2016 Macau Millions: Day 2 live updates
11:30pm - Day 2 closes with a bang
Level 11, Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000)
China's Alvan Zhang leads the final nine
Usually when the final table bubble looms play tightens up. However this was not the case here and we have just lost five players in quick succession.
Our first casualty was Yujun Zhao, who had been nursing a short stack for the last 40-minutes after losing a hefty pot to Alvan Zhang. Zhao departed in 14th place for a HK$50,000 payday.
Despite being seated at separate tables Germany's Simon Ranke and Hong Kong's Seng Lei Tang managed to bust simultaneously and the pair would share the payout jump - both players finishing in 12th place for HK$55,000.
Next on the chopping block was the UK's Vishnu Jaireth who departed in 11th place, earning HK$60,000 for his deep run.
The final elimination of the day to conclude play and burst the final table bubble was the unfortunate Zhu Lin.
Lin moved all-in pre-flop with A-K and lost a race to the T-T of Boon Siong who finished the day with 2 million in chips while Lin takes home HK$60,000 for his 10th place finish.
All of that crazy action brought play to a halt for the day with the remaining nine players stacking up as follows:
Alvan Zhang (China) - 4,515,000
Quan Zhou (China) - 4,185,000
Jason Lo (Hong Kong) - 3,570,000
Tatiana Barausova (Russia) - 2,445,000
Chun Liang Pan (Chinese Taipei) - 2,115,000
Boon Heng Siong (Singapore) - 2,040,000
Howard Ka Ho Sun (Hong Kong) - 1,675,000
Guancheng Wu (China) - 1,580,000
Tony Yat Wai Cheng (Hong Kong) - 1,055,000
Play resumes at 2:00pm local time tomorrow as our remaining nine finalists play until just one remains and we crown the 2016 Macau Millions champion. In the meantime you can check out the final table player profiles and we hope you can join us here at the PokerStars Blog for the exciting conclusion!
11:00pm - Timely exit for Kwok
Level 11, Blinds 20,000-40,000 (5,000)
We have just lost two more players in quick succession. First to fall was Hong Kong's Benny So who lost a race holding [5s][5c] against the [ac][kd] of Chun Liang Pan.
Pan opened the action with a raise to 100,000 from middle position with So moving all-in over the top for the last of his chips from the big blind.
The board ran out [3c][td][jh][qh][9h] to give Pan a turned broadway straight and send So out in 16th for HK$44,000.
Poker is all about timing, even if things don't quite work out the way you would like. Just as the action concluded on table two another Hong Kong-based player - Chun Kong 'Edmond' Kwok - found himself all-in in yet another race situation over on table one.
Kwok, holding A-K, got the last of his chips in against a tablemate holding Q-Q but lost the race to bust in 15th place. This however, was the ladder spot in the payout structure and was worth HK$6,000 more than 16th place meaning Mr Kwok takes home HK$50,000 for his timely bust out.
10:35pm - Lo closes the level
Level 10, Blinds 15,000-30,000 (5,000)
We have lost nine players over the last 45-minutes and are now down to just two tables. Our latest casualty came on the very last hand of level ten courtesy of Jason Lo.
Hong Kong's Lo raised to 55,000 from middle position before fellow countryman Vincent Li moved all-in from the button for his last 400,000 or so in chips. Judging by the speed of Lo's call Li would be in need of some help and when the cards were turned over that was indeed the case.
Jason Lo: [ad][ac]
Vincent Li: [th][tc]
The board brought no help for Li, running out [kh][4c][4d][ks][9s] to award Lo the pot and send Li to the rail in 18th place. Lo climbs to 2.2 million but we are sure that Li won't be too disappointed as in addition to the HK$44,000 he received for 18th he also takes home an additional HK$12,000 for making it through to Day 2 twice.
10:00pm - Wu takes lead after three-way carnage
Level 10, Blinds 15,000-30,000 (5,000)
Guancheng Wu powers into a commanding chip lead
We are barely ten minutes into level 10 but have lost three players already in quick succession; two of them in the same hand.
