LAPT announces Grand Final…during Carnival!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by admin

The Latin American Poker Tour is an exciting circuit already. There is passion on nearly every flop. There are very few places in the world where one can witness such poker insanity on such a professional level. After nearly four full seasons of running around the region, it seemed impossible the LAPT could find a way to add more excitement to the tour. Now it has.

Just moments ago, the LAPT announced it will hold its Season 4 Grand Final in Sao Paulo, Brazil…during Carnival.

Now, maybe you don’t know about Carnival. If not, you should know that it’s the most famous holiday in Brazil, a time full of parades and parties that rival the biggest in the world. It’s a sight to behold at least once in your life. Now you have the chance to see it, and you can play the LAPT Grand Final in the process.

February 17-20 of next year, the R$3,700 + 300 LAPT Grand Final will coincide with the Brasil Poker Tour final at the World Trade Center Sheraton in Sao Paulo.

Carnival in Sao Paulo, courtesy Sérgio (Savaman) Savarese

So far this season, the LAPT has already visited Sao Paulo once. That’s when Alex Manzano took the first championship of Season 4. Since then, the tour has gone to Chile, Peru, Uruguay, and Colombia where records have been broken and broken again.

Now it’s time to return to where the season began. Satellites to the event will be running on PokerStars, so you can take this once-in-a-lifetime trip for pennies on the dollar.

For more information and to plan your Carnival trip, visit the LAPT Grand Final page.

APPT adds Seoul to Season 5 schedule

Posted on December 13, 2011 by admin

Oh, it looked like the APPT’s fifth season had come to an end. The year 2011 drew to a close, Shaq Lin won the Asia Player of the Year Award, and the APPT schedule had no more dates listed for its fifth season. Oh, yes, it looked like it had all come to an end. But today, the APPT announced it had something else up its sleeve: APPT Seoul.

That’s right, folks. The APPT is going back to Korea. March 7-11, the APPT will set up shop in the amazing Paradise Walkerhill Casino for a five-day poker festival capped off by a KRW 3,000,000 (US $2,600) buy-in main event.

If you need any excuse other than the great action, potential riches, and fun travel to go, just look at this bird’s eye view of the venue. Not bad, eh?

Sheraton Grande Walkerhill

The APPT fell in love with Seoul years ago and has been looking for a chance to get back there since 2008. That’s the last time the APPT visited. Then, Yoshihiro Tasaka became the tour’s first Japanese winner. Since that time poker has exploded all over Korea. The APPT is expecting a record field when it gets back to Seoul.

If you don’t want to pay the whole price of getting there, PokerStars is already running satellites. You can make it into main event for pennies on the dollar.

For more information and the whole APPT Seoul schedule, head on over to APPT.com.

See you in Seoul!

APPT Macau Day 4: Levels 31-33 (blinds 100,000-200,000, ante 20,000)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

Randy “nanonoko” Lew Wins APPT Macau Main Event!

Congratulations to Randy “nanonoko” Lew who displayed the maturity and composure of a veteran to navigate his way through a record APPT field and a super-stacked final table to capture the APPT Macau Main Event crown.

Despite having an online record that few can match, this is Lew’s first major live title and one of the first major titles for PokerStars Team Online.

Lew takes home an impressive trophy and HK$3,772,000 in prize money. Congratulations Randy!

That wraps up our live coverage from the PokerStars Macau Poker Room in the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino, but we’ll be back with a full wrap of today’s action for you very shortly.

APPT Macau champion, PokerStars Team Online player Randy “nanonoko” Lew

1:45am: Jimmy Pan eliminated in 2nd place; Randy Lew wins!

Jimmy Pan turned up the aggression following their previous big clash, and went on a relentless charge of three-betting that Randy Lew appeared to have little answer to. Pan built his stack up to around 5.5 million before the final hand of the tournament played out.

