EN
FR
European Poker Tour
European Poker Tour
European Poker Tour
$1,096,481,256
2015 ACOP Day 1A: Yao, Andrejevic and Seidel round out top three

Seven levels, several notables and 63 remaining.

The ACOP Main Event Day 1A is a wrap.

Players were fresh from a different sort of tournament last night before football legend Ronaldo Nazario kicked off proceedings this afternoon. The High Roller was winding down across the tournament floor just as the Main Event was firing up.

Late registration was open for the entirety of today and by the close we saw 110 try their luck. Now after seven levels of play only 63 remain. They'll have a day off tomorrow before returning Wednesday for the official Day 2.

Setting the benchmark for tomorrow's bunch was Zhengye Yao. He snuck through in the final hand of the day to bag up 136,500. That hand saw Yao spike a lucky ten on the river to eliminate Jonathan Karamalikis. He will be the one to chase for those pulling up seats tomorrow.

Yao Day 1A.jpg

Current chip boss Zhengye Yao

Yao scraped ahead by only 300 chips in the dying stages, eclipsing Andy Andrejevic's stack of 136,520. The second place finisher also made a late charge, finding a set to bust Ronald Yu and secure a spot on the Day 1A podium.

Andrejevic has been on a heater of late, making three six-figure scores in September alone. The biggest of which saw him finish fourth in the River Poker Series Main Event for $134,238, before final tabling two separate WPT Main Events. He has found himself in a great spot to make another run at a huge score here in Macau.

andrejevic day 1a.jpg

End of day second-place finisher Andy Andrejevic

And rounding out the top three is poker legend Erik Seidel. With over $25 million in live earnings Seidel's poker resume speaks for itself. He had a stack of 130,400 at the conclusion of play, only just trailing the top two finishers.

Also joining the frontrunners on Day 2 will be Andrew Hinrinchsen (86,000), Daniel Demicki (78,000), Kunal Patni (76,400), Daniel Neilson (54,400), Pete Chen (40,800), Sam Higgs (40,700), Martin Kozlov (27,500), Joe Hachem (20,500) and Xuan Liu (17,400).

For those less fortunate though it was off to the rail as 47 were met with elimination. Team PokerStars members Chen-An Lin and Naoya Kihara found the exit, as did Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Fedor Holz, Stephen Chidwick, Mustapha Kanit, Juicy Li, and reigning champion Gabriel Le Jossec.

Chen-an lin 2 Day 1a.jpg

Eliminated - Team PokerStars Pro Chen-An Lin

ACOP Main Event Day 1A Top Ten

Zhengye Yao (China) - 136,500
Andrejevic Andjelko (USA) - 136,200
Erik Seidel (USA) - 130,400
Yuguang Li (China) - 115,200
Ryan Yum (Hong Kong) - 105,100
Shunu Zang (China) - 101,600
Tony Yat Wai Cheng (Hong Kong) - 100,300
Mingjie Sun (China) - 87,300
Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia) - 86,000
Daniel Demicki (Poland) - 78,000

So that's all for tonight. We'll see a new bunch of players on the tournament floor here at PokerStars LIVE Macau tomorrow. Day 1B begins at 3pm local time. We hope you can join us!



Weekend Review: Up the swonnny, and down in Macau

A straight forward weekend on PokerStars designed to suit all tastes. Here's how things turned out.


Weekend highlights

-- swonnny wins the Sunday Million
-- Merin09 of Poland wins the Warm-up
-- The Asia Championship of Poker gets under way in Macau


Round up of latest results

Canadian player swonnny took honours in the Sunday Million at the second time of asking. As Kristin Bihr reported, swonnny, who took $179,740 along with the title, went deep in the Million back in March, finishing 16th. This time there was no doubt, finishing things off with aplomb.


MacauTriangle_9nov15.jpg

Meanwhile in the Warm-Up Merin09 of Poland was having similar success. Both of the headline Majors were won without deals, which amounted to more than $80,000 for Merin09 who started the final table second in chips, and steered his stack around the likes of Andrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk and Carter "cswidler" Swidler at the final table. Jason Kirk has the full story.

