Kui Song Wu Wins the 2018 Poker King Cup Super High Roller For HK$1,720,000 ($220,124)
It took a bit more than ten levels of 50 minutes each to crown Kui Song Wu from China as the winner of the 2018 Poker King Cup HK$200,000 Super High Roller here in the magnificent Venetian Macau Resort Hotel. For Wu’s efforts over the past days, he gets to take home the beautiful (and heavy) PKC trophy and the first-place prize of HK$1,720,000 ($220,124).
This is Wu’s biggest live tournament cash ever; actually, the buy-in for the event was already more than his biggest live cash. The Super High Roller attracted 16 entries on Day 1. One of those was a reentry by Shan Huang who ended up being the bubble today. Another five entries were collected today before the registration period ended, including the re-entry of James Chen who finished as the runner-up and Michael Addamo who got eliminated in fourth place for HK$469,000.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kui Song Wu | China | 1,720,000 | 220,124 |
| 2 | James Chen | Taiwan | 1,017,000 | 130,155 |
| 3 | Ye Wang | China | 704,000 | 90,097 |
| 4 | Michael Addamo | Australia | 469,000 | 60,022 |
| 5 | Shan Huang | China | - | - |
| 6 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | - | - |
| 7 | Takashi Ogura | Japan | - | - |
| 8 | Phachara Wongwichit | Thailand | - | - |
| 9 | Phanlert Sukonthachartnant | Thailand | - | - |
Today’s action
The shuffle up and deal sounded at 2 p.m. local time today and Chen was back in action after having busted late last night. He immediately clashed with Wu which would happen a lot more often later on in the day. Players were taking it easier at the start of the day, not really wanting to have to re-enter while it was still possible. Louis Nyberg and Jing Hui Ying entered fresh into Day 2 but couldn’t make it happen for themselves. Nyberg ran his ace-seven into the ace-six of Phachara Wongwichit and the six on the flop meant the end of his run.
Wongwichit actually doubled through William Fasano a bit earlier, leaving Fasano short. Fasano was the first casualty of the day when his nine-eight couldn’t win against the queen-jack of Wenling Gao, the only female player to have entered the High Roller and Super High Roller. Her bustout was without drama as she disappeared without any noise. Ying was the next to leave the stage when he shoved his 23 big blinds with ace-nine into the ace-king of Huang.
Addamo fell at the hands of Sergio Aido. His king-six wasn’t good enough against the ace-nine of Aido. Addamo re-entered immediately but Chen was working the tables, doubling through Mikita Badziakouski when they had both flopped a pair. Chen had bottom pair and decided to gamble and call when he was put to an all-in decision, and turned two pair to beat Badziakouski’s top pair.
Chan Wai Leong was the last player to register in the break just before registration finally closed. He couldn’t run up a stack though and got it in with king-queen against the pocket fives of Takashi Ogura and Ogura held. Aido shoved his last four big blinds into the pocket treys of Wu and busted when his king-queen got no help from the board, and the final table of nine players was reached.
It would then take another hour before Phanlert Sukonthachartnant was eliminated by Badziakouski. Sukonthachartnant pushed his last big blinds over the line with ace-ten and was called by ace-jack. The Thai/Australian player, Wongwichit, doubled up a few times over the day but finally had to say goodbye when his queen-nine couldn’t win against the ace-queen of Addamo.
Huang then doubled through Chen to take the chip lead away from Chen. Addamo then doubled up with nine-deuce in the big blind, leaving Ogura short. Addamo then proceeded to double Wu up. But the next to go was Ogura in seventh place in a three-way all-in pot which Chen won to propel him into the chip lead by far.
Badziakouski was crushing at the start of Day 1 but couldn’t really get anything going on Day 2. He kept hanging around the middle of the leaderboard and eventually got it all in with queen-jack. He got looked up by Wu who held ace-nine and no help came on the board for Badziakouski. The bubble lasted about 30 minutes and Chen was the one to burst it by taking Huang out. Huang had ace-seven which was ahead against the jack-eight of Chen, but the jack on the river ended Huang’s dream for today.
Ten minutes later, the rollercoaster ride for Addamo was over when his shove with ace-seven was called by Ye Wang who had pocket fives. Three-handed play lasted for almost an hour and a half. Wang had won a big pot first, then doubled Wu up when they had both shoved on Chen. Wu’s ace-queen beat the ace-eight of Wang and Wang was left with just six big blinds. The Day 1 chip leader then found his Waterloo when he shoved eight-six suited into the pocket nines of Chen.
Heads-up play was fast and furious. Wu bluffed Chen off a big pot of almost 2 million and they decided to skip the break to play until the winner was known. It didn’t take long as the final hand happened immediately. They got it in on the flop with Chen being ahead as he had flopped two pair, but the river was one of the cards Chen was hoping to avoid. They shook hands and Wu got rushed by friends to congratulate him.
This concludes the coverage of the 2018 Poker King Cup Super High Roller and the 2018 Poker King Cup in general. Make sure to return to PokerNews for more coverage of some of the biggest poker tournaments worldwide.