Pan opened the button to 400,000 and Lew flat-called from the big blind. The flop landed [qh][ts][8s] and Lew decided to lead out with a probing bet of 400,000. Pan again kept the pedal to the metal as he announced himself all in, but this time Lew snap-called!

Pan: [kd][qs]
Lew: [qd][tc]

Lew was dominated preflop but caught the perfect flop as his two pair left Pan needing to spike a king to stay alive. The [5d] turn and [jc] river missed Pan as Randy Lew was crowned the APPT Macau champion!

Jimmy Pan put up tremendous resistance throughout the final table and should be well satisfied with his HK$2,367,000 for 2nd place.

Jimmy Pan eliminated in 2nd place

1:25am: Another set for Lew to reclaim lead

Jimmy Pan had his chance to win it all but the race has gone the way of Randy Lew as this epic heads-up battle continues.

Pan had been relentlessly three-betting and four-betting, once showing seven-deuce, and flashing the [2h] on another occasion. So when he three-bet to 1.05 million following the min-raise from Lew, it was no surprise to see the online phenom announce himself all in. However this time Pan had a legit hand as he made a quick call.

Lew: [6s][6d]
Pan: [ad][9s]

Pan was looking for an ace, and he found it, but it was backed up with a six on the [as][8c][6c] flop as Lew made a set to take a big advantage. It was all over when the [2c] fell on the turn as the meaningless [4d] landed on the river.

Lew doubles up to 13.5 million for a commanding advantage as Pan is down to around 3.5 million.

1:05am: Lew builds a boat

Randy Lew has evened things up again after making a full house and getting paid off.
Jimmy Pan opened with a raise to 400,000 and Lew made the call in the big blind to see a flop of [7h][5d][2s]. Both players checked and the turn brought the [7c]. Lew checked again and Pan bet 400,000. Lew made the call before leading for 800,000 on the [5s] river.

Pan threw his head back before announcing a call but Lew tabled [as][7s] for a full house, much to the dismay of Pan who flashed the [5c].

This evens it right up again with Pan down to 9 million and Lew a little over 8 million. Strap yourself in folks, this doesn’t look like ending anytime soon!

12:55am: Level up, blinds 100,000-200,000, ante 20,000

12:45am: Pan swings it around

This one is not over just yet as Jimmy Pan has landed a big double up to swing things back around as he captures the lead in the APPT Macau Main Event.

Pan raised the button to 325,000 before Lew three-bet to 825,000. Back on Pan and he declared himself all in and Lew quickly called!

Pan: [ah][qc]
Lew: [9d][9c]

Media and fans swarmed around the table as the championship was one successful coin flip away from the PokerStars Team Online player. However it wasn’t to be as the board fell [8h][jd][qs][5c][2c], pairing up Pan’s queen for the double up.

Pan’s stack was doubled to 10,200,000 with Lew back down to 7,000,000.

12:30am: Perfect tens for Lew

Randy Lew has now extended his chip lead to a 3-to-1 advantage after flopping a set against Jimmy Pan.

Lew opened the button to 325,000 and Pan called to see a flop of [th][7d][3s]. Pan check-called for another 325,000 as the [5c] hit the turn. Once again the action was check, bet, call as another 700,000 went into the middle from each player.

The river was the [qh] and Pan tapped the table for a third time to Lew who bet a sizable 1.5 million chips. Pan rocked back in his chair before verbalizing a call. He found himself reaching for chips moments later after Lew tabled [tc][ts] for a set of tens to scoop the big pot.

Lew is now up to 12.5 million with Pan down to around 4.65 million.

12:15am: Lew extends

Randy Lew raised the button to 325,000 before Jimmy Pan three-bet to 925,000 for the second big blind in a row. Instead of folding this time, Lew decided to make the call to see a flop of [6s][kd][6c].

Pan slid out a bet of 925,000 and Lew called as the [ks] put an interesting double-paired board out there. Pan checked and Lew offered a discounted price of 750,000. Pan came along and both players quickly tapped the table on the [8s] river.

