Pokerstars Asia Championship of Poker started off breaking records by receiving a participation of 565 entries for its first event alone.
APPT President Mark Blake said, “The majority of players have traditionally arrived around the ACOP Main Event so this is a terrific result as the first event. It certainly bodes well for the days ahead.”
The 1m GTD Spadie was full of Asia’s best players including APPT Manila Champion Linh Tran and Leon Hsu who won last year’s ACOP $15,000 PLO event. Both players were amongst the top 10 chip lead entering Day 2. WSOP APAC 2014 Main Event Champion Scott Davies who played on Day 1b moved forward to Day2 with APT Champion Henrik Tollefsen.
Despite all the luminaries present, it was Shaoming Li, a 26-year old Chinese Businessman that won the 1st event.
Li, a relative beginner in the live tournament scene, went heads-up against Macau’s Sam Cheong who won ACOP 2015 Platinum Series VIII Main Event. The last 2 players went toe-to-toe for about an hour before the final hand came which ended the 1st Spadie event of the festival.
Li took home a cash prize of HK$428,130 while Cheong had a significant HK$265,370 to add to his live earnings.
Celina Lin wins 2nd Spadie
Celina Lin won her 2nd Spadie trophy in the HK$11,000 Deepstack Championship cementing her ownership of the title “Poker Queen of Asia.”
She is the first player to win 2 Spadie Trophies and the first player to have won 2 Red Dragon Events.
In a 2-hour heads-up match, Lin went against ANZPT 2014 Main Event Champion Edison Nguyen who was also vying for his 2nd Spadie. The match between the 2 players was so intense chip lead changed hands 4 times within the 2 hours.
“Edison was really really tough…I had to make so many adjustments.” said the PokerStars Asia Pro player.
Lin took home a cash prize of HK$475,350, while Nguyen received HK$310,456 and was left hoping for another trophy.
PLO Champion Yuki Ko
Korean player Yuki Ko is making his mark in the sphere of Pot Limit Omaha. After winning this year’s Aussie Millions AUD$1,150 PLO Event, Ko has now established his skills in the game by being victorious in the ACOP HK$15,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship for HK$ 193,800 and his very 1st Spadie trophy.
He went heads-up against German Max Schabram whom he claimed to have online PLO history with.
First Austrian Spadie Champion
Gerald Karlic made ACOP history by being the first Austrian to win a Spadie trophy. Besting 120 players in the HK$11,000 Knockout Championship, Karlic earned HK$ 241,800 plus HK$ 30,000 in bounty.
Despite being relatively new in the Asian Poker scene, Karlic is a poker pro normally seen in the European poker circuits. His biggest win to date is his 7th place win in the 2015 EPT € 10,000 + 300 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller 8Max in Barcelona.
Article by Gabrielle Barredo
More: ACOP 2016 Results & Coverage
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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