HK$80,000 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
2017 Poker King Cup Macau
HK$80,000 High Roller
Day: 2
Event Info
Level 23
: 15,000/30,000, 5,000 ante
The Poker King Cup Macau 2017 HK$80,000 High Roller saw 34 players battle it out on the baize for the trophy and the all-important title. With the format supporting unlimited re-entries, three players chose to fire a second bullet to bring the total number of entries up to 37 and juice the prize pool up to HK$2,755,700 (~US$354,052).
It took a little over 14 hours, spread over two days and twenty-three 40-minute levels for Taiwan’s Chung Yuan Yu to take down his first title and emerge triumphant, defeating Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant after 15-minutes of heads-up play.
Yu began heads-up with a commanding 4-1 chip lead and while Sukonthachartnant tried his level best to fight his way back into contention the Taiwanese player’s chip mountain was too tall to climb.
It took 10-minutes of pre-flop raise-folding before the first flop was dealt, which Yu took down with a continuation bet to further extend his lead. The very next hand it was all over.
Sukonthachartnant limped the button, Yu raised another 100,000 more from the big blind and the Thai player moved all-in for his last 330,000 with ace-eight offsuit. Yu made the call with queen-eight suited and spiked his queen on the turn to take the title, trophy, and HK$1,020,700 (~US$131,144) first prize.
It appears this is just Yu's first ever live cash and according to his nephew, high stacks specialist and RunGood App developer James Chen, just his second ever tournament though he is a keen cash game player and plays in some of Macau’s high stakes games on a regular basis.
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (HK$) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chung Yuan Yu | Taiwan | HK$1,020,000 | $131,144 |
| 2 | Phanlert Sukonthachartnant | Thailand | HK$661,000 | $84,925 |
| 3 | Liang Yu | China | HK$413,000 | $53,062 |
| 4 | Huidong Gu | Macau | HK$289,000 | $37,131 |
| 5 | Qiang Lin | China | HK$207,000 | $26,595 |
| 6 | Tang Tian Yuan | China | HK$165,000 | $21,199 |
Day 2 began with 22 returning players from Day 1 with Germany’s Fabian Quoss and two new entries choosing to join at the start of level 10 to bring the total number of players up to 25.
This quickly became 24 with the elimination of Xixiang Luo, whose set of sixes were rivered by Tang Tian Yuan’s gutshot straight draw and flush draw, which opened the floodgates for a slew of speedy eliminations.
Notables to fall by the wayside included James Chen (at the hands of his uncle Chung Yuan Yu ironically) PokerStars Championship Macau Single Day High Roller HK$206,000 Champion Quan Zhou, German High Roller specialist Fabian Quoss and Winfred Yu, with the elimination of the last two taking play down to a single ten-handed final table.
Phanlert Sukonthachartnant began the day as chip leader and the Thai player remained in pole position for the majority of the day, only relinquishing his lead when play became five-handed.
Before that, however, there was a flurry of rapid exits with Yuan Li departing shortly before the break marking the end of level 15 after running his pocket sevens into the pocket nines of Sukonthachartnant.
A car crash of a hand immediately after play resumed saw a three-way pre-flop all-in. A short-stacked Wang Zuo, holding pocket jacks, was the first to pull the trigger and Zuo was quickly followed into the pot by Liang Yu, holding pocket kings; Taiwan’s Pete Chen then woke up with pocket aces in late position and made the call, only to see Yu spike a set of kings to bust Zuo and cripple Chen, who departed shortly afterward.
The unfortunate Luo Xi took the unenviable title of bubble boy not long after, making an ill-timed bluff against Liang Yu after moving all-in on the turn on a king-high board with seven-eight suited only to find himself drawing dead when Yu made the call with king-queen offsuit. This sent Xi to the rail and catapulted Yu into the chip lead in one fell swoop.
The first paying casualty was China’s Tang Tian Yuan, who departed in sixth place after running his jack-nine offsuit into the pocket queen of Chung Yuan Yu on a nine-high flop to grant Yu the chip lead.
The departure of Qiang Lin shortly afterward at the hands of Sukonthachartnant saw the latter seize the lead once more, though this subsequently changed hands on numerous occasions with all four remaining players taking it in turns to be top dog.
Huidong Gu enjoyed a stint as table captain before Liang Yu bested him on three separate occasions to whittle down his stack, with the third hand being Gu’s last after he shoved the turn in a hand holding king-high and ran into Yu’s turned two pair with a flush redraw, which duly came in on the river.
The remaining three players were all reasonably deep stacked after this and it took a full 60-minutes of further play until three became two. Liang Yu became the third place finisher after losing a massive pot toChung Yuan Yu, running into the latter’s flopped set of sevens to drop down to under 10 big blinds.
Chung Yuan Yu administered the coup de grace just two orbits later. Liang Yu moved all-in from the small blind for his last 8 big blinds at the close of level 22 with king-eight offsuit with Yu making the call with the dominating king-nine offsuit. The low raggedy board meant Chung Yuan Yu’s kicker played.
This concludes the PokerNews live reporting in the two-day High Roller event but we will return tomorrow for Day 1A of the Poker King Cup Macau 2017 HK$15,000+$1,500 Main Event at 1pm local time so join us then.