Meanwhile in the world of live poker things got interesting over in Macau where the Asia Championship of Poker kicked off in the early hours of today. More and more these events appeal to the bigger names in the game, with High Rollers such as Mustapha Kanit, Stephen Chidwick, Pratyush Buddiga, Erik Seidel, and recent EPT Barcelona winner John Juanda making the trip to Asia. One name stood out among them all, that of Ronaldo Nazário, who will be playing his first ACOP event on Day 1B. Read that story on the PokerStars Blog.

Meanwhile here are those results in full.


Sunday Million results
Players: 5,798
Prize pool: $1,159,600.00
Places paid: 855

1. swonnny (Canada) $179,740.79
2. yosim19 (Israel) $133,354.00
3. DUALMTN (Canada) $93,927.60
4. jaggalo1231 (Czech Republic) $65,111.54
5. simbir (Norway) $48,703.20
6. sik0tic (United Kingdom) $37,107.20
7. Aussie_star1 (Australia) $25,511.20
8. elitesold (Germany) $14,495.00
9. portillo23 (Romania) $9,044.88


Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.


Sunday Warm-Up results
Entrants: 2,539
Prize pool: $507,800
Places paid: 378

1. Merin09 (Poland) $80,232.69
2. unfrosya (Russia) $59,920.40
3. Gambler4444 (Austria) $42,655.20
4. mendieta19 (Sweden) $29,701.22
5. ThePateychuk (Russia) $22,089.30
6. DeLaBijen (Netherlands) $17,011.30
7. dynamicnag (India) $11,933.30
8. cswilder (Canada) $7,363.10
9. EspenasApart (Norway) $4,316.30


The weekend's top tournament winners

Sunday Million swonnnyCanada $179,740.79
Sunday Warm-Up Merin09Poland $80,232.69
Sunday 500 firas71Brazil $58,995.25
Sunday Supersonic [6-Max] Ravic85Russia $42,778.19
Sunday 2nd Chance krasarkAustralia $36,864.00
Sunday Rebuy 1_conor_b_1Netherlands $34,000.00
Sunday Storm radek0444Poland $29,232.11
The Weekender lechuckpokerUnited Kingdom$26,130.00
Sunday Kickoff VegasDietzCanada $21,433.57
Saturday Super-Knockout ImYourBluffNew Zealand $19,000.00

Here are the top 25 earners from the weekend



























Sunday MillionswonnnyCanada $179,740.79
Sunday Millionyosim19Israel $133,354.00
Sunday MillionDUALMTNCanada $93,927.60
Sunday Warm-UpMerin09Poland $80,232.69
Sunday Millionjaggalo1231Czech Republic $65,111.54
Sunday Warm-UpunfrosyaRussia $59,920.40
Sunday 500firas71Brazil $58,995.25
Sunday MillionsimbirNorway $48,703.20
Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]Ravic85Russia $42,778.19
Sunday Warm-UpGambler4444Austria $42,655.20
Sunday 500PerrymejsenSweden $42,116.50
Sunday Millionsik0ticUnited Kingdom $37,107.20
Sunday 2nd ChancekrasarkAustralia $36,864.00
Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]SlowDokeIreland $36,392.69
Sunday Rebuybob43155Mexico $34,087.60
Sunday Rebuy1_conor_b_1Netherlands $34,000.00
Sunday 500pulgares3Argentina $31,828.50
Sunday RebuySenterpiedUnited Kingdom $31,000.00
Sunday Warm-Upmendieta19Sweden $29,701.22
Sunday Stormradek0444Poland $29,232.11
Sunday 2nd ChanceWenderrBrazil $26,624.00
The WeekenderlechuckpokerUnited Kingdom $26,130.00
Saturday Super-KnockouttalitayIsrael $26,000.00
Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]ramastar88Argentina $25,578.05
Sunday 500sonmonedasArgentina $23,951.75

Find all the scores from this weekend on PokerStars on the results page for the weekend of November 7-8, 2015.


If all of this has inspired you to open your own PokerStars account now is the perfect opportunity. Open your account here.

Another weekend is in the books. If it was a good one for you then we'd like to wish you congratulations. If it wasn't so good then take comfort in the fact that you can change all that next weekend, and in countless online tournaments on PokerStars in between. Either way send your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.



