Fredric Stephan (l) and Pete Chen (r) battle it out
Fredric Stephan raised it up to 5,000 from the hi-jack and Pete Chen was the only caller in the cutoff and the two went heads-up to a flop of .
The Frenchman fired out an 8,000 continuation bet and Chen quickly reached for raising chips, making it 25,000 to go and Stephan pushed out the extras.
The turn saw Stephan check the action over to Chen, who promptly announced he was all-in for 45,400 in total. Stephan counted down his stack and could afford to make the call and would be left with 81,000 behind if he did so and lost.
It looked like Stephan was flip-flopping between calling or folding and eventually prudence prevailed and he mucked, leaving Chen to pull in the pot and climb to 110,000 while Stephan dropped to 126,400.
Eugene Co began the day with a stack of 190,000 and has managed to spin this up to substantially more, though the Filipino player has just shipped some chips the way of Tian Hao.
We arrived just as Co, sitting under-the-gun plus one opened with a raise to 4,500 and action folded around to Hao on the button. With just 18,400 left in his stack Hao’s options were limited and he chose the most aggressive one available to him and moved all-in.
Co did not look happy about it but felt compelled to call off the other 13,900 and both players turned their cards over.
Tian Hao:
Eugene Co:
Hao had the best hand, but then he needed it as he was the man whose life was on the line and the runout was exactly the sort of board he wanted. Hao stacked up to 38,900 and while Co took a small hit the Filipino still has plenty of chips with a stack of 266,000.
Kosei Ichinose is in the running and is in the process of building a stack. We caught the Japanese player involved in a heads-up pot against an opponent who had defended from the big blind.
There was 26,000 already in the pot with the flop spread and the big blind had checked the action over to Kosei, who bet 8,600. Considering the size of the pot that is not a particularly big bet, but Kosei must have started telling a believable story pre-flop as his opponent eventually let it go and the Japanese player stacked up to 115,000.
On the next table over we caught Hong Kong’s Justin Chan is in action against fellow countryman Anson Tsang, who had defended his big blind against a Chan button open. There was 26,000 in the pot already and the community cards were spread and Tsang was considering calling a Chan bet of 13,300.
Eventually, Tsang decided to fight another day and laid it down, dropping to 43,300 while Chan padded out his already ample stack and climbed to 365,000.
Doyle Brunson would be proud, but Vincent Tong was not impressed at all at the following hand. But then, he wouldn’t be as it brought his tournament to a close.
We did not get the pre-flop betting but there was close to 5,000 in the pot and the flop was spread with the action heads-up between Tong (under-the-gun plus one) and Ka Ho Sun (big blind).
Tong had bet out 4,200 and Sun had check-raised all-in over the top. Tong thought it over, but not for long, making a quick call for his tournament life and slamming down on the table for bottom set.
This was leading Sun’s speculative but poker is a cruel game and the turn saw the Hong Kong player bink his flush immediately. Tong did not look happy and there was no pair up on the river meaning Tong’s tournament is over, while a chuffed looking Sun raked in the pot to climb to 82,000.
We picked up the action in a multi-way pot that turned out to be quite an exciting one. The action was five-way when we arrived, with a flop of spread out and a substantial amount in the pot already.
China’s Xixiang Luo was sitting under-the-gun and after Malaysia’s Marcus Lau (small blind) checked, Luo led out for a roughly half-pot sized bet of 8,000. A player seated under-the-gun made the call, France’s Fredric Stephan (cutoff) and Taiwan’s Pete Chen (button) folded and the action was back on Lau, who called.
The turn saw Lau check again and Luo bet big, sliding out a bet of 24,300 and while this was enough to get the other caller out of the way it did not deter Marcus Lau, who check-raised all-in for 32,200 in total.
Luo didn’t look as though he liked it but called off the extras and Lau flipped over for the stone cold nuts. A disgruntled Luo tabled and was already drawing dead. The river saw the massive pot shipped Lau’s way and he climbed to roughly 110,000 while Luo dropped to 45,500.
Registration is now closed for the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau and the final numbers are in. There have been an additional 60 entries today, which combined with the 55 Day 2B qualifiers brings the total field up to 115.
This brings the total number of 2017 Suncity Cup entries (including the four prior legs played out in Jeju, Manila, Taipei, and Incheon) up to 983 meaning the HK$8m guarantee has been reached and breached. We’ll be posting the prize pool info just as soon as we get the official numbers.
The field has grown to 103 players with 96 of these still in the running and players on now on a 15-minute break. Registration closes when play resumes so this is the last chance for players to take their shot at fortune, glory and a Day 3 seat.
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turn saw Stephan check the action over to Chen, who promptly announced he was all-in for 45,400 in total. Stephan counted down his stack and could afford to make the call and would be left with 81,000 behind if he did so and lost. 
runout was exactly the sort of board he wanted. Hao stacked up to 38,900 and while Co took a small hit the Filipino still has plenty of chips with a stack of 266,000.
and Tsang was considering calling a Chan bet of 13,300.
down on the table for bottom set.
but poker is a cruel game and the 
turn saw the Hong Kong player bink his flush immediately. Tong did not look happy and there was no pair up on the 
river meaning Tong’s tournament is over, while a chuffed looking Sun raked in the pot to climb to 82,000.
spread out and a substantial amount in the pot already.
river saw the massive pot shipped Lau’s way and he climbed to roughly 110,000 while Luo dropped to 45,500.