The first post-break casualty was China's Lante Zhang who got his remaining 500,000 chips in pre-flop holding [js][jh] against the [ad][qd] of Alvan Zheng. The board cruelly ran out [8d][6h][3h][7d][2d] to give Zheng the backdoor diamond flush and a stack of 1.25 million, sending Zhang to the rail.
This was quickly followed by a three-way car crash of a hand a scant few seconds later over on table two. Benny Lai lit the blue touch paper with an under-the-gun raise to 110,000. Following a pre-break table move Guancheng Wu found himself sitting to Lai's direct left and he promptly moved all-in for just over 1.5 million.
The action folded around to Lin Zhou in the small blind and he did not hesitate to move his 600,000-stack into the middle of the table.
This gave Lai some pause for thought, but the Hong Kong player eventually elected to make the call and the cards went on their backs.
Lin Zhou: [kh][kd]
Benny Lai: [as][ks]
Guancheng Wu: [td][ts]
Unfortunately for both Lai and Zhou the window card was the [tc] and with only one king remaining in the deck and no spades on the flop Wu's set of tens held to scoop the lot giving us a double elimination and propelling Wu into the chip lead with a stack of 3.1 million.
9:05pm - Dinner break
Level 9, Blinds 12,000-24,000 (4,000)
Play has paused as the remaining 26 players take a 45-minute dinner break.
China's Quan Zhou is still our chip leader with a stack of 2.2 million, closely followed by Tatiana Barausova who is sitting pretty with 2.05 million.
Rounding out the top five are Guancheng Wu (1.6 million), Yujun Zhao (1.7 million) and Jason Lo (1.5 million).
The rest of the field all have less than 1 million with the chip average currently at 901,000. Blinds will be 15,000-30,000 (5,000) when play resumes.
8:40pm - Rollercoaster ride for Xiao and Siong
Level 9, Blinds 12,000-24,000 (4,000)
Singapore's Boon Siong is riding a tournament rollercoaster
Tournament poker can be a volatile game - something both China's Xiao Lin and Singapore's Boon Siong have just discovered.
While Lin came into Day 2 as chip leader, both his luck and his stack appeared to be taking a turn for the worse. Things did not seem to be getting much better for Lin when he got all the chips in pre-flop holding 6-6 against tablemate Zhu Lin who held 7-7.
However, the [6c] window card immediately gave Xiao Lin a set, which improved to a full house when the rest of the board ran out [kh][3d][2c][3s] to see him climb back to just over 600,000 while Zhu Lin fell to 350,000.
Unfortunately for Xiao Lin he was not able to hold on to these newly won chips for very long - a scant orbit later as we walked past Lin's (now former) table Hong Kong's Benny Lai was raking in a huge pot and Lin's seat was tellingly empty. Unfortunately we missed all of the action but stuck around long enough to count Lai's stack and he climbs to just over 2 million in chips.
Siong is another player whose fortune has taken a downswing as of late and the Singaporean has just lost two sizable pots in the space of a single orbit.
The first brutal beating came at the hands of Guancheng Wu with the two players going head to head on a flop of [5s][kd][3s]. We missed the pre-flop action but arrived in time to see Wu, sitting in the big blind, checking the action over to Siong who counted out a half-pot bet of 75,000, which Wu called.
Following the appearance of a third spade when the [ks] hit the turn Wu again check-called a Siong bet, this time for a slightly larger 100,000. The [3c] double paired the board and this time when Wu checked for a third and final time Siong followed suit.
The Singaporean turned over [9s][ts] for the flush but it was not good enough to beat Wu's rivered full house when the Chinese player flipped over [ac][kc] to take down the pot and climb to over 1.7 million in chips while Siong fell below the 1-million mark to approximately 850,000 or so.
Lady Luck was not done toying with Siong's stack or emotions however, and worse was to come. In a three-way train wreck of a hand Siong, Yujun Zhao and a third player got all the chips in on a flop of [qd][2d][9s].