2015 ACOP: Darts 'til dawn

What better way to celebrate ACOP Main Event Eve than with a different type of tournament?

That seemed to be the sentiment last night as poker players packed the Music World Karaoke Bar for some competitive games of darts and dice.

The drinks were flowing and the tensions high as everyone was chasing the elusive trophies on offer.

darts trophy.jpg

APPT President Danny McDonagh was doing the rounds and signing up anyone willing to join the competition. Play was split into a number of heads up matches with the loser of each frozen out of the running. The winners would play on until ultimately only one remained.

While the darts action kicked off in the front room, the lounge at the back was opened up for the dice contest. Players were sharing drinks and laughs but it was serious business with egos and of course the trophy on the line.

The APPT Media Coordinator and legendary Australian poker writer Heath Chick was in fine form. He dispatched three adversaries at the dart board before drawing McDonagh in the semi-finals. It was a heated match and PokerNews reporter Nicki Pickering gave the play-by-play over the microphone. Chick had a couple of chances to seal the win but after some near misses the window opened for McDonagh to sneak through and steal a victory.

Heath darts.jpg

By the early hours of the morning two darts competitions had played out. It was Gary Tan who emerged as the champion in the first. He made a finals appearance after subbing in for McDonagh and proved himself too good for Tim English. The second contest went the way of Jonathan Karamilikis who overcame Kunal Patni in the final match of the night. Both Tan and Karamilikis earned themselves official darts champion trophies for their efforts.

Jono darts.jpg

Jonathan Karamilikis and Kunal Patni

The dice competition raged on in the back room but the poker reporting contingent headed back to the hotel to rest for a long day ahead this afternoon. And that day is winding down now as we approach the later stages of Day 1A of the ACOP Main Event.

We'll get back to the action. Be sure to keep your browser locked to the PokerStars Blog for a full recap of everything from the felt today. In the meantime you can check out PokerNews for all your live reporting needs.



2015 ACOP: Sukonthachartnant scoops High Roller

What a whirlwind we just witnessed!

It was the final seven who showed up to do battle in the 2015 ACOP High Roller today and after less than three hours of play a champion has emerged.

That honour goes to Thailand's Phanlert Sukonthachartnant who just pocketed an impressive HK$4,890,600 (US$652,080) and the illustrious trophy.

HR champ.jpg

Sukonthachartnant started the day as our chip leader and didn't hesitate to bulldoze his way through the final table. Ultimately heads up play was reached before the first break of the day, with Sukonthachartnant maintaining the chip advantage of 8,375,000 to opponent Stanley Choi's 7,375,000.

Players were relatively deep but that didn't seem to slow things down. The final hand brought fireworks on a flop of [7s][Tc][9h]. Choi lead for 400,000 before Sukonthachartnant raised it up to 850,000 in chips. Another click-back from Choi saw the price set at 1,300,000 and with a call from Sukonthachartnant players went to the turn.

It was then that all the money went in to reveal it was Sukonthachartnant's pocket queens up against Choi's queen-jack for an open-ended straight draw. Sukonthachartnant needed to fade a king or an eight to seal the victory and managed to do just that as the dealer brought the [6c] river.

heads up HR.jpg

Moments before the heads up clash commenced

Before heads up began, however, the bustouts were flying thick and fast. Germany's Fedor Holz was the first to hit the exit after finding himself on the wrong end of a flip early into proceedings. His final hand began with Phanlert Sukonthachartnant raising to 180,000 in chips before Holz pushed all in. Sukonthachartnant made the call to put the German at risk and the two tabled their cards.

Holz: [3s][3c]
Sukonthachartnant: [Kd][7d]

It was a coinflip and Holz faded danger on the [Jh][Qc][Qd]. It did present some counterfeit opportunities but the dealer turned the safe [4c]. The river, however, landed the [7s] to pair Sukonthachartnant and eliminating Holz in seventh place. He collects HK$889,000 (US$118,533) for his efforts.