Level 23
: 15,000/30,000, 5,000 ante
While he began play as chip leader and maintained that for the majority of the day until play became short-handed, with a 1-4 chip deficit when play entered heads-up Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant had a mountain to climb if he wanted to emerge victorious.
The first few hands of heads-up involved both players either raising or folding for the first 10-minutes and the stacks changed very little before we had our first flop with Chung Yuan Yu making it 65,000 to go from the button and Sukonthachartnant chose to defend his big blind.
Sukonthachartnant checked the 
flop over to Yu, who did not take too long before firing out a c-bet of 90,000. The Thai player quickly mucked and Yu edged slightly further in front.
The very next hand it was all over. Sukonthachartnant limped the button and Yu decided to put the hammer down and raised to 130,000 in total. However, it looked as though Sukonthachartnant had planned out his play in advance and he quickly stacked up his chips into two towers and pushed them all into the middle for a shove of 350,000 in total.
Yu asked for a count but looked eager to finish things and did not think too long before announcing the call and the cards were turned over.
Phanlert Sukonthachartnant: 
Chung Yuan Yu: 
As the at-risk player Sukonthachartnant seemed happy to find himself in front and the 
flop saw the Thai player maintain his slender lead before disaster struck and the 
hit the turn to cheers from the sizable Taiwanese rail and fist pump and heartfelt “Yeah!” from Yu.
Sukonthachartnant was left drawing to the deck’s three remaining aces but unfortunately, the river was not one of them and Yu’s rail went wild. The Taiwanese player instantly shot to his feet and went over to shake his opponent’s hand before running over to celebrate with his cheerleaders as rousing shouts of “Taiwan! Taiwan!” echoed through the tournament area.
While he may have fallen at the final hurdle and failed to get that all important rub of the green, Sukonthachartnant played a great tournament so can’t be too disappointed in his performance. While finishing in second hurts when you have some so close to winning we don’t think the Thai player will be too disappointed when he wakes up tomorrow and finds himself the best part of US$84,927 better off.
It’s obvious that Yu is happy with the result, however, and after posing for his winner’s picture he headed off to collect his trophy. There will be a full recap to follow so watch this space.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,850,000
360,000
|
360,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 23
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 5,000
Level 22
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Liang Yu has been nursing his short stack for a while now, and seemed to be ducking and diving at the right time, moving all-in three times in quick succession without getting a caller.
However, that trend did not continue. Down to his last 106,000 Liang Yu moved all-in pre-flop from the small blind and with chips to spare Chung Yuan Yu made the call and the cards were turned over.
Liang Yu: 
Chung Yuan Yu: 
When you’re hot you’re hot and Chung Yuen Yu is certainly the in form player at the moment and Liang Yu found himself with kicker problems and would need to catch one of the three remaining eights to survive, though a chop was also possible.
However, the board ran out 
meaning we lose another. Chung Yuen Yu got up from the table to give Liang Yu a hug before the latter headed for the rail and we are now heads-up for the trophy and the title.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,490,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
|
|
360,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 22
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
It is break time once more, this time for 15-minutes while the stacks are colored up. We are now heads-up with full details of the most recent bust out to follow shortly so watch this space.
Level 22
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
A sizable pot recently played out between Chung Yuan Yu and Phanlert Sukonthachartnant that has further cemented Yu’s lead.
We caught the action on the turn with the board reading 
with over 100,000 in blinds and antes in the pot as Yu and Sukonthachartnant battled it out from the small and big blind respectively.
Yu checked from the small blind and Sukonthachartnant fired out what looked to be close to a pot-sized bet of 90,000, which Yu quickly called.
The 
paired the board and completed the hand and Yu now chose to lead for 150,000 and was called pretty quickly by Sukonthachartnant. However, the Thai player could only tap the table and muck when Yu turned over for the flopped straight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,350,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
|
390,000
-45,000
|
-45,000 |
|
|
140,000
-60,000
|
-60,000 |
Level 22
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
A huge hand has just played out not long after the three remaining High Rollers returned from the break that has catapulted Chung Yuan Yu into pole position and left Liang Yu’s stack decimated. Unfortunately we were writing up another hand but fortunately, James Chen filled us in on the details once more.
Pre-flop it was Liang Yu who was the aggressor, making it 80,000 to go from the small blind and Chung Yuan Yu made the call from the big blind. The flop fell 
rainbow and Liang Yu checked it over to Chung Yuan Yu, who led out for 84,000.
Liang Yu made the call and a three hit the turn and this is where the fireworks happened. Liang Yu now led for 100,000 and Chung Yuan Yu moved all-in for roughly 325,000.
Liang Yu thought it over but eventually made the call but could not beat Chung Yuan Yu’s flopped set of sevens and took a big hit. That pot puts Chung Yuan Yu firmly in the driver's seat and he now holds a sizable lead over his other two opponents.
Yu won the next hand as well, making it 80,000 to go from the small blind and Phanlert Sukonthachartnant made the call from the big blind. Yu c-bet the 
flop for another 80,000, which was enough to take it down.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,200,000
565,000
|
565,000 |
|
|
435,000
-25,000
|
-25,000 |
|
|
200,000
-555,000
|
-555,000 |
Level: 22
Blinds: 12,000/24,000
Ante: 4,000
Level 21
: 10,000/20,000, 3,000 ante
The three remaining High Rollers are on a 10-minute break.