Siong had both players covered, which was just as well because his 2-2 was trailing to Zhao's 9-9, with the third protagonist drawing extremely live holding [kd][td]. The turn and river ran out [5c] and [as] meaning we lost one player, Zhao earned a triple-up to 1.65 million and Siong dropped to 500,000.
8:20pm - 34 remain as level eight comes to a close
Level 8, Blinds 10,000-20,000 (3,000)
The average stack is now just over 689,000, which is still a playable 34.5 big blinds. As previously mentioned China's Quan Zhou is current top dog, though he has managed to increase his stack still further and is sitting with 2.2 million in chips.
Zhou's next closest rival is Singapore's Boon Siong who has lost some ground and looks to be sitting on just over 1.8 million.
Hot on their heels is China's Zhen Jie Feng with 1.7 million and Jason Lo and Tatiana Barausova round out the top five with 1.5 million and 1.2 million respectively.
There will be a 45-minute dinner break following the end of level 9 so we will endeavour to give you a more accurate count when that happens.
7:30pm - Cowboys shoot Zhou into lead
Level 8, Blinds 10,000-20,000 (3,000)
Quan Zhou takes chip lead
There has yet to be a car crash over on table three but we have a new chip leader nevertheless. When the crash came it was over on table two with high roller specialist Quan Zhou emerging triumphant.
Following an opponent's late position raise Zhou, sitting in the big blind, made a sizable three-bet only to see his opponent pump it up to 200,000 in total. Zhou did not take long to move all-in and was quickly called, the Chinese players' pocket kings leading his adversary's A-K.
No ace made an unwelcome appearance and Zhou raked in a pot worth over 2 million in chips to shoot him into a commanding lead with a stack of 2.1 million. The next closest challenger is Singapore's Boon Siong who has 200,000 less with a stack of 1.9 million.
7:00pm - Building big stacks
Level 7, Blinds 8,000-16,000 (2,000)
The action is heating up here in the Macau Millions Main Event with several large stacks emerging as play progresses. Currently three of the largest stacks are seated on the same table with Tatiana Barausova, Jason Lo and Zhen Jie Feng all playing together on table three.
There is not much between the trio with Feng on 1.6 million, Barausova with 1.4 million and Lo with a stack of 1.2 million. All it will take is the perfect storm of a hand and one of the three could well be sitting on a 6-million stack.
Lo's stack has taken a small hit recently with the chips going the way of Tony Cheng who padded out his stack with a further 100,000 after some canny pre-flop three-betting saw him take a pot off Lo when the two became involved in a betting war. This brings Cheng up to around 700,000 in chips.
Closer to the middle of the pile are Thailand's Rober Karian and China's Yujun Zhao. However both players have just secured themselves a double up.
Karian earned his at the expense of Hong Kong's Chun Kwok with both players getting all the chips in pre-flop. Karian was the at risk player, his A-7 trailing to Kwok's A-K, but a timely seven on the river saw the former double to 300,000 while Kwok dropped to just below 250,000.
Zhao earned his with [as][ac] after an unfortunate opponent woke up with [qc][qh] and moved all-in over the top of Zhao's under-the-gun min-raise. Zhao made the call and earned the double, climbing to 400,000 while his adversary headed to the rail.
6:40pm - 10-minute break
Level 7, Blinds 8,000-16,000 (2,000)
Russia's Tatiana Barausova joins the seven-figure club
There is a brief respite in play as we are now on a 10-minute break. Blinds will be moving up to 8,000-16,000 (2,000) when play resumes.
This has given us some time to get a good view of the current tournament landscape and Zhen Jie Feng is no longer the only player to have surpassed the seven-figure mark.
Tatiana Barausova is another to join this exclusive club, eliminating Belgium's Laurent de Greef on the last hand of level six to climb to just over the 1-million chip threshold.