Sukonthachartnant would soon claim another knockout as he sent Australian Stevan Chew to the rail. Chew moved all in preflop over Sukonthachartnant's open and found himself needing help with [Ad][Jd] against his opponent's [Qh][Qc]. The [Jc][5c][8s] flop gave him some extra outs but the [Qd] turn meant Chew was drawing dead. The inconsequential [8d] river rolled off and Chew was sent to the cashier for a HK$1,037,000 (US$138,267) payday.

chew HR.jpg

6th place - Stevan Chew

Next to go was Aleksandar Denisov. After arriving 45 minutes late he would outlast two opponents but that would be as far as he could go. With a stack of 620,000 and the blinds at 50,000/100,000, Denisov moved all in from the button with [Kc][8c] but Stanley Choi made the call in the big blind with [ah][4h]. The board ran out [Ad][Ks][3d][Jc][2d] to eliminate Denisov in fifth place for HK$1,185,000 (US$4158,000)

Two hands later, and it was Anton Astapau joining the rail. Choi was on the button and threw out a bet amount that wasn't enough to raise, so he was ruled to a call. Wang Zuo folded the small blind, but Astapau decided to move all in for one million in chips from the big blind with [Kh][Th]. He'd fallen for the trap as Choi snapped it off with [Ah][Ac]. The board bricked out [2c][9h][7d][8s][4d] and Astapau would leave us in fourth place, scoring himself HK$1,630,000 (US$217,333).

anton HR.jpg

4th place - Anton Astapau

The action didn't slow down as the very next hand Zuo was all in from the button for 1,150,000 holding [ac][jc]. Again it was Choi in the thick of things as he made the call in the big blind with [qc][qd]. Zuo caught a jack on the [js][3h][8c] flop, but the [4s] turn and [qs] river would leave him two short of victory but HK$2,074,000 ($US276,533) richer.

And then it was on to the heads up clash that ended as quickly as we should've expected from the action here this afternoon. Congratulations to Sukonthachartnant - our ACOP High Roller champion!



Sunday Million: swonnny sensational in second-chance victory

As the WSOP Main Event final table slogged through its first 72 hands and three eliminations, it took less than an hour to play the 102 hands it took to get us from nine players to this week's Sunday Million champion. Shortly before serial EPT qualifier Pierre Neuville busted from the Main in seventh place, Canada's swonnny made good on his second chance at a Sunday Million title. Back in March, swonnny made a deep run, but saw his final table hopes cut short when he was eliminated in 16th place. This time, it was quite a different story. Swonnny made the final table second in chips and took the lead five-handed before finishing off yosim19 in a short, brutal heads-up match in which he dragged every single pot.

5,798 players entered this week's Million, pushing the prize pool up to $1,159,600.00. 855 places were paid with first place set to earn $179,740.79.

The blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 and ten players remained when FrAAnKK Jr. opened for a min-raise to 500,000 out of the small blind. Yosim19 called and they saw a [Tc][2c][2d] flop. FrAAnKK Jr. check-called yosim19's 1,125,000 bet. The [Td] turn double-paired the board and FrAAnKK Jr. checked to yosim19, who moved all-in for 9.56 million. FrAAnKK Jr. called off his remaining 2.3 million and turned over [Ad][Qc]. However, yosim19 had him drawing dead with [Ac][Ah]. The river was the meaningless [4h] and FrAAnKK Jr. hit the rail in tenth place, sending us to the final table.

Sun_Million_FT_110815.jpg

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: sik0tic (2,658,504 in chips)
Seat 2: DUALMTN (8,057,627 in chips)
Seat 3: Aussie_star1 (2,617,426 in chips)
Seat 4: portillo23 (3,365,960 in chips)
Seat 5: jaggalo1231 (7,231,860 in chips)
Seat 6: simbir (4,432,900 in chips)
Seat 7: yosim19 (15,237,578 in chips)
Seat 8: elitesold (1,869,792 in chips)
Seat 9: swonnny (12,508,353 in chips)

Action was swift and brutal right out of the gate. On Hand #3, portillo23 three-bet shoved for 3.16 million with [Ac][9c] and ran straight into yosim19's pocket kings. Portillo23 got no love on the queen-high board and went out in ninth place. Four hands later, elitesold open-shoved for his last 1.3 million with [Ah][9c] and DUALMTN woke up with, guess what? [As][Ad]. No miracle for elitesold on the [Tc][3s][2h][Ac][8d] board and he exited in eighth place.

