MPC24: Wayne Yap crowned champion in the High Roller, Terry Fan wins the HK$20,000

Much has been made of the record breaking field in the Red Dragon tournament, which has indeed been a great accomplishment, but this record is not only confined to the Main Event, as the High Roller has become the biggest in MPC history too. On a broader level, the entire series, with all it’s events combined, has set the record for most participants at 4,500, and most prize money awarded at HK$37 million – and there is still one more side event yet to play. Of all that has been exciting in this latest MPC, the High Roller event has provided us with another very interesting chapter.

High Roller: Wayne Yap crowned Champion

With it’s HK$80,000 buy in, the High Roller at this year’s MPC attracted a record setting 114 players. The prize pool  eventually rose to HK$8,490,720 with the option of a single re-entry. The final table had a strong contingent of experienced tournament players, with Wei Zhao having USD$217,000 in lifetime cashes before today, Xixiang Luo having USD$270,00 and Quan Zhou having USD$551,000. Quan Zhou is also currently leading of the APOY leaderboard. On top of those accomplished players, the final table also saw two UK pros who happened to be brothers: Jack and Louis Salter. The former has over USD$2,920,000 in live cashes, while his brother has over USD$735,000.

Of the more decorated players, Wei Zhao fell in 9th for HK$297,000 ($38,257), while Louis Salter took 5th for HK$552,000 ($67,240). Play continued four handed for a long time before Jack Salter took 4th after surviving several all ins, leaving just three players with a shot at the title.

Quan Zhou was eventually the player to make way, taking home HK$934,000 ($120,311) in the process, leaving Xixiang Luo and Wayne Yap heads up. While the chip stacks began fairly even, a seriously cold flop 10 minutes in gave Yap middle set against two pair, and the match was then close to over. Luo fell soon after, winning HK$1,528,000 ($196,000) for his runner up spot. Wayne Yap however, who only had USD$22,437 in live cashes before this tournament but a solid experience in High Stakes Cash Games, takes home HK$2,292,720 ($295,754) for victory.

Wayne Yap (Photo Kenneth Lim Courtesy of PokerStars)

Payouts (HK$)

Place	First Name	Last Name	Country	Prize (HKD)
1	Wayne Jun Wen	Yap	Singapore	$2,292,720
2	Xixiang	Luo	China	$1,528,000
3	Quan	Zhou	China	$934,000
4	Jack	Salter	UK	$722,000
5	Louis	Salter	UK	$552,000
6	Wei	Zhang	China	$467,000
7	Ya Hui	Xu	China	$382,000
8	Vikram	Nanda	Hong Kong	$340,000
9	Wei	Zhao	China	$297,000
10	Ryan Mingho	Yum	Hong Kong	$255,000
11	Elliot	Smith	Canada	$255,000
12	Aaron	Lim	Australia	$233,000
13	Yuguang	Li	China	$233,000

$20,000 NLH ($1,000,000 Guarantee): Terry Fan wins the title

In other MPC news, the HK$20,000 buy in side event which began on March 3^rd and attracted 262 runners, was won by none other than Asian poker pro Terry Fan. He took home HK$1,097,720 for his triumph. Terry Fan wasn’t the only star attraction at that final table however, as Adrian Brion also took 8^th place.

Terry Fan (Photo Kenneth Lim courtesy of PokerStars)

 

Place	First Name	Last Name	Country	Prize (HKD)
1	Terry Yun-hsiang	Fan	Chinese Taipei	$1,097,720
2	Leo Yan Ho	Cheng	Canada	$709,100
3	Ke	Chen	China	$457,500
4	Wei Loong	Tan	Singapore	$366,000
5	Zhiyi	Feng	China	$288,200
6	Daniel	Laidlaw	Australia	$228,700
7	Sihai	Jiang	China	$183,000
8	Adrian	Brion	Philippines	$148,700
9	Wenhai	Xu	Macau	$114,400