The second day of World Poker Tour’s unique Global Teams Event has now drawn to close, with Team China having vaulted into the lead. This is of little surprise, given that the Chinese team formed by Dong Guo (captain) and featuring Yang Zhang, Xixiang ‘heichao’ Luo and Guoliang Wei boasts combined earnings of over $5 million on the tournament circuit.
Prize pool
Before recounting the action from today, let us first remind you about the payouts associated with this event. Whichever team has the most points after the first five events will take home KRW13,737,640 (US$12,250 approximately).
The top 9 teams on at this point will go on to the final, where they will play single table Tag-Team event with starting chip stacks mirroring their points accumulated on the leaderboard (1,000 chips per point). Once the final is complete, the top 3 teams will win a prize, with those prizes distributed as follows:
1st – KRW 27,475,000 (approx. US $24,500)
2nd – KRW 16,485,000 (approx. US $14,700)
3rd – KRW 10,990,000 (approx. US $9,800)
Event 3: Team Taiwan claims the top spot
The third event saw two players from each team randomly selected to play in separate PLO Shootout tables. Meanwhile, the other two pulled up chairs in the NLH Tag-Team event. Players started with 10,000 chips, and blind levels were set at 20 minutes. Here are the results from those event 3 tables:
PLO Shootout A (Top 5)
1st – Leon Li-ta Hsu (Taiwan) – 20 points
2nd – Victor Chong (Malaysia) – 18 points
3rd – Dylan Wilkerson (USA) – 16 points
4th – Calvin Tan (Singapore) – 14 points
5th – Markus Garberg (Norway) – 12 points
PLO Shootout B (Top5)
1st – Xixiang Luo (China) – 20 points
2nd – Bas de Laat (Netherlands) – 18 points
3rd – Amit Jain (India) – 16 pts
4th – Calvin Lee (Korea) – 14 pts
5th – Nick Woodward (UK) – 12 pts
NLH Tag-Team (Top5)
1st – Team Singapore (Huang/Tzaiwei) – 20 pts
2nd – Team Taiwan SAR (Lin/Chen) – 18 pts
3rd – Team Netherlands (Knoppers/Raemaekers) – 16 pts
4th – Team Korea (Lee/Yun) – 14 pts
5th – Team Japan (Kato/GACKT) – 12 pts
Scores after Event 3
After event 3, Team Taiwan had taken over the lead with 140 points, but Team China were just two points adrift on 138 followed by Team Netherlands.
Event 4: Team China takes the overall lead
The fourth event saw the teams divided randomly to participate in a 6-max, 3 table NLH Shootout. Four of these shootouts took place, with Danny Tang winning the first of them.
This is how the other players fared:
Shootout A (Top5)
1st – Danny Tang (Hong Kong) – 20 pts
2nd – Victor Chong (Malaysia) – 18 pts
3rd – Nikita Luther (India) – 16 pts
4th – Hiroki Kato (Japan) – 14 pts
5th – Bryan Huang (Singapore) – 12 pts
Shootout B (Top5)
1st – Sparrow Cheung (Hong Kong) – 20 pts
2nd – Robert Kaggerud (Norway) – 18 pts
3rd – GACKT (Japan) – 16 pts
4th – Frank Marino (Australia – 14 pts
5th – Paul Hockin (New Zealand) – 12 pts
Shootout C (Top5)
1st – Takumi Samejima (Japan) – 20 pts
2nd – Vincent Kwun Ngai Li (Hong Kong) – 18 pts
3rd – Sam Panzica (USA) – 16 pts
4th – Martin Shlemon (Australia) – 14 pts
5th – Guoliang Wei (China) – 12 pts
Shootout D (Top5)
1st – Phua Tzaiwei (Singapore) – 20 pts
2nd – Xixiang Luo (China) – 18 pts
3rd – Simon Burns (UK) – 16 pts
4th – Calvin Lee (Korea) – 14 pts
5th – Edward Yam (Hong Kong) – 12 pts
With event 4 rounding off the second day, there had been serious shifts in the total standings. China had gone from being in the chasing pack to holding a 10-point lead at the top. Here are the standings in full:
End of Day 4 Standings
China – 190 points
Hong Kong – 180 points
UK – 170 points
Singapore – 169 points
Japan – 166 points
Taiwan – 165 points
Netherlands – 159 points
New Zealand – 152 points
Malaysia – 152 points
Korea – 148 points
India – 144 points
Norway – 141 points
Rounding out the list at the bottom of the pile were Team USA with 130 points and Team Australia with 129. Both teams are now eliminated.
Event 5 and Final to play out tomorrow
Tomorrow sees the list of survivors trimmed to 9 with the completion of event 5, with the final set to be played out in the evening.
The fifth event is a Turbo NLH event, and the final will be a single table NLH Tag-Team event, with each team carrying a chip stack into the event which is reflective of their overall points. 1,000 chips will be given for each point in the standings.
Article by Craig Bradshaw