Two hands later, DUALMTN struck again, calling Aussie_star1's 2.74 million three-bet shove. DUALMTN's pocket tens won the race against [Ac][Kh] when a ten hit the flop and Aussie_star1 had to settle for seventh place. Then, on the very next deal, sik0tic made a stand with [4c][4s] and DUALMTN looked him up with [7s][7d]. The sevens held up and sik0tic hit the rail in sixth place, giving DUALMTN his third KO in a row. After that flurry of eliminations, DUALMTN was up to 17.8 million, but still trailed chip leader yosim19, who had 19.6 million.

The blinds rose to 150,000/300,000 and simbir led off the action with a UTG raise to 750,000. Swonnny called on the button and the flop came down [Jc][Jh][8s]. Both players checked. The turn was the [9h] and simbir led out for 588,000. Swonnny called and they went to the river which fell the [Td]. Simbir checked, swonnny bet 3.6 million and simbir called all-in for slightly less. Although simbir turned up [Kd][Kh] for two pair, they were no good against swonnny's [Js][Tc]-- trips on the flop and jacks full of tens on the river. Simbir went out in fifth place and swonnny tok the chip lead for the first time with 19.77 million.

Two orbits later, DUALMTN was back on the warpath. He opened for 750,000 with [Ad][Qh], only to have jaggalo1231 shove for 6.1 million from the small blind. DUALMTN called and jaggalo1231 turned over a dominated [As][9d]. Jaggalo1231 did not improve on the [Jd][6s][5h][4s][Td] board and departed in fourth place.

As three-handed play commenced the chip counts were relatively even; swonnny held 19.7 million, DUALMTN 19.4 million and yosim19 18.9 million.

The trio exchanged pots for about ten minutes before swonnny had a huge breakthrough. In a pot yosim19 three-bet to 2.4 million out of the big blind, both players checked the [Ks][4c][3h] flop. The turn came the [8c] and yosim19 checked to swonnny, who bet 2.4 million. Yosim19 called and they went to the river, which fell the [9c]. This time, yosim19 led out for 4.96 million and swonnny called. Yosim19 had [Ad][Qs], nothing more than ace high, and swonnny turned over [Ah][4h] to take down the 19.8 million pot with a pair of fours. Swonnny moved up to 36.5 million in chips while yosim19 sank to 11.8 million.

Moments later, DUALMTN opened from the small blind for 1,000,000 and yosim19 called from the big. DUALMTN check-called 2.15 million on the [Qh][Th][5d] flop and checked again when the [3s] turned. Yosim19 moved all-in for 10.5 million and DUALMTN called all-in for less.

DUALMTN [Kc][Ts]
yosim19 [Qs][Jc]

DUALMTN needed a ten or a king to survive, but the [2s] fell instead. Yosim19 took down the 17 million-chip pot with top pair and DUALMTN went out in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 7: yosim19 (22,216,247 in chips)
Seat 9: swonnny (35,763,753 in chips)

Swonnny never let up once in this match. He won the first seven pots, taking his chip count up to 46.2 million. He opened the eighth hand for a raise to 1,000,000 and yosim19 called to see a [Ts][9c][7d] flop. Yosim19 led out for 2,000,000, swonnny moved all-in, and yosim19 called.

yosim19 [Qs][9d]
swonnny [Ac][Ah]

Yosim19 could survive with only a queen, a nine, or running straight cards. But tonight belonged to swonnny and the turn and river complied, blanking with the [4h] and the [5h] to give swonnny redemption, and his first major online title.

Congratulations to swonnnny on joining the ranks of Sunday Million champions! No deals necessary tonight-- he banked the full $179,740.79 for the win while runner-up yosim19 earned $133,354.00.

yellow_chips.jpg

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 11-8-2015

Players: 5,798
Prizepool: $1,159,600.00
Places paid: 855

1. swonnny (Canada) $179,740.79
2. yosim19 (Israel) $133,354.00
3. DUALMTN (Canada) $93,927.60
4. jaggalo1231 (Czech Republic) $65,111.54
5. simbir (Norway) $48,703.20
6. sik0tic (United Kingdom) $37,107.20
7. Aussie_star1 (Australia) $25,511.20
8. elitesold (Germany) $14,495.00
9. portillo23 (Romania) $9,044.88



2015 ACOP: A sense of stardom

The Asia Championship of Poker Main Event started with a sense of stardom this afternoon.

