river produced the Q♥Q♦4♣K♦5♠ and that was it for Swannack. He took home 1,177,600 HKD for his finish and that set the stage for a fast-paced heads-up match between Torres and Cheong.
The battle between the two only lasted a handful of hands. Torres took the first few hands from Cheong before the local player from Hong Kong began gaining some momentum back. Cheong doubled up when he got there with the K♠Q♥ against Torres' A♥J♠. Cheong flopped two pair after all of the money went in preflop and then filled up on the turn to seal the deal. Just moments later, though, things ended.
Cheong raised from the button to 125,000 and Torres made the call from the big blind. The flop came down J♠10♥9♠ and Torres tapped the table over to Cheong, who almost immediately fired all in for a massive overbet of the pot. Torres didn’t think twice as he snap-called the shove with a flopped straight hoding the 8♣7♣. Cheong did have outs with the Q♠6♣. He had flopped an open-ended straight draw and also had backdoor spades. The turn brought the A♦ and Cheong was left chasing a straight draw with only one card to come. The river completed the board with the 7♦ and victory was had. Defeated in second place, Cheong was awarded the runner-up 2,088,000 HKD. Torres scooped up the 3,246,200 HKD payday — and the title.
Here’s a complete look at how the final table wrapped up:
1st - Victorino Torres (3,246,200 HKD)
2nd - Chong Cheong (2,088,000 HKD)
3rd - Cole Swannack (1,177,600 HKD)
4th - Jeppe Drivsholm (891,000 HKD)
5th - Kenny Nielsen (700,000 HKD)
6th - Brian Green (572,900 HKD)
7th - Kai Paulsen (445,600 HKD)
8th - Albert Kim (350,100 HKD)
9th - Keith Hawkins (254,608 HKD)
Check out what the champion Torres had to say about his victory in his post-win interview.
The next stop of the PokerStars.net APPT is Auckland, New Zealand at the Skycity Casino in September and hopefully PokerNews will be writing your name as the champion!
