Yuguang Li is the latest Red Dragon Macau Cup champion after defeating Hong Kong’s Yunye Lu, in heads-up action, to take the HK$1,848,000 first prize.
China’s Yuguang Li has won the PokerStars sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event. He defeated Hong Kong’s Yunye Lu in heads-up action to win the first title of his career.
Macau casinos may have experienced the first annual decline in revenues (2014 was the first year that had happened since 2002), and are continuing to plummet like one of those heavyset Angry Birds, but poker seems to be holding its ground.
The latest installment of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon event (it seems every single tournament in Macau carries this title) attracted 987 entrants. It made the HK$5 million guaranteed prize pool look like a ridiculous offering. HK$10,339,812 was gathered from the players, and HK$3.5m of that was divided between the top two.
Li’s live tournament record is a scant one. There are only four recorded cashes since 2013, all in Macau. Prior to this victory, his best result was a HK$96,300 cash after finishing in fifth place in the APPT 2014 event that the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP-APAC) Main Event winner, Scott Davies, took down.
The biggest draw on the final table was the appearance of David Steicke. The former Aussie Millions Main Event winner, and ever-present Macau High Roller performer, showed that he still has what it takes to wade through a tournament knee deep in people. Steicke’s run coming to an end in ninth position.
It’s a modern world. A lack of live tournament scores doesn’t equate to a lack of poker knowledge. Li plays a lot online, and he was very confident going into the heads-up phase despite facing a 3:1 deficit.
“When we reached heads-up, I felt that I was going to win because I play a lot of heads-up online,” Li told reporters after his victory. “I want to thank all my supporters, my friends, my family and PokerStars for running a great event.”
Li used that heads-up experience to even the tie, and it was at this time that the pair decided to take an ICM deal, leaving HK$150,000 on the table, with a ACOP Main Event seat thrown in for good measure.
The pivotal hand of the tournament series saw Lu moving all-in on a board of [Kd] [5d] [3c] [2c], in a single raised pot, holding [Qc] [9h] for air. Li was sat holding [Kc] [2h], for two pair, and gratefully accepted the gift.
Final Table Results
1st. Yuguang Li – HK$1,848,000*
2nd. Yunye Lu – HK$1,645,000*
3rd. Yifan Zhang – HK$783,000
4th. Yi Won Lee – HK$563,000
5th. Takuya Yamashita – HK$384,000
6th. Eileen Fengjiao Wang – HK$281,612
7th. Fan Xu – $HK235,000
8th. Xiaodong Lin – HK$204,500
9th. David Steicke – HK$174,000