Players pulled up seats for the 3pm start to Day 1A and proceedings began with a few words from none other than football legend Ronaldo Nazario. He announced to shuffle up and deal before the cards were in the air.

Ronaldo shuffle up and deal.jpg

While Ronaldo is here at PokerStars LIVE Macau he won't actually be playing the Main Event until Day 1B tomorrow. Instead he's currently taking part in a sit n go with a few lucky contest winners. The competition hosted a series of online freerolls and chances to win via the City of Dreams for a shot at playing alongside the Brazilian superstar.

On top of playing against Ronaldo, the contest winners are also chasing some great prizes. The first place finisher will receive a HK$3,000 credit for future PokerStars LIVE Macau events, second place scores a two-night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel, and the one who closes out the podium will walk away with tickets to the local House of Dancing Water show.

There are now only three remaining in that sit n go with Ronaldo still in but nursing a shortstack. Time will tell if he can make a comeback and start of his first trip to Macau with a victory.

Back to the Main Event though and the action is well and truly underway. We've already seen over 80 players take to the felt and with late registration available all throughout the day that number is expected to climb. The plan for today is seven levels of play. With the first four set at 60 minutes long and the final three moving up to 90 minutes the day will conclude just after midnight local time.

chen-an lin day 1a.jpg

Team PokerStars Pro Chen-An Lin is among the action today

Along with the Main Event and the sit n go, the High Roller is also drawing to its exciting conclusion. Now only five remain in the running for the huge HK$4,890,600 (~US$652,080) top prize. We'll have more on that and all the action from the Main Event here today on the PokerStars Blog.

The team at PokerNews will cover all your live reporting needs while we bring you all the stories from on and off the felt. Stay with us!



Sunday Warm-Up: Late surge boosts Merin09 to $80K win

The best thing about coming to a final table with a big stack is the number of options it gives you. You can go on the offensive, or you can take the occasional pot and hold your ground while you wait for a big opening. Merin09 took the latter of those paths in today's Sunday Warm-Up, and then took advantage of a late surge to win $80,232.

This week's field was a touch higher than last week's at 2,539 players, building a $507,800 prize pool split among the top 378 finishers. Team Online's Marc-Andre Ladouceur cashed out in 292nd place ($355.46), while Team PokerStars Pro's Liv Boeree's efforts ended in 70th place ($863.26). After nine hours and 20 minutes, and with the poker world's focus on the November Nine in Las Vegas, nine players remained in the hunt for a Sunday Major title:

Seat 1: unfrosya (5,954,642 in chips)
Seat 2: mendieta19 (2,073,778 in chips)
Seat 3: DeLaBijen (3,388,539 in chips)
Seat 4: Carter "cswidler" Swidler (2,485,587 in chips)
Seat 5: Gambler4444 (2,662,064 in chips)
Seat 6: dynamicnag (1,795,634 in chips)
Seat 7: Andrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk (1,509,043 in chips)
Seat 8: EspenasApart (963,717 in chips)
Seat 9: Merin09 (4,556,996 in chips)

Sunday Warm-Up 11-8-15 ft .jpg

Past Sunday Million finalist ThePateychuk got the final table action going on Hand #9 by open-shoving from the small blind. Short-stacked EspenasApart, a past WCOOP and SCOOP finalist, called with [Qd] [9h] and had a fighting chance against ThePateychuk's [Kc] [8c], but nothing changed once the board came [7d] [2d] [6s] [7s] [5h] and EspenasApart left the tournament in 9th place ($4,316.30).

