APPT Macau: High Roller victories for Alex Foxen, Kristen Bicknell, and Marius Gierse; Shuize Cai lands a Platinum Pass

APPT Macau has been ongoing since March 14 at the PokerStars LIVE Macau room in City of Dreams with players from around the globe flocking to join the event’s early festivities. As been the trend at PS festivals, some of the events cracked the guarantee wide open such as the APPT National, however the biggest prize pools were of course generated by the Super High Roller and High Roller events.

Alex Foxen triumphed at the Super High Roller just two days after his girlfriend Kristen Bicknell took down the High Roller. Marius Gierse claimed the Single Day High Roller, and also winning big was Shuize Cai at the APPT National, securing himself the coveted PokerStars Players Championship Platinum Pass.

Alex Foxen crushes the Super High Roller

The Super High Roller event attracted some of the biggest names to the felt to eventually close at 68 entries – 49 players and 19 re-entries. With each one dishing out the large HK$400,000 buy-in, this created a jaw-dropping HK$25,850,880 (~US$3,295,000) prize pool of which 9 players earned a cut.

After three days of elite players battling it out from March 17-19, the winner emerged and it was USA’s William Alex Foxen. And rightfully so. Foxen was superb the entire tournament. He topped the charts each advancing day, delivered the bubble Dominik Nitsche, and entered the final table with a towering lead.

At the final elliptic, Foxen wasn’t stealing the show as he did in the previous days. Instead, it was China’s Shan Huang with his dramatics and table chatter. Huang began as one of the runts of the final table then proceeded to collect numerous pots to bring his stack in fighting contention. He delivered a double knockout, eliminating Patrik Antonius (6th) and Kahle Burns (5th), and grew further to secure a spot in the heads up round.

The final duel saw Foxen behind in chips however, despite Huang’s stack advantage, Foxen’s experience would clearly outweigh. The American grinded down the Chinese businessman, and in just under two hours of one-on-one, the deed was done. Foxen shipped in the title and the HK$7,560,000 (~US$963,800). This is Foxen’s second victory this year having won the 2018 WPT LA Poker Classic $25,000 High Roller event for US$424,625 late last month. He now has over US$3.6 million in live tournament earnings.

Among those that fell on the wayside with no dinero were Adrian Mateos, John Juanda, Bryn Kenney, Daniel Dvoress, David Steicke, Justin Bonomo, David Peters, Jan-Eric Schwippert, Nick Petrangelo, Jack Salter, and JC Alvarado.

Final Table payouts

1st Alex Foxen – USA – HK$7,560,000 (~US$963,800)
2nd Shan Huang – China – HK$5,429,000
3rd Samuel Greenwood – Canada – HK$3,529,000
4th Rainer Kempe – Germany – HK$2,663,000
5th Kahle Burns – Australia – HK$2,068,000
6th Patrik Antonius – Finland – HK$1,603,000
7th Brian Rast – USA – HK$1,267,000
8th Christoph Vogelsang – Germany – HK$981,880
9th Isaac Haxton – USA – HK$750,000

Kristen Bicknell ships in the High Roller

Canada’s Kristen Bicknell showed the men who was boss at the HK$80,000 buy-in High Roller event, topping the 117 entries and defeating GPI 2016 winner USA’s David Peters at the heads up round. With no prior records in Asia, this victory was definitely as sweet as they come. It was her first in the continent and her first for 2018. Bicknell earned the largest cut of HK$2,192,000 (~US$279,500) out of the HK$8,714,160 prize pool.

For those who know Bicknell, they are fully aware that she is no stranger to the spotlight. With over US$1 million in live tournament earnings, she has had some fairly big wins throughout her career. One of her earliest was the WSOP 2013 Ladies Event, besting a field of 954 entries to land a WSOP bracelet. In 2016, she added a second strap to her wrist winning the WSOP NLH Bounty event, earning US$290,768, which remains to be her largest live tournament score to date.

Final Table payouts

1st Kristen Bicknell – Canada – HK$2,192,000 (~US$279,500)
2nd David Peters – USA – HK$1,480,160
3rd Klaus Pautrot – France – HK$963,000
4th Felix Schulze – Germany – HK$797,000
5th Hongjun Zhao – China – HK$643,000
6th Matthew Peter James Moss – UK – HK$507,000
7th Wang Yong – China – HK$388,000
8th Allan Leon David Bedwick – USA – HK$292,000

Marius Gierse tops the Single Day High Roller

The third high buy-in event of the festival was the Single Day High Roller with a HK$200,000 entry fee. This turned up a lighter field than the other two events with only 38 entries total. Still, a very healthy HK$7,150,080 pot was brewed.

Taking down the event was Germany’s Marius Gierse, claiming his first-ever live tournament title. He collected HK$2,431,000 (~US$310,000), making this his largest win in the tournament arena.

Final Table payouts

1st Marius Gierse – Germany – HK$2,431,000 (~US$310,000)
2nd Aaron Been – USA – HK$1,680,000
3rd JC Alvarado – Mexico – HK$1,073,000
4th Xixiang Luo – China – HK$822,000
5th Daniel Tang – Hong Kong – HK$643,080
6th Thomas Ward – New Zealand – HK$501,000

Shuize Cai wins a Platinum Pass at the APPT National

More affordable to the masses than the high roller events was the APPT National tournament with its HK$10,000 buy-in. This drew in a large field with everyone eyeing two things: the HK$5,000,000 guarantee and the added value PSPC Platinum Pass. With the event turning up 689 entries, the prize pool swelled to an even fatter sum of HK$6,014,970.

After five days of action that ran from March 15-19, China’s Shuize Cai rose to the throne and became the envy of many. Cai entered the final table sitting in second position with a very healthy stack, boosted it up, then carried it to the heads up round against Malaysia’s Yau Shern Yen. Despite Cai behind 2:1 at the start of the bout, he overcame the hurdle and shipped in HK$1,293,200 (~US$164,500) plus the Platinum Pass. With no prior stats in Hendon Mob, Cai captured his first-ever live tournament victory and according to facebook, it was his first crack at a live tournament.

Final Table payouts

1st Shuize Cai – China – HK$1,283,200
2nd Yau Shern Yen – Malaysia – HK$801,200
3rd Paul Castrillon – Spain – HK$496,200
4th Jae Kyung Joe – Korea – HK$375,900
5th Haijian Qiu – China – HK$255,600
6th Yue Hin Lam – Macau – HK$195,500
7th Jiaxiu Liu – China – HK$162,400
8th Chaofei Wang – China – HK$135,270

Other winners and notable finishers

In addition to the winner’s above, several players also captured trophies. Hong Kong’s Ho Lun Pang emerged victorious at the APPT Kickoff event, rising above the 451 entry field. This is a very big victory for Pang who earned his largest live score, the lion’s share HK$265,600 (~US$33,800) out of the guarantee smashing HK$1,181,169 prize pool.

We’ve also been tracking the progress of China’s Xingbiao Zhu, the current worldwide leader for 2018 Number of Cashes. So far he has two deep runs at the event, finishing 26th at the Kickoff and 4th at the Knockout event. As it stands, he has 18, not including his cashes at the Manila Super Series 6 and at this ongoing festival.

Article by Triccia David