Jason Lo is close to breaking this benchmark himself and is currently sitting on a stack of 980,000. Another player who came close is Alvan Zheng, though a brutal cooler against Hong Kong's Seng Tang saw Zheng - holding [kc][3c] - drop down to below 600,000 after Tang made the nut flush holding [ac][qc] with both players getting all the chip in on the river on a board reading [tc][4c][as][8c][8h]. Teng climbed to 650,000 after the dust settled.
Reigning APPT champion Tony Cheng is still alive and kicking with a stack of 550,000, as is high roller specialist Quan Zhou with a similar sized stack and Gilles Lamy appears to be stuck in limbo with his stack still at 250,000.
There are currently six tables and 49 players remaining, though this is certain to shrink still further when play resumes.
6:00pm - Feng breaks a million
Level 6, Blinds 6,000-12,000 (2,000)
China's Zhen Jie Feng breaks the million-mark
There has been some car crash poker over on table three and we now have a new chip leader in the form of China's Zhen Jie Feng.
We caught the action on the turn with the pot already a substantial one and the board reading [8s][2c][5s][2d] in a heads-up hand between Feng and a similarly stacked opponent.
In position in the hand Feng quickly called his opponent's 110,000 turn bet and the dealer burned and peeled off the [6s] river card.
While this looked pretty innocuous the action exploded in a flurry of chips with both players moving all-in. While the first player's [ks][2s] had flopped and turned well Feng had rivered the nut straight holding [4s][7c] to take down a pot worth over a million in chips.
This catapults Feng into a commanding chip lead and he now has a stack of 1.5 million while his unfortunate opponent becomes our latest elimination.
5:46pm - Seven tables remain
Level 5, Blinds 5,000-10,000 (1,000)
We are now down to seven tables as level five draws to a close. Notables still in the running include reigning APPT champion Tony Cheng who has taken Alan Lau's former seat over on table three. Cheng has a stack of around 500,000.
Also on table three Russia's Tatiana Barausova is still in the running with just over 500,000 in chips.
High roller champion Quan Zhou has been busy, building his stack up to around 350,000 and France's Gilles Lamy is still in contention, although his stack has been stuck at around the 250,000 mark for quite some time now.
The chip average is just over 360,000, which is a playable 36 big blinds, but with 67 players still in the running we still have a fair way to go as we will be playing down to the final nine before play concludes for the day.
5:05pm - Lin and Lai double, Lau departs
Level 4, Blinds 4,000-8,000 (1,000)
China's Lin Zhou has just doubled through an unfortunate tablemate we think is Hong Kong's Yu Chau. We caught the action on the river with the board reading [ah][2c][kc][qc][6d] and over 160,000 already in the pot.
Following a river check from Chau, Lin had declared himself all-in, calling time on Chau after the latter paid a lengthy visit to the think tank.
It was a big decision for all of Chau's chips and there was just seconds left on the clock before he elected to make the call. Lin immediately declared "Flush!" turning over [tc][5c].
Chau was left with no option other than to pitch his cards into the muck and head for the rail - he will however, have plenty of company. Unable to recover from getting his aces cracked earlier Alan Lau is another one of our many casualties though we were unable to catch his bust out hand as it coincided with the above action.
A player whose fortunes are moving in the positive direction is Hong Kong's Benny Lai who has just eliminated a short-stacked tablemate over on table three.
Lai opened from the cut-off for 25,000 before his opponent moved all-in for around 100,000 and made the call pretty quicky - his [ah][qd] leading his opponent's [ad][3c].
Lai did not relinquish his lead when the board ran out [2h][5s][ks][7d][jh] raking in the pot to take him over the 700,000-chip mark.
4:38pm - Lo takes lead
Level 4, Blinds 4,000-8,000 (1,000)
Hong Kong's Jason Lo powers into pole position
We managed to get some chip counts while players were on their 10-minute break and the landscape has changed drastically since play began. Ninety players currently remain in contention out of the 160 who made it through to Day 2.
