Aymon Hata Leads After Day 4 of PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event
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Just one big blind separates Aymon Hata and Dong Guo atop the leaderboard after Day 4 of the PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event. A 37 player field returned at noon on Friday and a little less than seven hours later, that size has been reduced to just 16 hopefuls.
Hata claimed the lead from majority Day 4 chip leader Guo on the final hand of the night.Julius Malzanini open-shoved blind versus blind with queen-five and Hata called from the big blind with pocket sevens. Malzanini was unable to improve and busted in 17th place, halting play.
The pot gave Hata a final count of 2,188,000. Guo, who took the lead early and maintained it for most of the day, finished with 2,160,000. Thibault Blondel (1,388,000), Wenlong Jin (1,296,000), and Yan Li (1,248,000) round out the top five stacks.
Several notables still remain in the hunt including Daniel Laidlaw (1,077,000), Canadian Spin n’ Go qualifier Avraham Oziel (873,000), Elliot Smith (583,000), Fabrice Soulier (472,000), and Winfred Yu (385,000) who will return on Day 5 as the shortest stack.
Everyone still in contention has now locked up at least HK$221,000 but all eyes will be squarely focused on the HK$3,130,000 first-place prize.
The 2016 GPI Player of the Year David Peters was the first player to fall on Day 4. Peters attempted a semi-bluff shove on the turn against Dong Guo who unfortunately for the American pro, had turned a full house. Peters bowed out in 37th place for HK$101,000 and Guo sprung into the lead.
Other familiar faces to see their Main Event run come to an end were Kiryl Radzivonau (34th - HK$101,000), Vitaly Tevis (29th - (HK$130,500), Day 1b chip leader Joachim Bold (24th - HK$130,500), and Day 2 chip leader Pakinai Lisawad (21st - HK$170,000).
The final 16 players will return at noon on Saturday for Day 5. PokerNews' live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor, providing live updates of all the action. Keep your browser locked on this page to stay up to date as the tournament progresses.