Pan showed [ad][9h] but he was bettered by Lew’s [9c][9c]. Lew gets up to 10,250,000 with Pan down to 7,000,000.

12:05am: We’re heads up!

We’re now heads up for the title with Randy Lew holding a narrow chip lead over Jimmy Pan.

Lew: 9,000,000
Pan: 8,250,000

12:00am: Jeff Rossiter eliminated in 3rd place

After than previous blow, Jeff Rossiter was on the short stack when he moved all in preflop with [9s][th] but Jimmy Pan made the call with [ah][qc].

The board was spread [kh][5s][as][6c][9d] to give Pan a pair of aces and inflict the rare taste of elimination upon the young Aussie as he departs in 3rd place for a pretty HK$1,306,000 in prize money.

Jeff Rossiter eliminated in 3rd place

11:55pm: Lew wins key coinflip to cripple Rossiter

In the end, it was probably always going to come down to a coinflip between these three talented players. The coin has been tossed in the air and fallen the way of Randy Lew.

Lew started with a raise to 320,000 from the button before Jeff Rossiter three-bet to 755,000 in the small blind. Lew came back with a four-bet to 1,320,000, Rossiter moved all in and Lew made the call!

Rossiter: [as][jh]
Lew: [tc][ts]

The board ran out [6d][8h][2c][ks][8d] to leave Lew’s pair in front for a massive double up. Lew doubles up to over nine million in chips with Rossiter now crippled.

11:45pm: Double for nanonoko

Action folded to Randy “nanonoko” Lew in the small blind and he moved all in. It was around 2.2 million but Jeff Rossiter didn’t wait for a count as he snap-called!

Lew: [ac][7s]
Rossiter: [kd][qs]

Lew was in front and it stayed that way on the board of [8d][ah][9c][js][2d]. Lew doubles to 4.5 million with Rossiter slipping down to 5.4 million.

11:40pm: Play resumes

The players are back with the blinds up to 80,000/160,000 with an ante of 20,000.

11:30pm: Ten-minute break

11:25pm: Pan turns up the heat

Jimmy Pan is starting to put the sword to his two better-known opponents as he’s now closing in on the chip lead after a big clash with PokerStars Team Online player Randy “nanonoko” Lew.

Catching the action on the turn with the board reading [6h][2h][4h][6s], Pan led out with a bet of 345,000 from the big blind with Lew making the call on the button as the [kc] fell on the river. Pan reached deep and slid out a hefty 1.285 million into the middle.

Lew didn’t take long to make the call but mucked when Pan tabled [jh][8h] for the flopped flush. Lew is now on the short stack with 3.3 million while Pan is now right in the hunt with 6.5 million.

Jimmy Pan is right in contention at the APPT Macau

11:10pm: Pan pulls the check-raise

Jimmy Pan just pulled off a nice check-raise in a very rare multi-way pot. Jeff Rossiter min-raised the button and both opponents called in the blinds to see a flop of [jc][2h][7c].

All three players checked and the [5d] hit the turn. Pan checked to Randy Lew who bet 340,000. Jeff Rossiter quickly called but Pan came back with a raise of an additional 1.1 million. Lew and Rossiter quickly released to give Pan a nice pot.

Pan is up to 4.9 million but still the short stack against Lew’s 5.5 million and Rossiter’s 7 million. It’s proving to be a tight three-way battle with three very good, aggressive players with plenty of chips to play with. We could be here a while!

10:50pm: Pan rues the river

Jimmy Pan and Jeff Rossiter have been tangling in some preflop three-betting, but it is Randy Lew who just picked up a chunk of Pan’s stack.

Lew has been the least active player of the threesome, but that didn’t stop him defending from the big blind with a less than optimal [jh][3s] when Pan raised to 280,000.

The flop came [qd][8h][3c] and Pan fired 345,000. Lew made the call before both players checked the [7s] turn. The river was the [js] to give Lew two pair and he was happy to call the bet of 650,000 from Pan who cringed as he opened [qc][th] for just one pair.

