Tan turns up the heat in the Macau Poker Cup
Another long day in the PokerStars Macau Poker Room has seen our field reduced to the final 18. They’ve come a long way from the starting field of 635 players, but the reality is that there is still a loooooong way to go to reach the top prize of HK$1,320,000.
Starting the day with 212 players, we first had to endure the money bubble before surging towards the final table. Along the way there were many casualties, with Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin unfortunately the first out the door when her pocket jacks ran into an opponent’s pocket queens.
The hard luck story of the day belongs to bubble boy Joseph Lind who had his pocket tens cracked by an opponent holding a speculative 8♥ 7♥ . To rub salt in the wound it was a third ten on the river that completed his opponent’s straight to leave Lind empty-handed and the remaining 81 players joyous.
Following the dinner break, the carnage continued as the players took their chances at building a big stack. Ke Chen caught a miracle three-outer to become the first to the million chip mark, but late in the day the story was with the golden run of Jay Tan. The lady in pink was red hot as she caught big pairs, sets and even made quads to send opponent after opponent to the rail. It was a thrilling run and she will assume the chip lead with 1,487,000 chips when play recommences tomorrow in the quest of her first major poker title.
Click here for End of Day 2 chip counts
Click here for Day 3 Seating Draw
Tan won’t have it easy though with several dangerous players still lurking including previous MPC champion Denny Yu (549,000), MPCC champion Julian Hasse (350,000) and high stakes online player Nicky Tao Jin (194,000).
Play will get underway at the bright and early time of 12:10pm (GMT+8) as we look to crown Asia’s first champion of 2012. We look forward to your company then!
12:40am: Yabuuchi busts to bring Day 2 to a close
Nobuhiro Yabuuchi has missed out on reaching the final day of play here at the MPC Red Dragon after his elimination in 19th place to bring our day to an end.
Yabuuchi moved all in preflop for around 100,000 with Q♠Q♣ as Abhishek Goindi made the call with A♦ K♥ .
The board of Aâ™ 8♣ 6♣ 8â™ 9♥ paired up Goindi’s ace to eliminate Yabuuchi from the tournament. With that, the players are now bagging, tagging and heading home for some much-needed rest. It’s likely that Jay Tan will be our chip leader with over 1.5 million, but we’ll have confirmation of chips for you shortly.
12:30am: Jay passive with Big Slick
With so many chips in front of her, Jay Tan would be feeling a little frustrated right now for not being more aggressive with her Aâ™ K♥ . When facing a raise to 46,000 from Dong Woo Kang, Tan decided to flat call on the button to see a Q♥ 3â™ J♦ flop. Kang open-shoved for 185,000 and Tan was forced to make a reluctant open-fold of her hand, but Kang flashed the same hand – A♣ K♣ !
12:20am: From red to white hot
“Quads! Quads! Quads!” squealed Jay Tan after eliminating yet another opponent. She has gone from red hot to white hot as Tong Seng Lew has felt the brunt of her form.
Lew moved all in preflop for his last chips with A♣ K♥ and thought he was racing with Tan’s 10â™ 10♦ , but the way this girl has been running, this was a race she was never going to lose. Not only did she win, but she did it in style, making quads as the board ran out 10♣ 6♥ K♦ 10♥ 3♦ .
Lew is out with Tan now up to 1.55 million.
12:10am: Darian doubles up
Darian Tan was one of the short stacks in the room but a desperate double up has kept his title hopes alive. Tan moved all in for 80,000 from middle position and play folded around to Ke Chen who called in the big blind with A♣ 5♦ as Tan would need help with his J♥ 9♥ .
Tan had to wait until the river but he finally got there with the 2♥ 5♥ 6♠4♦ 7♥ board delivering a flush for the double up. He moves up to 180,000.
12:05am: Down to 18
We’ve just received word that we’ll be playing down to the final two tables this evening before we wrap things up. That means four more eliminations before we’re outta here!
12:00am: Red hot Tan
Following the break, Jay Tan has gone on one hell of a heater as she has steamrolled her way to the tournament chip lead.
After winning a big pot with pocket aces against Denny Yu, Lee then proceeded to take out previous MPC champion Patrick Lee.
Lee raised to 38,000 from early position with Tan calling on the button to see a 4â™ 10♦ 7♦ flop fall. Lee tossed out 50,000 before Tan moved all in. Lee called off his last chips quickly but didn’t like what he saw. Lee opened K♥ K♣ for an overpair but Tan tabled 4♥ 4♣ for a flopped set!
“Wow,” sighed Lee, as the 5♦ turn and A♣ river completed the board. A great run by the previous MPC champ as he is eliminated from the tournament.
“Am I dreaming?” laughed Tan as she moved up to a massive 1.4 million. Seated to her direct right is Ke Chan who holds 1.2 million as the top two stacks in the room. Expect fireworks!
11:45pm: Play resumes
The final 23 players are back with likely one to two more levels to play before we call it an evening.
Ke Chen remains a clear chip leader with around 1.15 million in chips.
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