APPT Macau always provides something special on the Asian circuit in terms of prize pool size and field quality, and the Warm Up event represents the first opportunity for players to bank something serious. With a buy in of HKD$5,000 (USD$642) and a field size of 374, this event generated a prize pool of HKD$1,632,500 (USD$209,741). The biggest name battling it out at the final table was Australia’s Phachara Wongwichit, a name that has cropped up in the late stages of tournaments a few times recently. He eventually bowed out in 7th place, collecting HKD$53,100 (USD$6,822) for his efforts. As the final table neared its conclusion, the elimination of Thomas Syverson in 4th place left three Chinese players competing for the top prize. Guoliang Wei was soon sent to the rail in 3rd, and Chen Yuan could do nothing to stop Dan Liu from walking away with the title and 1st place prize money. He took home HKD$375,410 (USD$48,232) for winning the event.
Dan Liu (Photo PokerStars)
The final results were as follows:
– 1st Dan Liu HKD$375,410 (USD$48,232)
– 2nd Chen Yuan HKD$236,700 (USD$30,410)
– 3rd Guoliang Wei HKD$146,900 (USD$18,873)
– 4th Thomas Syverson HKD$115,900 (USD$14,890)
– 5th Man Hin Siu HKD$85,700 (USD$11,010)
– 6th Donald Lange HKD$69,400 (USD$8,916)
– 7th Phachara Wongwichit HKD$53,100 (USD$6,822)
– 8th Guanhua Huang HKD$44,900 (USD$5,768)
– 9th Yongxiang Guo HKD$37,500 (USD$4,817)
Side events
In other news from this series, the opening HKD$1,500 Deepstack Event saw 236 runners participate, creating a prize pool close to the HKD$300,000(USD$38,543) mark. Sparrow Cheung proved the star attraction as the event drew to a close, but he had to settle for 3rd place. Daji Chen from China took 1st place for HKD$72,906(USD$9,366).
Daji Chen (Photo PokerStars)
The HKD$1,500 KO Bounty was not the most popular so far, only bringing in 157 runners, but the prize money was still certainly worth winning. Tsung Hua Lu eventually took it down, claiming the HKD$38,467(USD$4,942) top prize.
Tsung Hua Lu (Photo PokerStars)
The HKD$3,000 NLH Event saw 214 players take part in proceedings, which caused the prize pool to rise to HKD$560,466(USD$72,007). Korean Gab Yong Kim was the fortunate victor, triumphing over Lei Zhang heads up, and taking HKD$137,316(USD$17,642) home to Korea.