We now have a new chip leader in the form of Hong Kong's Jason Lo who is sitting on what looks to be just over 800,000. Some of these chips came courtesy of Chinese Taipei's Jack Wu, whose short-stacked shove with [as][5c] ran into Lo's [ad][th] to further pad out the latter's stack.
Former frontrunner Xiao Lin, though no longer in pole position is still sitting pretty on a stack of over 700,000.
Another former frontrunner, France's Giles Lamy is still in contention, though his stack is not as large as it was and Lamy has what looks to be around 250,000 in chips.
Macau regular Alvan Zheng is another who has been busy and has a stack of approximately 650,000.
There will be no repeat victory for Justin Chan who departed shortly before the break in 119th and former Red Dragon champion Raymond Wu has also departed in 92nd.
4:15pm - Breaktime
Players are on a short 10-minute break, stay tuned and we will bring you more action when play resumes
3:57pm - Kawahara busts as blinds rise, Lau takes a hit
Level 3, Blinds 3,000-6,000 (1,000)
2015 APOY Alan Lau takes a bad beat
The 160-strong field has shrunk to 125 as the second level draws to a close with blinds rising to 3000/6000 with a 1,000 running ante.
Japan's Yuji Kawahara has joined the ever-growing list of casualties, his short-stacked shove with [qh][7c] running into the [ad][ah] of China's Pengyu Cui, finding no help as the board ran out [kh][2s][3d][6s][2d].
2015 Asia Player of the Year Alan Lau was doing well, right up until we gave him the bloggers curse by writing this post.
Sitting on the button over on table three Lau raised it up only to see tablemate Yongjie Wang declare "all-in!" from the small blind. Lau quickly called, his [as][ac] leading Wang's [ah][kd].
Unfortunately for Lau the board ran out J-T-5-J-Q to give Wang the straight and the rather sizable pot. Lau dropped to just over 50,000 after that rather painful beat while Wang rose like a phoenix from the flames, climbing to 490,000 in chips.
3:30pm - Siong gets caught
Level 2, Blinds 2,500-5,000 (500)
At the higher end of the chip spectrum, Singapore's Boon Siong has seen his fortunes and sizable stack wane slightly.
We caught the action on the river with the board reading [td][qd][kc][2c][5d] and over 100k in the pot. With a diamond flush possible Siong led out from the small blind and made it 60,000.
Siong's opponent, Hong Kong's Jason Lo, contemplated his decision long and hard before time was called. Lo did make the call with seconds to spare and Siong rolled over [6s][7c] for a daring bluff.
Unfortunately seven-high was not good enough to beat Lo's [ac][qs] causing Siong to tap the table and say "good call..." with a sigh. Siong drops down to just below the 300,000-mark after the hand while Lo rises to over 360,000 in chips.
3:00pm - Action aplenty on level one
Level 1, Blinds 2,000-4,000 (500)
Day 2 may have just started but the remaining players are wasting no time getting into the swing of things.
There have been a slew of early eliminations as the short stacks from all three starting flights attempted to go big or go home.
Macau Millions champion Justin Chan is one of those lucky enough to remain in contention after dodging elimination at the hands of tablemate Stanley Wong. Following a limp from Lin Zhou on the button Chan shipped from the small blind for just under 80,000 only to be quickly called by Wong sitting in the big blind.
Chan: [ac][2d]
Wong: [as][8s]
The board ran out [2s][qd][kc][kh][ah] so despite catching a piece of the flop Chan chopped to stay alive.
So far we have lost just over 20 players in a little under 30-minutes with 139 players remaining in contention.
2:00pm - Day 2 action underway
Cards are now in the air as Day 2 of the 2016 Macau Millions gets underway. Currently there are 160 players still in contention battling it out for the HK$911,000 (~US$ 116,800) top prize.
Blind levels have increased from 30-minute levels to 45-minute levels now we have reached the money spots. Stay tuned and we will keep you up-to-date with all the tournament thrills and spills as play progresses.
Blinds are currently 2,000/4,000 with a 500 running ante with the average stack coming in at just over 152,000 in chips.
