China’s Yue Feng Pan has won the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon after beating his fellow countryman Shao Po Liu in heads-up action.
MPC23 is currently being held at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams. There are still a few events to be played out, but it is already the most attended MPC in history with 4,105 players entering a barrage of events.
Despite the record-breaking attendance, the Red Dragon centerpiece was down on last year’s numbers. 945 players created a total prize pool of HK$9,899,820 – nearly double their guarantee of HK$5m – slightly down on last year’s figure of 987 when Yuguang Li captured both the Red Dragon event and the accompanying High Roller for a combined score of over USD$450k.
According to the PokerStars blog, Pan ‘steamrollered’ the competition, eliminating five players en route to a victory worth HK$2,108,000 (USD$272k).
The first player eliminated was Bin Wen Ren, who made his move holding pocket sixes. Tse Jui Tsai called with AJcc and Pan also called with KQo. The pair checked it down and Tsai took the scalp after an ace hit the flop.
Huafeng Gu was next to go when he four-bet jammed holding A3, and was called by Long Wen Zhu holding pocket eights. This time the ace stayed in the deck and Gu flew.
Xong Xin Liu carved his name into the seventh place spot. Liu was eliminated by Pan: AQ
Long Wen Zhu was out in fifth. He moved all-in holing pocket treys and Shao Po Liu woke up with pocket nines. Then we saw Zhixiong Tan moving all-in from the small blind holding K8o, and Tsai looked down to see the smiling faces of the cowboys.
Tsai would leave the contest in third place. Pan moving all-in on a board of [Kd] [9s] [4c] [Ac] (after check-raising the flop), and Tsai calling holding pocket jacks, only to see K9 smashed onto the felt for two pair. The river held no salvation and Liu entered the heads-up phase facing a 2:1 chip deficit against Pan.
Pan would never lose that chip lead. The final hand seeing the pair moving all-in on a flop of [Ts] [Th] [6c] after a series of raise and re-raises. Liu held [Qh] [6s], for two pair, but Pan was sat holding [Td] [4h] for trips. The [Qd] on the turn made things a little interesting, but the [6c] on the river gave Pan tens full and the title.
It was only Pan’s second live tournament cash of his career. The 30-year old is primarily a cash game player.
Final Table Results (HKD)
1st. Yue Feng Pan – $2,108,000
2nd. Shao Po Liu – $1,239,520
3rd. Tse Jui Tsai – $750,000
4th. Zhixiong Tan – $539,000
5th. Long Wen Zhu – $269,500
6th. Ming Min Wu – $269,500
7th. Xong Xin Liu – $225,500
8th. Huafeng Gu – $196,000
9th. Bin Wen Ren – $166,500
