HKPPA PL wins the wild card of GPL China Season 2; Wang Tzu Wei leads MPS Main Event Day 1A

The second day of the the Global Poker League (GPL) China Season 2 – Taiwan Tour & Master Poker Series (MPS) witnessed plenty of poker action take place at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP) room in Taipei. For starters, it was upset after upset at the GPL Repechage Match with HKPPA Premier League denying the more seasoned players the last spot in the finals.

In the evening, Day 1A of the MPS Main Event was up and running. This attracted 62 to the tables. Only 21 held on with Wang Tzu Wei closing the day as the leader. We have both of those recaps for you below.

GPL Repechage Match recap

It was “do or die” for the three teams on the bottom half of yesterday’s GPL Knockout round. AJPC X MVP Japan, HKPPA Premier League, and Bitb Asia battled it out today for the wild card slot of the GPL Finals. After the first two games – 2v2v2 and 3v3v3 – the Japanese team found themselves in the same predicament as the previous day’s last round. They dropped out early and were already drawing dead despite one more game still to be played.

• HKPPA Premier League – 79
• Bitb Asia – 65
• AJPC X MVP Japan – 39

The final game was two tables of 1v1v1. The first to fall was Mitsuru Sano leaving two players at his table HKPPA Premier League’s Li Tung Hon (Roger) and Bitb Asia team leader Danny Tang Tang replaced Vincent Li at the break.

Tang took a hit to his stack when was unable to improve against Li’s . Shortly after, he busted. Due to the distribution of points, even if Tang’s teammate Kiat Lee won at the other table, there was still no chance of securing the GPL Final last slot which meant it was all over. HKPPA Premier League won the GPL Repechage Match and was resurrected back into the race. Below are the GPL Final four teams:

HKPPA Premier League: Chiang Kan Hing (team leader), Wu Ming Kit “Frankie”, Li Tung Hon (Roger), Ng Siu Kei, Fung Ping Ching

CTP Taipei: Yu Shao Kang (team leader), Justin Chi Jen Chu, Wang Wei Han, Chiu Chi An, Ping Hsien Chan

HKPPA: Park Yu “Sparrow” Cheung (team leader), Alan King Lun Lau, Tung, Edward Yam, Kevin Tse

CNHK TW: Chen An Lin (team leader), Ray Chiu, Xiao Yin He, Hsing Tai, Ta Wei Tou

The GPL Final takes place on Saturday, December 22 at 12pm (local time). They will play another tri-part tournament broken down as:

Part 1: 2v2v2v2 – Two 8-handed tables – Each team sends two players per table. The remaining player will play on a four handed table of 1v1v1v1.

Part 2: 3v3 – Two tables – Top two teams of Part 1 compete, bottom two teams of Part 1 compete; each team sends three players – (2 players sit out but can swap in once during the break)

Part 3: 1v1v1v1 – One table – Each team sends one player – (One team swap allowed during the break)

Payouts are as follows: 1st NTD 698,400 (~US$22,700) and 2nd NTD 465,600 (~US$15,100).

MPS Main Event Day 1A recap & chip counts

The NTD 15,000 buy-in MPS Main Event attracted 62 runners however only 21 were fortunate to survive the scheduled ten rounds. Taiwanese player Wang Tzu Wei was an incredibly lucky one. During the final minutes, he avoided elimination by spiking a two-outer on the river against Edward Yam.

Recapping the hand: After a heated preflop raise war, both players had it all in with Yam covering Wang. Yam held , Wang with , the board ran keeping Yam ahead but when the river landed, Wang spiked the money card to overtake with a full house. He bagged up 170,500 to put him clear in the leader’s seat. Yam, on the other, dropped to 23,500 sending him to the clear opposite end. 

Running second-in-chips was another Taiwanese player, CJ Chen with 119,500.

Several Asian notable players also made it through: Chen An Lin (59,500), Alan King Lun Lau (82,000), and Sparrow Cheung (39,500).

The Main Event resumes on Saturday, December 22 with Day 1B up on the plate. This is the last starting day to join in. Cards in the air at 6pm. For those that advanced, no need to sit on the sidelines. The MPS has a few events you can enjoy:

• 14:00: Deepstack NLH Event – NTD 8,000 buy-in
• 16:00: Satellite to High Roller Event – NTD 9,000 buy-in
• 20:00 Deepstack Turbo NLH – NTD 5,000 buy-in

Somuchpoker is onsite and will continue to bring you recaps on the GPL China Season 2 Taiwan Tour and the MPS Main Event.