Sukonthachartnant Leads Poker King Cup Macau 2017 HK$80,000 High Roller
Day 1 of the Poker King Cup Macau 2017 High Roller saw 32 initial entries ante up the HK$76,000+$4,000 buy-in, but with the format offering unlimited re-entry two of those players chose to fire a second bullet to bring the total number of entrants up to 34. With late registration open until the start of level 10 at 2pm on Saturday 20 May, this figure could still increase further.
After nine 40-minute levels, only 22 players bagged up chips, with Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant leading the charge after finishing the day with an impressive 194,500 – nearly four times his initial 50,000 starting stack.
While the Thai player only has six cashes on his Hendonmob.com poker resume they have all come in events boasting five-figure buy-ins or more, with five of those being final tables in other High Roller events and the other a cash in the 2016 WSOP Main Event.
Sukonthachartnant currently sits in the number one spot on the Thai All Time Money List with over US$1 million in live career tournament earnings and is no stranger to success here in Macau; boasting a High Roller title already after taking down the PokerStars 2015 Asian Championship of Poker (ACOP) HK$240,000+$10,000 High Roller for a cool HK$4.89 million (~US$630,941).
However, there is still a mountain to climb for any player wishing to emerge the victor, though Sukonthachartnant is certainly in the most favorable of positions to do so.
Other sizable stacks still in contention include China’s Luo Xi (149,400), Wang Zuo (135,800) and Qiang Lin (115,100) with Hong Kong’s Winfred Yu (107,700) rounding out the top five.
Notables in the field who failed to make the initial cut included German High Roller specialist Fabian Quoss who ran his ace-ten into the pocket kings of Luo Xi on a ten-high flop, and Hong Kong’s Nick Wong whose ace-king was brutally out flopped by the jack-ten suited of Sukonthachartnant who hit top pair and a flush draw on a ten-high flop, completing his flush on the turn to leave Wong drawing dead.
Another Hong Kong native who failed to make the cut was Ben Lai who, despite coming in fresh from his PokerStars Championship Macau HK$103,000 High Roller fifth place finish last month for HK$1.17 million (~US$150,580), could not go the distance.
Fellow Hong Konger Danny Tang had a rollercoaster ride of a tournament, picking off a Liang Xu pre-flop squeeze bluff early on to send the latter to the rail and briefly flirt with the chip lead before losing a huge pre-flop flip with ace-king suited against the pocket threes of Winfred Yu as the day neared its conclusion. Tang finished the day as one of the shorter stacks with just 23,600 in chips.
The day began with just three players, though this quickly became four with the timely arrival of Nick Wong, by the time level 2 began this had grown to 12 and climbed to 32 by midway through level 6.
China’s Qiang Lin was one of the early frontrunners, taking the lead after picking off a Sheng Sun river bluff to climb to the giddy heights of 128,500 after he made the call with top pair holding king-queen on a queen-high board, which was miles in front of Sun’s king-high missed backdoor flush draw.
While Lin made it through the day it was with a slightly reduced stack with Sukonthachartnant taking a little nibble from Lin’s chips whilst simultaneously busting the unfortunate Boyao Li after the three players became embroiled in a three-way three-bet pot.
Li thought he had hit gin with top two pair on an ace-king-jack flop but unfortunately for the Chinese player Sukonthachartnant had spiked a set of jacks and sent Li crashing out of the tournament.
Despite busting the unfortunate Xixiang Luo in an aces versus kings blind on blind battle to draw level with Sukonthachartnant, China’s Weizhou Zha could not capitalize on his good fortune and hit the rail shortly afterward. Ironically both Zha and Luo are the only two players so far who have chosen to try their luck for a second time but there may well be more before registration closes on Saturday afternoon.
Action recommences at 2pm local time (GMT+7) and the prize pool information will be published when registration officially closes. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to bring you all the action until a champion is crowned so join us then as we see who has got what it takes to emerge triumphant.