With so many poker tournaments going on in the Asian region the past couple of weeks, keeping track of all the action has been pretty exciting. The Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2013 Main Event just concluded last week and another tournament followed suit with an equally dramatic finish. The Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event was held at the new PokerStars LIVE Macau at the City of Dreams and featured a record 891 players vying to get the lion’s share of the HK$8,746,412 ($1.1 million) in total prize pool.
In the end, it was 30-year old Taiwanese poker pro Terry Fan who laid claim to the title, winning the tournament and the HK$1,771,000 ($230,000) first place money it came with. Fan’s victory wasn’t without any drama despite entering the Final Table with the chip lead. Gie Reyes from the Philippines gave Fan everything he could handle but in the end, it was the Taiwanese who came out on top thanks to a remarkable backdoor cover on the final hand that saw Reyes Kd8s take the lead on the 8d, 7c, 4d flop, maintained it on the 3s turn only to see Fan’s As5s catch an Ac on the river to finish off the Filipino and win the tournament. Despite finishing second, Reyes sell made good money from the tournament, taking home HK$1,242,000 for his efforts.
Neil Chen of Chinese Taipei finished third, winning HK$743,000 with China’s Fei Xie coming in fourth with a HK$555,000 pay day. Andy Asihwardji of Canada placed fifth (HK$393,000); Fanny Li of the USA came in sixth (HK$328,000); Saleish Lohia finished seventh (HK$262,000); Wesly Zhu of China came in eight (HK$196,000); and Ryan Yu of Canada rounding out the Final Table finishers in ninth (HK$153,000).
The turnout of the tournament was surprising enough on its own considering the multitude of tournaments that were going on simultaneously throughout the region. But not only did the 891 entrants break the 635-player record for a poker tournament in Asia, it absolutely dismantled it. Heading into Day 2, there were still 232 players left, making it that much more eventful that likewise drove up the total prize pool to over a USD$1 million.
Team Bodog Poker pro Jay Tan also made an impressive at the Macau Poker Cup Series, finishing sixth in the High Rollers Event.
While Fan was undoubtedly the star of the event, equal adulation should also sent PokerStars’ way after it’s live room at City of Dreams opened with a record-breaking turnout that saw a total of 2,812 players participate in nine events over 10 days of poker action. A total of HK$17 million (US$2.2 million) in prize money were also awarded, setting a new record for the Macau Poker Cup series.
“This far exceeds our wildest expectations,” Danny McDonagh, PokerStars director of live poker operations in the Asia-Pacific, said in a statement.
