Quick Day 2 Done with Gao Leading
Four hours and 20 minutes ago. That’s when Day 2 began and now it’s already over.
At the start of the day there were 223 players, now there are 77.
Our chip leader will be Lei Gao, courtesy of big a call and four jacks, which you can read about below. Gao has well over 800,000 in chips and still counting.
Be sure to check back with the PokerStars Blog soon for a full recap of the day’s action, all the end-of-day chip counts and a Day 3 seating draw once all that information is made available. The players will be back at it from 3:00pm tomorrow.
7:15pm:Four Jacks and Gao will be the Chip Leader
James Mendoza’s bad beat story has become Lei Gao’s story of triumph.
It started with Gao opening the button to 12,000. Mendoza then three-bet all in for around 150,000 from the big blind. Gao went deep into the tank, trying to decide whether or not to call such a big shove. Eventually he gave his head a slight nod and made the call.
Mendoza turned over his A♣ Q♣ and was in great shape to win the monster pot against the Q♥ J♥ of Gao. However, the powers that be had other ideas.
Flop: 4♦ 5♦ J♣
“Yes!” screamed Gao at the sight of the flop.
Turn: J♦
“Yes! Yes!” screamed Gao at the sight of the turn.
River: Jâ™
“Yes, C’mon!” Gao shouted as Mendoza left the tournament area.
Gao is still stacking his chips as we write this hand. There are a lot. He will be the chip leader and with only a couple of hands left at each table, it’s not even close.
7:10pm: And Suddenly… Three More Hands
With just five minutes left in the current level, APPT President Danny McDonagh has made the decision to play just three more hands at each table. The 8:00pm side event is expecting a large field and so he needs the tables.
“We will come back tomorrow and play down to nine,” McDonagh added. “It still shouldn’t be a long day.”
7:05pm: Brutal Bust for Shao
More and more players continue to hit the rail here on Day 2 of the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event. Arguably none of them were eliminated quite as brutally as Huang Yan Shao.
It was all in preflop for Shao with his K♦ K♣ going up against 10♣ 7♣ . The 7♦ 6♣ 2♦ wasn’t the worst for Shao, but the 10â™ turn would prompt him to say, “sick!”
The Q♦ river was no help to Shao and he was eliminated in 81st place.
6:55pm: Big Stacks and a Team Pro
With around 90 players still alive it looks like Hu Jia Jun is the chip leader with a stack in excess of 400,000. Start-of-day chip leader Lei Gao is also up near the top with around 350,0000. Meanwhile, Day 1c chip leader Lante Zhang was eliminated in 91st place.
We can also report that Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im is cruising along nicely with around 220,000.
6:40pm: Plan Announced
Play will be stopped at around 7:45pm tonight. This is due to the speed of the eliminations, the fact that we still have two more days to complete this tournament and that a HK$20,000 buy-in side event is starting at 8:00pm tonight.
6:30pm: Mariakis Out in 95th
Michael Mariakis has just been eliminated in 95th place.
The Aussie was all in preflop holding K♠J♥ against the A♣ J♠of Lei Gao. The board ran out 8♣ 5♠9♣ 2♠5♣ and it was all over for Mariakis.
Gao continues to add chips to his stack and is still one of the chip leaders in the room.
6:20pm: More Money, Less Tournament
Players have been flying out the door now that we are in the money. There are now 97 players remaining. The next pay jump is at 90 players.
Some of those to recently finish in the money include Ian Lister (110th), Manish Sansi (107th), Wai Lun Wong (105th), Sailesh Verma (104th), Jun Zhou (102nd), Lu Feng (101st) and Nobutake Hozumi (98th).
Level 16 Begins, Blinds 3,000/6,000, Ante 500
6:05pm: Lim Out in 111th
Australia’s WSOP gold bracelet winner Aaron Lim has just been eliminated in 11th place here in the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event. Lim’s final hand saw the Aussie three-bet jam from the small blind holding K♦ Q♦ , which was called by Hu Jia Jun who held A♥ Kâ™ and had opened from the cutoff.
The board ran out 8♠7♣ 5♣ 5♣ J♥ and Lim was sent home. He will surely be off to play the Aussie Millions back in his home country, which begins this week.
5:55pm: First Money Busts
Six players were quickly eliminated following the bursting of the bubble. Those who were sent home as the first in-the-money bust-outs include Joe Cho Chan (117th), Yanjun Ma (116th), Hisashi Ogi (115th), Toma Tsujiura (114th), Zhengming Shan (113th) and Robert Koller (112th).