Raise-and-take-it poker took hold for the next orbit and a half before Carter "cswidler" Swidler repeated the play by open-shoving for 1.99M in the small blind with [Kc] [2h]. Gambler4444 called with [Ad] [Jh] in the big blind and won the 4.08M-chip pot with a pair of jacks when the board came [4c] [Ts] [Jd] [3d] [5s], sending cswidler to the rail in 8th place ($7,363.10).

dynamicnag was on the bubble now, working with just over six big blinds on the 65K/130K/13K level. That bled away to 573K over the next orbit before dynamicnag moved all-in to steal the pot and get right back to 829K. Halfway through the next orbit the player from India picked up [Ah] [Td] and opened with an all-in bet, called only by unfrosya with [As] [Jh]. The [4s] [6h] [Ts] flop made a pair of tens for dynamicnag, though, and the [Tc] on the turn made trips to win the 1.88M-chip pot.

The past MicroMillions champion's next confrontation would see the Indian player in much better shape ahead of the flop, after re-raising all-in with [Ad] [Qd] against original raiser Gambler4444's [Jh] [Th]. Gambler4444 had 15 big blinds left behind after the call, but the buffer turned out to be unnecessary. Two hearts on the flop and a third on the turn of the [2h] [4h] [5c] [Kh] [5d] board made a flush, giving Gambler4444 the 2.77M chips in the middle and knocking dynamicnag out in 7th place ($11,933.30).

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

Three down

That win moved past Super Tuesday champion Gambler4444 into third place at the table with 32 big blinds on the 80K/160K/16K level:

Seat 1: unfrosya (7,024,574 in chips)
Seat 2: mendieta19 (2,474,444 in chips)
Seat 3: DeLaBijen (3,063,039 in chips)
Seat 5: Gambler4444 (5,109,520 in chips)
Seat 7: ThePateychuk (2,479,871 in chips)
Seat 9: Merin09 (5,238,552 in chips)

Short-stacked mendieta19, another past WCOOP and SCOOP finalist, survived an all-in scare just a few hands later after re-raising with [As] [8h] in the small blind against unfrosya's button raise with [Ah] [Jc], thanks to the board delivering two aces and two nines to make both players a full house. Then mendieta19 got two streets of value out of top pair with [Ad] [Tc] before checking down the river of the [Ac] [7s] [Kc] [5h] [6d] to win 2.33M against Gambler4444's [5c] [4c].

Gambler4444 got all that back and then some an orbit later, but not without dodging nearly half the deck first. DeLaBijen opened the hand in question by raising all-in for 2.98M in the cutoff, holding [Ac] [Jc]. Gambler4444 re-raised all-in on the button to isolate, successfully, and showed down [Tc] [Td]. The [Kc] [6c] [Qh] flop gave past Sunday Million and Super Tuesday finalist DeLaBijen so many outs that the Dutch player went from a pre-flop underdog at 46 percent to a post-flop favorite at 56 percent. But neither the [8h] on the turn nor the [Kd] on the river were any danger, giving Gambler4444 the 6.38M chips in the middle and busting DeLaBijen in 6th place ($17,011.30).

The action on the next hand folded around to the button and ThePateychuk, now working with a little less than 10 big blinds, moved all-in for 1.91M with [Ts] [9s]. Merin09 re-shoved to isolate and, when unfrosya folded, turned over [Kh] [Ks]. No miracle arrived on the [2h] [Ac] [7s] [7c] [6h] board, eliminating ThePateychuk in 5th place ($22,089.30).

That moved Merin09 from a middling stack to a contender, just two big blinds out of second place behind unfrosya. Three hands later a pre-flop confrontation with mendieta19 would lead to Merin09 seizing the chip lead. mendieta19 opened the action with a minimum raise to 400K on the button, holding [Kd] [Td], and re-raised all-in for 4.48M total after Merin09 re-raised to 1M with [Kc] [Kh]. mendieta19 got help in making it a race from the [6s] [Jd] [3d] flop and [Tc] turn, but the [6h] on the river gave Merin09 the biggest pot of the tournament at 9.15M and sent mendieta19 to the rail in 4th place ($29,701.22).