Pan is down to 2.8 million with Lew barely putting a foot wrong as he moved up to six million.

10:25pm: Double for Pan

Jimmy Pan has had to battle with one of the short stack for most of this final table, but he has finally landed a big double up to now be a real threat in this extremely tough three-way dance.

Pan opened with a raise from the button before Jeff Rossiter moved all in from the big blind. Pan made the call with [as][kh] as Rossiter tabled live cards with his [qs][jc].

Rossiter flopped the lead when it landed [4c][jd][8d] but the [ah] turn was the saviour for Pan as he reclaimed the lead. The river was the [6h] and Pan doubles to around 4.4 million with Rossiter down to 7.2 million.

10:20pm: Fabian Spielmann eliminated in 4th place

Jeff Rossiter opened with a raise from the small blind of an additional 160,000 before Fabian Spielmann declared himself all in from the big blind. Rossiter made a quick call as the cards were flipped!

Spielmann: [ks][ts]
Rossiter: [ac][qc]

With over seven million chips in the middle, the flop fell [kc][jc][8h] to put Spielmann in front but Rossiter had flopped flush and straight draws to go with his ace. He didn’t have to wait long as the [2c] hit the turn to complete his flush and seal the deal. The meaningless river was the [8d] to end the PokerStars Qualifier’s run in 4th place for HK$1,019,000. Meanwhile Rossiter is now up to a mighty 9.5 million chips.

Fabian Spielmann eliminated in 4th place

10:10pm: Level up, blinds 60,000-120,000, ante 10,000

The blinds are up to 60,000-120,000 with a 10,000 ante which should kick up the action!

APPT Macau Day 4: Levels 28-30 (blinds 50,000-100,000, ante 10,000)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

10:10pm: Level up

That’s the end of that level, and we’ll be starting the new level on a new page.

9:50pm: Rossiter recovers

Jimmy Pan and Jeff Rossiter have tangled with the Aussie gaining the ascendency and regaining some lost momentum.

Pan raised the button to 200,000 before Rossiter three-bet an additional 280,000 from the big blind. Pan made the call and the flop landed [2s][ac][6h].

Rossiter led out with a continuation bet of 415,000 and Pan called to see the [4h] hit the turn. Rossiter checked and Pan fired a hefty 675,000 into the middle. Acting as quick as ever, Rossiter matched the bet as a massive pot had formed before the [8c] hit the river.
Rossiter checked and Pan thought for some time before tapping the table behind.

Rossiter opened [tc][td] and Pan threw back his head before tossing his cards into the muck. Rossiter is now back to 6.1 million with Pan dropping to 1.7 million.

9:40pm: Zuo Wang eliminated in 5th place

Zuo Wang moved all in preflop for his last 530,000 and both Randy Lew and Jeff Rossiter made the call in the blinds to attempt to knock out the short stack.

They tapped the table on the flop and turn, as the final board was spread [7s][ac][9c][td][8d]. This is where things got interesting.

As Wang was trying to show his cards to his friends on the rail, Lew checked for the third time over to Rossiter who quickly bet 700,000. Not so quick was Lew who took his sweet time before cutting out a raise of an additional 1,000,000! Suddenly the dry side pot was swimming with chips as Rossiter hastily called.

Lew tabled [qd][js] for the nut straight as Rossiter rolled his eyes and flashed [jc][tc] for a smaller straight. Meanwhile Wang opened [9h][9s] for a flopped set that was swallowed up cruelly to send him to the cashier to collect HK$809,000 for his 5th place finish.

Zuo Wang eliminated in 5th place

9:35pm: Wang in the hot seat

If the action before the dinner break was slow, the post-dinner dessert has been a delight as the chips are flying!

Zuo Wang moved his chips in preflop with ace-ten and was racing against Jimmy Pan’s pocket sixes. Unfortunately for Wang he couldn’t connect with the board and was crippled.