Be sure to check out the full prize pool page to find updated payout information posted as soon as that information made available.
5:50pm: Quick in-the-money double for Mariakis
Australia’s Michael Mariakis has found a quick in-the-money double up. He hit a full house and now once again moves well over 100,000 in chips.
Mariakis made the final table of the Red Dragon Main Event back in 2010, ultimately finishing in 6th place for a HK$136,000 score. He has a long way to go this week to better that result.
5:40pm: Calvin the Bubble Boy
The bubble has burst!
There were several all in during the hand-for-hand period, with short stacks doubling up all over the room.Then one player was unfortunate to go home in 119th place when his 8♣ 8♦ lost to the A♠J♣ of an opponent and with that we were on the pure bubble.
It was then that Calvin Yeung found himself all in against Seung Hun Ko.
Yeung was at-risk holding A♣ Q♥ against Ko’s 8♥ 8â™ .
By the time the turn rolled out on a 9♥ 5♠10♦ 8♣ board, Yeung was out of his seat, with the sight of eight leaving him not too happy. The table then pointed out that a jack would give him a straight and he sat back down.
The 5♥ river wasn’t what Yeung needed and just like that he was the bubble boy!
The 117 remaining players are now in the money and guaranteed HK$19,100!
5:25pm: Hand-for-Hand begins
There are 119 players remaining – two off the money – and we are now hand-for-hand!
The next two players eliminated will go home with no cash for their time, while the players who make the money will lock up HK$19,100.
5:15pm: Three Gone, Three More to Bubble
Three quick eliminations following the break and we are down to 120 players.
The next three eliminations will be sent home without any cash for their time.
“If anyone if taking too long on decisions,” APPT President Danny McDonagh told the room. “I will come over and will look at cards and if you are doing it with junk, you will get a penalty.”
Unfortunately the Macau poker scene is known for excessive tanking in situations like this, but McDonagh does a pretty good job of stopping it.
5:10pm: Back to Burst the Bubble
The players are back from their break and the cards are back in the air!
We only need a few more eliminations before reaching the 117 money-paying positions.
Approximately 124 remain.
5:00pm: First Break of Day Close to the Bubble
The players have been sent on their first 10-minute break of the day.
With around 124 players remaining, we are less than one table off the money bubble!
4:55pm: Lei Gao In Control
Just like on Day 1b, start-of-day chip leader Lei Gao is once again in control of his table – in fact it’s the very same table he was at on Day 1b. Gao is also letting the room know all about it again, having jumped out of his seat and giving a trademark
“Yesssssssss!” on multiple occasions.
Gao is up to over 300,000.
4:45pm: “PokerPro” Paul’s Macau Dream Over
Canada’s Paul Richardson won his way to Canada by playing a special promotion on the PokerPro eGaming tables (tables which you can now find here at PokerStars LIVE Macau). Unfortunately Richardson won’t be making it back to Macau with the ultimate story of success as he has just been eliminated a couple of tables off the money.
Richardson’s final hand saw him all in holding 9♥ 9â™ J♦ of an opponent. The K♥ Jâ™ 2♣ flop would see Richardson out of his chair, while the K♦ turn would leave him dead. A meaningless 7♦ completed the board on the river and just like that it was all over.
4:40pm: Mariakis Falls, then Doubles
Aussie Michael Mariakis started the day with one of the largest stacks in the room, but quickly found himself with only 20 big blinds. Then Mariakis doubled up and can now start grinding again.
We didn’t catch all the action, but we do know Mariakis was all in holding Aâ™ 7♣ against the 6â™ 6♣ of and opponent. The board had ran out 3♦ 4♣ A♦ A♣ 4♦ , with trips good to see Mariakis scoop up the chips.
4:20pm: Team Pro Cruising as 165 Remain
The lone Team PokerStars Pro in the field is Vivian Im and she is doing great. Im started the day with around 100,000 in chips and currently has around 160,000.
Another table recently broke here on Day 2 of the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event and with that we are down to 162 players.
The money bubble gets ever-closer!
4:10pm: Aussie Luke Loses Some, but Still Strong
Aussie Luke Dick has lost quite a hefty pot, but is still travelling along okay with around 100,000 in chips which is a little more than the average stack.
We caught up with a hand Dick was involved in on a A♦ J♠10♥ flop. Dick was up against Wai Wa Chan, who had checked to Dick. Eventually Dick led out for 11,300 and it was on Chan, who check-raised to 23,500. Dick went into the tank, enquiring how much his opponent had before eventually opting to fold.
