Nick Wong Tops Isaac Haxton to Win 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions Warm-Up for $550K
The 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions kicked off Tuesday with a HK $250,000 (US $32,000) buy-in Warm-Up event at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams. The one-day tournament, which preceded the HK $1 Million (US $130,000) buy-in Asia Millions Main Event on June 5, attracted 45 players to create a HK $10,743,750 (US $1.39M) prize pool. The top five players made the money, with HK $4,298,000 (US $550,000) going to the winner.
Hong Kong businessman Nick Wong emerged as the champion after defeating Team PokerStars Online's Isaac Haxton heads-up for the title. Also making the money were high rollers Philipp Gruissem and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Mike Watson and Erik Seidel reached the final tables but fell short of the money.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Wong | HK $4,298,000 (US $550,000) |
| 2 | Isaac "Ike" Haxton | HK $2,579,000 (US $334,935) |
| 3 | Philipp Gruissem | HK $1,719,000 (US $223,246) |
| 4 | Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier | HK $1,289,000 (US $167,402) |
| 5 | Tore Lukashaugen | HK $858,750 (US $111,428) |
According to the PokerStars Blog, Wong had a massive lead over Haxton when heads-up play began, and it took only five minutes to seal the deal. In the final hand, Haxton moved all in with Q♦9♦ and was quickly called by Wong with A♥K♦.
The board ran out 3♣J♣4♠6♣2♥, giving Wong's ace-high the win and the title. Rather than celebrating the victory in Macau that night, he rested up for the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) Main Event which kicks off Wednesday. The event will run through June 7 and allows for two rebuys.
Last week, Guangdong Group (Macau) and PokerStars announced that 70 players have already been confirmed for the massive Main Event. The tournament has drawn not only high rollers from the Asia-Pacific Region, but also a handful of superstars from the Western Hemisphere. Among the players already confirmed for the event include Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Greg Merson, John Juanda, Joseph Cheong, Tony Gregg, Mike Watson, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Igor Kurganov, Tobias Reinkemeier, Aaron Lim, JC Alvarado, and Team PokerStars Pros Jonathan Duhamel,Isaac Haxton, and Celina Lin.
“This is going to be the one of the most amazing poker tournaments of all time,” said Danny McDonagh, director of live poker operations for the Asia-Pacific for PokerStars. “We are expecting over 100 players to sit down and play and one of the biggest prize pools for a poker tournament outside of the World Series of Poker. It’s going to be seriously huge! ”
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be bringing you live updates from the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions, so keep it locked in here for all the highlights. The event will be also webcast live on PokerStars.TV beginning at 3 p.m. HKT each day.
Data and photo c/o of PokerStars Blog.
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