However next hand he was able to double up his short stack after getting lucky with [7d][9c] against Randy Lew’s [tc][9s] when the board ran out [ac][8d][kc][7s][9h]. Wang is back to about 550,000.

9:25pm: Play resumes

8:40pm: Dinner break

The players are taking a dinner break. Back at 9:20pm local time.

8:20pm: Chop, chop, pork chop

As the blinds jumped up, it’s Jimmy Pan who has been aggressively moving his short stack all in to steal the valuable blinds and antes. However when he tried it for about the fourth time, Fabian Spielmann decided to make the call with [ad][jc]. The big clash produced an anti-climactic result as Pan showed [ah][jh] for the same hand.

The board ran out [js][7c][qd][4s][5s] to see the two chop it up.

8:15pm: Level up, blinds 50,000-100,000, ante 10,000

8:00pm: Kai Yat Fam eliminated in 6th place

The play passed around the table to Kai Yat Fam on the button who announced himself all in. It was almost 1.3 million but Randy Lew didn’t wait for a count as he immediately called in the big blind.

Fam: [ah][4s]
Lew: [ts][tc]

Lew was firmly in front and it remained that way through the [4h][jc][3d][9h][6c] board. Fam takes HK$653,000 back home to Singapore as Lew is now up to 4.5 million chips.

Kai Yat Fam eliminated in 6th place

7:45pm: Play resumes

The players are back in action with the dinner break probably another hour or so away, depending on how fast these players start to drop away. Here’s the chip counts at the break:

Jeff Rossiter – 7,000,000
Randy Lew – 3,000,000
Fabian Spielmann – 2,650,000
Zuo Wang – 1,850,000
Kai Yat Fam – 1,300,000
Jimmy Pan – 1,200,000

7:35pm: Ten-minute break

7:30pm: Ace-high enough for Lew

On the final hand before the break, Kai Yat Fam opened to 160,000 and Randy Lew defended his big blind with a call.

The flop landed [5c][3c][9s] and Lew check-called for 155,000 before both players checked down the [5h] turn and [ts] river.

Lew opened first and he showed [ah][4h] for ace-high which was enough to get it done as Fam mucked. Lew is now in second chip place with close to three million in chips.

7:00pm: Daniel Nordstrom eliminated in 7th place

Jeff Rossiter is in total control of this final table after eliminating Daniel Nordstrom in a huge preflop clash. Rossiter opened to 160,000 before Nordstrom three-bet to 390,000. Rossiter instantly moved all in and Nordstrom called it off.

Rossiter: [8h][8s]
Nordstrom: [ac][kh]

It was a classic coinflip but Nordstrom must’ve been pretty happy to see the [2h][7h][th] flop as he added a flush draw to his overcards. However such is the way that Rossiter has been running that he comfortably avoided danger as the [5d] turn and [tc] river completed the board.

Rossiter is now up to 7 million in chips as Nordstrom picks up HK$498,000 for a fine tournament.

Daniel Nordstrom eliminated in 7th place

6:50pm: Level up, blinds 40,000-80,000, ante 5,000

6:45pm: Another double up

Daniel Nordstrom has doubled up to get himself back into contention on this final table. Fabian Spielmann opened with a raise to 125,000 before Nordstrom moved all in. Spielmann made the call and the cards were on their backs!

Spielmann: [as][4s]
Nordstrom: [ac][ts]

The board ran out [4c][6d][7s][5d][2c] to see Nordstrom spike the three-out four-ball to stay alive! He doubles to almost two million with Spielmann back under three million.

6:40pm: Fam survives

Finally a little action to report! Daniel Nordstrom opened with a raise to 125,000 from under the gun before Kai Yat Fam declared himself all in from the big blind. Nordstrom made the call.

Nordstrom: [tc][td]
Fam: [as][js]

The board ran out [7c][8c][6h][jh][8h] to pair up Fam’s jack for the double up to around two million as Nordstrom slips to 860,000.