Endgame

In the span of just 62 hands, two-third of the table had been knocked out, leaving just these players in the hunt for this week's Sunday Warm-Up title:

Seat 1: unfrosya (7,633,018 in chips)
Seat 5: Gambler4444 (6,621,114 in chips)
Seat 9: Merin09 (11,135,868 in chips)

Nobody was particularly desperate with blinds and antes still at 100K/200K/20K, so the pace of play backed away from the edge. But a drawn-out battle wasn't in the cards. Just 15 hands, most with very little action, passed before Gambler4444 came over the top of unfrosya's minimum raise on the button for 5.03M. [Ad] [Th] was plenty strong for the move, but Merin09 woke up with [Jc] [Js] and re-raised all-in from the small blind. That got unfrosya out of the way and Merin09 locked up the pot with top set on the [5h] [7d] [Jd] [2s] [8c] board. That knocked out Gambler4444 in 3rd place ($42,655.20).

Sunday Warm-Up 11-8-15 ft hu deal.jpg

Merin09 and unfrosya agreed to look at a deal after the conclusion of their first hand heads-up, but within eights they'd agreed to disagree, and the game resumed with the original payouts still in play. After 14 hands of the opening raiser taking the pot or both player checking down to the river, both players finally picked up hands worth going to battle with. unfrosya opened all-in with [Ah] [9d], Merin09 called with [9c] [9h], and both players improved when the case nine hit the [6h] [Td] [9s] flop. Running aces could have saved unfrosya, but the [5h] and [Qc] came instead to end the tournament.

Congratulations to both players for outlasting a tough field!

11/8/15 Sunday Warm-Up ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 2,539
Prize pool: $507,800
Places paid: 378

1. Merin09 (Poland) $80,232.69
2. unfrosya (Russia) $59,920.40
3. Gambler4444 (Austria) $42,655.20
4. mendieta19 (Sweden) $29,701.22
5. ThePateychuk (Russia) $22,089.30
6. DeLaBijen (Netherlands) $17,011.30
7. dynamicnag (India) $11,933.30
8. cswilder (Canada) $7,363.10
9. EspenasApart (Norway) $4,316.30

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.



2015 ACOP: Move over for the Main Event

There's no denying that poker in Macau is flourishing.

Once an emerging market, the poker landscape here has shown us steady and impressive growth.

A driving force behind that popularity is the Asia Championship of Poker. The prestigious flagship event has returned to PokerStars LIVE Macau for a 17-day festival as the richest poker series in the Far East is now in full swing.

pokerstars live macau.jpg

The 2015 ACOP kicked off on October 30 and if what we've seen so far is anything to go by, it seems another exciting week of poker is on the cards. With the HK$250,000 (~$US32,000) High Roller already underway the ACOP is attracting some star-studded fields.

Among those in contention on the felt are Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Sam Trickett, Pratyush Buddiga, Stephen Chidwick, Mustapha Kanit and Jonathan Karamilikis to name a few.

Also out in force is the PokerStars contingent with Team Pros Celina Lin, Chen-An Lin, Bryan Huang, Randy 'nanonoko' Lew, Naoya Kihara and Kosei Ichinose already spotted at the tables over the past week.

And for the soccer fans (or football fans depending on where you hail from), legend of the game Ronaldo Nazario has confirmed his attendance. He says he's excited about his first trip to Macau and with a $42,180 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event cash to his name already, he's proven he has some poker chops too.

They'll all be chasing a victory in the feature tournament here - the 2015 ACOP Main Event. Boasting a HK$15,000,000 guarantee the Main Event is set to begin on Monday November 9. Last year it looked like Sunny Jung was destined to win back-to-back ACOP Main Event titles but at the dying stages it was Canadian Gabriel Le Jossec who would stop Jung one short. Le Jossec overcame a field of 291 entrants and walked away with HK$6,300,000 (~US$812,000) for his victory.

gabriel le jossec.jpg

Last year's Main Event champion - Gabriel Le Jossec

To finish off the series after the Main Event wraps we'll see players battle it out in the Super High Roller. That illustrious event holds a HK$500,000 (~US$65,000) buy-in and is expected to both draw a stellar field and generate a huge prize pool.

Away from the tables, however, there is even more excitement on the schedule. Players are free to take part in the ACOP Welcome Party, the notorious beer pong championship, as well as dice and dart competitions.

We'll have more on all of that this week as we bring you coverage from this edition of the Asia Championship of Poker. The Main Event commences 3:00pm local time on Monday November 9. We hope you can join us then!