2013 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker Day 1a: Keith Ferrera Leads
On Monday, the 2013 APPT Macau Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$100,000 (approximately $12,900) Main Event kicked off at the PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams. Day 1a attracted 93 players, each looking to claim a portion of the guaranteed HK$20,000,000 (approximately $2.58 million) prize pool. After four 90-minute levels of play, Keith Ferrera finished as the chip leader with 127,825.
End-of-Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keith Ferrera | 117,825 |
| 2 | Aidan Tam | 102,375 |
| 3 | Peter Ping San Chan | 94,550 |
| 4 | David Martirosyan | 77,675 |
| 5 | Ben Lamb | 74,425 |
| 6 | Dennis Huntly | 74,125 |
| 7 | Ilya Krupin | 70,725 |
| 8 | Iurii Koshelev | 69,475 |
| 9 | Dmitry Yurasov | 65275 |
| 10 | Ami Barer | 60850 |
Things kicked off with a familiar name experiencing a continued string of bad luck. In this past weekend’s Warm Up side event, the 2012 Asia Player of the Year, Yosuke Sekiya, got his chips in with KxKx against an opponent who held 7x7x on a Kx7xXx flop. Sekiya was primed to get off to a good start, but then disaster struck as the case 7x spiked on the turn. Unfortunately, Sekiya suffered a similar bad beat in the Main Event.
It happened in Level 2 (100/200) when Sekiya shoved all in for 14,725 against Shingo Cho, who already had 2,700 in the pot. Cho tanked for several minutes before dropping in a call.
Cho: A♥K♥
Sekiya: K♣K♠
Cho seemed to regret the decision, and rightfully so as he was a 2-to-1 dog. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Sekiya was a 65.48% favorite while Cho would come from behind 33.68% of the time. Much to Sekiya's dismay, this was one such time as the 9♦6♠A♠ flop delivered Cho top pair to make him a 91.21% favorite. Neither the 8♥ turn nor 10♣ river delivered Sekiya the case king, and he became the first elimination of the day — though he wouldn’t be the last.
Others who fell on Day 1a were Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Pakinai Lisawad, Thomas Mou, Julius Colman, Juicy Li, Ihar Soika and “Hong Kong” Ken Wong.
In the last level of the night, Wong opened the hijack to 700 only to have the cutoff three-bet to 1,950. Wong moved all in for roughly 8,000 and the cutoff made the call to put the 2012 Aussie Millions finalist at risk.
Wong: A♠K♠
Opponent: 9x9x
With Wong in a standard coin flip, the board would blank out and he hit the rail shy of a Day 2 berth.
Likewise, just before the end of Day 1a, 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Johnny Chan was sent to the rail courtesy of 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Ben Lamb. It happened when Chan opened with a raise from late position only to have Lamb three-bet the big blind to 1,400. Chan responded by four-betting to 4,500 and Lamb dropped in all of his yellow 5,000-denomination chips to put Chan all-in. The 10-time bracelet winner made the call for his last 19,575 and the cards were tabled.
Chan: A♣K♥
Lamb: Q♠Q♣
The 8♦3♣8♠ flop failed to help the Poker Hall of Famer, and once the 10♥ and 2♣ arrived on the turn and river respectively, Chan took his leave from the tournament while Lamb went on to bag 74,425.
Other notables who made it through to Day 2 were Aidan Tam (102,325), David Martirosyan (77,675), Ami Barer (60,850), Paul Newey (30,100) and Didier Guerin (15,325). Joining them will be Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Jonathan Karamalikis (49,150) and Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov (49,325), Naoya Kihara (38,875), Vivian Im (36,900) and Bryan Huang (23,500).
The 77 surviving players will return at 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, but before they do there is still another starting flight to take place. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand for Day 1b at 3:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, so be sure to check our live reporting section then for all the latest and greatest from PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams in Macau.
*Lead photo by Kenneth Lim Photography and courtesy of PokerStars LIVE Macau.
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