6:30pm: Slow and steady wins the race?

It’s been slow going over the last half hour, with players taking a long time to act. It’s our first time seeing Randy Lew live and it’s surprising how someone who usually plays 24+ tables online can take so long to act over his decisions in the live environment. I guess it illustrates the importance of this title to him.

In a recent hand “nanonoko” picked up a nice pot without showdown. He raised under the gun to 120,000 and Jimmy Pan called as the flop landed [qh][2d][3d]. Pan check-called for 150,000 before both players checked the [3c] turn and [ac] river. Lew didn’t need to worry about a showdown as Pan just tossed his cards straight into the muck. Lew is up to 2.4 million.

6:00pm: Here comes Randy!

Daniel Nordstrom and Randy Lew have gone to war, with the PokerStars Team Online member getting the better as he starts to look very threatening on this final table.

Nordstrom opened with a raise to 125,000 before Lew three-bet to 300,000 on the button. The blinds folded and Nordstrom called to see a flop of [qd][2d][js]. The action was check, check before Nordstrom bet 300,000 on the [6h] turn with Lew making the call before both players checked the [qh] river.

Nordstrom tabled [7c][7d] but it wasn’t enough to get past Lew’s [ah][jd].

Lew is up to 2.3 million with Nordstrom down to 2.2 million.

5:40pm: Tan Tai Zheng eliminated in 8th place

Tan Tai Zheng was our short stack and it didn’t take long following the break for Zheng to move his last chips in preflop with [2h][2s] however the unstoppable Jeff Rossiter found [8s][8c] and made the call.

The board ran out [3d][5c][5d][td][9d] to give Rossiter the pot and eliminate Singaporean Zheng in 8th place for a HK$373,000 pay day.

Rossiter is now up to a commanding 5.2 million and is in charge of this final table.

Tan Tai Zheng eliminated in 8th place

5:35pm: Play resumes

The players are back following the break with Jeff Rossiter grabbing the chip lead after Fabian Spielmann lost the hand before the break to slip back into the pack.

Breakthrough win for Randy "nanonoko" Lew at APPT Macau

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event has come to a close and we’ve crowned a new champion with PokerStars Team Online member Randy “nanonoko” Lew proving that he can adapt his game from the virtual world onto the live felt with a stunning breakthough victory this evening.

Wind the clock back fourteen hours and Lew was one of fifteen players who returned to the PokerStars Macau Poker Room in the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino for the final day of play. Leading the way was India’s Sangeeth Mohan, but Lew was always going to be one to watch in a field that also included experienced pros David Steicke, Jeff Rossiter and Dao Xing “Bobo” Chen.

Only nine would make the official APPT final table with Sparrow Cheung, Josh Barrett, Tsugunari Toma, Dao Xing Chen and Baton Fung were sent to the rail early in the day, before a defining hand of the day saw overnight chip leader Sangeeth Mohan bubble the final table in 10th place.

In a four-bet pot, Mohan flopped top set of queens against the Royal Flush draw of Kai Yat Fam, but Mohan couldn’t hold as a third diamond on board delivered the flush to jump Fam into the chip lead as our final table was set.

Randy Lew entered the final table as the short stack and waited patiently for his moment to strike. Pocket queens seemed like the perfect moment but he walked his ladies straight into the pocket aces of David Steicke. Such is the nature of tournament poker that one bad beat can be the difference between victory and defeat, as Lew caught a third queen to crack Steicke’s aces and he was eliminated in 9th place soon after.

Fabian Spielmann and Jeff Rossiter started to accumulate chips, with Rossiter’s deceptively-played pocket aces jumping him up into the chip lead. He extended that advantage further when pocket eights paid dividends twice. First Rossiter dispatched Tan Tei Zheng and his pocket deuces in 8th place before winning a flip against Swede Daniel Nordstrom’s ace-king to see him to the rail in 7th.

