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 3rd 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 8th 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 |