Level: 11
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 300
2017 Poker King Cup Macau
HK$80,000 High Roller
Day: 2
Level 10
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
The recently arrived Yuan Li is trying to get something going over on table three but has just been shut down by Weizhou Zha.
Pre-flop Li opened the action from under-the-gun with a raise to 3,600 with both Peter Chan and Qiang Lin making the call before Zha squeezed all in for over 80,000 from the small blind.
Li looked sorely tempted but being as the call would be for his tournament life he opted to let it go, as did the other two protagonists and Zha padded out his stack a little more, all without showdown.
While HK$80,000 is not an insignificant sum of money for some, for the High Rollers it’s chump change and there are three no shows so far today with Xiang Qi, Qiant Liu and Luo Xi all failing to turn up.
According to James Chen they were all playing ridiculously big cash games until 9am this morning (Chen included). While Qi and Liu are both short – Qi began play with less than the 50,000 start stack and Liu only had 23,500 – Xi started play with 149,000 and change.
All three stacks are sitting forlornly at the table with no player to pilot them at present and are being blinded out.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
111,300
-3,800
|
-3,800 |
|
96,900
11,800
|
11,800 |
|
40,300
-3,700
|
-3,700 |
|
||
Level 10
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
A small pot just played out over on table three with Wang Zuo opening the action from early position and picking up three callers with Weizhou Zha (hi-jack), Danny Tang (cutoff) and new entry Yuan Li all coming along for the ride.
With four players seeing the 
flop all of them seemed reluctant to bet and the action was checked around to the 
turn, completing a possible diamond flush.
It was all check once more and the dealer flipped over the 
river to complete the hand. Action checked around to Weizhou Zha who took a stab for 6,000 with Danny Tang the only caller.
Zha turned over 
and he scoops the pot while Tang is now perilously short with just 21,000 in chips.
No sooner had this hand concluded before we had the first official casualty, and with the re-entry period now over Xixiang Luo is out for the second and final time.
Pre-flop it was Luo who was the initial aggressor, and while we missed the betting Taiwan’s Pete Chen was on hand to run us through the action. Luo opened with a raise from early position and Tang Tian Yuan made the call in late position to take the action heads-up to a flop of 
.
Luo continuation bet, Yuan called and the 
hit the turn. We believe this is when all the chips went in with Luo, holding pocket sixes, in the lead with a set up against the 
of Wu who was drawing extremely live with both a flush and gutshot straight draw.
The river was the 
completing Yuan’s spade flush and when the stacks were counted down it looked like Yuan had Luo covered. Luo headed for the exit for the second and final time and Yuan stacked up to over 160,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
160,000
72,900
|
72,900 |
|
|
131,800
-4,000
|
-4,000 |
|
|
85,100
18,600
|
18,600 |
|
|
44,000
44,000
|
44,000 |
|
|
||
|
21,000
-2,600
|
-2,600 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level: 10
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 200
The 22 remaining High Rollers are in the process of unbagging their chips and cards will be in the air shortly so watch this space. We'll update any late entries as they arrive and add all the prize pool information and payouts when registration closes.
It appears Germany's Fabian Quoss is one of the Day 1 bust outs who as opted for a second bullet to bring the total number of entries up to 37 and the number of remaining players up to 25.
HK$80,000 High Roller
Day 2 Started
At least 22 players will be returning out of 34 initial entries for the second and final day of the Poker King Cup Macau 2017 High Roller when play recommences at 2pm local time (GMT+7). You can read a full recap of the Day 1 action here.
With late entry open until the start of play and re-entry allowed for any player who busted their first buy-in on Day 1 this figure could well increase further. There have been two extra bullets fired so far with Xixiang Luo and Weizhou Zha both opting for a second shot at fortune and glory.
Blinds will be starting at 800/1,600 with a 200 running ante so the initial 50,000-chip starting stack comes in at a little over 31 big blinds, meaning there is still plenty of play before a champion is crowned.
The man best positioned to seize that crown is Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant, who cemented his chip lead midway through Day 1 and has yet to relinquish it.
The Thai player already boasts over US$1 million in career tournament earnings and is no stranger to High Roller triumph having previously taken down the 2015 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$250,000 (~US$32,124) High Roller for an HK$4.89 million ($630,941) payday.
Sukonthachartnant will be starting play with an impressive 195,000 in chips (a little over 121 big blinds) with the next largest stack belonging to China’s Luo Xi who has 149,400 – just over 93 big blinds.
China’s Wang Zuo (135,800) Qiang Lin (115,100) and Hong Kong’s Winfred Yu (107,700) round out the top five largest stacks and you can see the full seat draw and other remaining entrants below:
Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Qiang Liu | China | 23500 |
| 1 | 3 | Luo Xi | China | 149400 |
| 1 | 4 | James Chen | Taiwan | 86000 |
| 1 | 5 | Winfred Yu | Hong Kong | 107700 |
| 1 | 6 | Raymond Dye | New Zealand | 20000 |
| 1 | 7 | Chung Yuan Yu | Taiwan | 98900 |
| 1 | 8 | Phanlert Sukonthachartnant | Thailand | 195000 |
| 2 | 1 | Tang Tian Yuan | China | 87100 |
| 2 | 2 | Quan Zhou | China | 99100 |
| 2 | 3 | Pete Chen | Taiwan | 48000 |
| 2 | 4 | Zhong Wang | China | 48600 |
| 2 | 5 | Liang Yu | China | 88500 |
| 2 | 6 | Bingjian Wu | China | 36600 |
| 2 | 7 | Xixiang Luo | China | 72200 |
| 2 | 8 | YunSheng Sun | China | 19900 |
| 3 | 2 | Peter Chan | Hong Kong | 94800 |
| 3 | 3 | Qiang Lin | China | 115100 |
| 3 | 4 | Huidong Gu | Macau | 37200 |
| 3 | 5 | Wang Zuo | China | 135800 |
| 3 | 6 | Weizhou Zha | China | 66500 |
| 3 | 7 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | 23600 |
| 3 | 8 | Xiang Qi | China | 47000 |
Stick around as we see whether Sukonthachartnant can maintain his lead or is struck down by the fickle gods of poker with a new chip messiah rising to take his place and snatch the High Roller’s crown as the tournament plays down to its conclusion.