Richard Yong Eliminated in 2nd Place (HK$11,252,000)

Manig Loeser battled back to even stack and with both players sitting on 32 big blinds it looked like the heads-up battle might become an epic one before a massive pot played out between the two players that saw the German snatch the chip lead.

Loeser opened the action from the button with a raise to 450,000 and Yong re-raised to 1,125,000. Loeser took his time over the decision but made the call, swelling the pot to over 2.3 million.

The flop saw Yong pull the trigger immediately and Loeser called so fast his chips left skid marks on the table and when the cards were revealed it was easy to see why.

Richard Yong:
Manig Loeser:

The German had hit the flop hard, spiking top two pair to overtake Yong’s pair of sevens and the Triton co-founder would need a great deal of help to win the hand.

Both players were on their feet and the rail crowded around sensing that the end may be near. The turn brought Yong no help and neither did the river and Loeser let out a huge sigh and a quiet under-the-breath ‘yes!’

Stacks were counted down and Yong found himself with chips left, but only two and dropped down to 50,000.

This was all in the middle the very next hand with Yong, holding , needed to win this hand and the next several to make a Lazarus-like return from the dead.

Loeser was holding and paired his jack when the flop fell . The turn was not the ace Yong needed to survive and the river saw the German earn his first major title and almost double his career tournament earnings in one fell swoop.

Yong will be unhappy at not being able to go the distance, but will not be too unhappy at making the equivalent of $1,440,806 for his runner up finish. Full write up to follow so watch this space.