4:00pm: Level 14 Begins, Blinds 1,500/3,000, Ante 500
3:55pm: Massive pot for Tsung Wen Huang
We have just watched Tsung Wen Huang rake in a monster pot.
We arrived at the table with a 3♠J♥ 6♠A♦ board on the felt and with Huang all in on the turn. There was around 100,000 already in the pot and it was around 60,000 for
Fang Kai Yang to call. Yang tanked for a long time before eventually letting it go. Huang now sits behind a stack of around 170,000.
3:45pm: Eliminations Will Not Stop
The rate of eliminations have been extremely quick here on Day 2 of the MPC Red Dragon Main Event. Just 45 minutes into the day and we are down to 185 players. That means we have lost around 40 players, or one player per minute.
Remember, it’s the top 117 players who make the money and lock up at least HK$19,100.
A few of the players who have had great starts to the day and look good to make the money include Aditya “Intervention” Argawal and Victor Teng. Argawal currently has around 190,000 in chips, while Teng is up to 230,000.
3:40pm: Wenlin Wang Doubles Through Aaron Lim
Folded around to Wenlin Wang in the small blind and he would shove all in for 36,700. Australian and WSOP bracelet winner Aaron Lim was in the big blind and as soon as he looked down at his cards, snap called.
It was Wang’s K♣ J♥ against Lim’s A♥ J♦ .
Wang needed a lot of help to survive and it’s help which would come on the K♥ 3♣ 6♣ flop. The 5♥ turn and the 3♦ river didn’t hurt Wang and with that he was up to around 75,000.
Despite losing this pot Lim is going strong on around 90,000.
3:30pm: Big one for Zalac
Aussie Ivan Zalac has just taken down a very handy pot. It was a three-way all in, with Zalac holding Qx-Qx against the pocket deuces and Qx-Tx of another opponent. The player with the Queen-Ten had both players covered, while the deuces was the short stack. Ivan’s queens held up and just like that he had more than doubled up.
He’s up over 100,000 in chips.
3:20pm: Red Dragon Plans
APPT President Danny McDonagh has just let the field know that they will be playing a maximum of six levels here on Day 2 of the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event. If there is high demand for the HK$20,000 buy-in side event this evening, which starts at 8:00pm, then the Main Event will be cut even shorter.
3:15pm: Cho Doubles through Lante
Lante Zhang started the day with a massive stack – the second largest in fact – but has now lost a portion of those as Tong Zhou has doubled up.
The hand started with Jiajun Hu opening it up to 5,400 from middle position. Lante Zhang called from the button and it was on Zhou in the big blind. After just a few moments, Zhou moved all in for 24,500. Hu got out of the way and Zhang called.
Zhang: 2♠2♥
Zhou: K♣ J♥
The window card was a king as the board ran out 9♠7♣ K♦ A♥ 5♠and just like that Zhou had doubled up. Zhang is still cruising on around 150,000.
3:10pm: Quick Double for the Swiss
Switzerland’s Roger Flueckiger has started the day with a quick double up. He got all his chips in preflop holding 5♥ 5♦ and went up against the A♥ K♣ of Hsu-Fang Cho. The board ran out 8â™ 5â™ 8♣ 9♣ 2â™ , with a set of fives giving Flueckiger the goods.
3:00pm: Bags Open, Cards in Air
The players have scrambled into their seats, ripped their bags open and now the cards are in the air on Day 2 of the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event.
We still don’t have full confirmation of how many levels are being played today, but e will let you know as soon as possible.
Record MPC20 Red Dragon Moves Toward the Money
Three massive Day 1 flights have entered the record books and now it’s time for Day 2 of the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event! The starting field of 995 players has been whittled down to 223, with Lei Gao the overall chip leader and the only player with more than 200,000 in chips. Below are the top five stacks at the beginning of Day 2, along with a link to the Day 2 seating draw.
Lei Gao – 245,100
Lante Zhang – 188,700
Ka Cheong Wong – 176,500
Terry Yun-hsiang Fan – 176,200
Zhaojun Ruan – 171,900
Click here for Day 2 seating and table draw
The action will be kicking off at 3:00pm local time and the word on the street is that it’s going to be a short day of only around five 60-minute levels. That’s certainly not a long day, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we easily make it into the money. The top 117 players will make said money, with the min cash worth HK$19,100.
Click here for full prize pool and payout information
Be sure to join us here at the PokerStars Blog throughout the day for all the continued live updates from the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event!