Kai Yat Fam was next to crack when he shoved the button with ace-four but Randy Lew called with pocket tens in the big blind. The tens were good to Lew as the board ran out [4h][jc][3d][9h][6c] to see Fam head to the cashier to collect 6th place prizemoney.

Lew was slowly moving up the leaderboard and after the dinner he kicked it into the next gear with an amazing hand that saw the end of Zuo Wang.

Wang was short-stacked and all in preflop with both Lew and Rossiter making the call. As expected, the two live players checked down a board of [7s][ac][9c][td][8d] until the river where Lew checked it to Rossiter who bet 700,000 into a dry side pot. Lew then check-raised an additional 1,000,000 with Rossiter making the call holding [jc][tc] for a straight. However Lew opened [qd][js] for the nut straight as Wang could only shake his head as his [9h][9s] had been run down.

Rossiter recovered with the elimination of Fabian Spielmann in 4th place when Rossiter’s [ac][qc] improved to a flush to better Spielmann’s [ks][ts] top pair hand. This brought us to three-handed play and one of the most intriguing combinations of players we’ve seen for some time on the APPT.

Jimmy Pan, Jeff Rossiter and Randy Lew were all young, highly talented, super aggressive players and it made for some fascinating play and psychology.

Pan was the short stack but fought hard to get himself back into the contest with some well-timed three-bets. Lew slipped back but found two doubles ups through Jeff Rossiter to stay alive. The first one saw Lew’s [ac][7s] hold against Rossiter’s [kd][qs] before a genuine coin flip saw Lew’s [tc][ts] survive against Rossiter’s [as][jh].

That left Rossiter on the brink and he couldn’t recover as he made a final stand with [9s][th] but fell to the [ah][qc] of Jimmy Pan.

Randy Lew held a narrow lead as an entertaining heads-up contest got underway against Jimmy Pan.

Pan chipped away with preflop aggression, while Lew caught some handy cards, including a set of tens and a full house with [as][7s] to extend his advantage.

Jimmy Pan again reeled it back in and had a chance to win it all with [ad][9s] against Lew’s pocket sixes but again the PokerStars Team Online player spiked a set to stay alive.

That left Pan reeling and despite some well-timed aggression, lady luck just wasn’t on his side. The final hand came with the two committing their chips on a flop of [qh][ts][8s] with Lew flopping two pair with [qd][tc] to better the [kd][qs] of Pan. The [5d] turn and [jc] river couldn’t connect as Randy Lew was crowned the APPT Macau champion!

Randy Lew now confirms his status as a member of PokerStars Team Online with a breakthrough major live victory to add to an impressive poker resume.

Final Table Payouts
1st Randy Lew (Canada) PokerStars Team Online $3,772,000
2nd Jimmy Pan (Macau) $2,367,000
3rd Jeff Rossiter (Australia) $1,306,000
4th Fabian Spielmann (Germany) PokerStars Qualifier $1,019,000
5th Zuo Wang (China) $809,000
6th Kai Yat Fam (Singapore) $653,000
7th Daniel Nordstrom (Sweden) $498,000
8th Tan Tai Zheng (Singapore) $373,000
9th David Steicke (Hong Kong) $263,300

Prizepool and Payout Information

Also today we saw confirmation that Hung-sheng “Shaq” Lin was successful in winning the Asia Player of the Year title. Lin held a massive points lead following his Macau Millions win and numerous final tables throughout the year, and despite not having a great APPT series, Lin was able to maintain his position as the #1 ranked player in Asia and will receive a PokerStars Macau sponsorship for next season. Congratulations!

Well, that’s all she wrote from another hugely successful week in Macau. Many thanks to Danny McDonagh, Fred Leung and all of the PokerStars Macau staff for their tireless efforts, not only throughout this week but in the weeks leading up to what was another record-setting event. We look forward to the 2012 PokerStars Macau schedule and the Asia Championships of Poker next year.

Many thanks to my blogging buddy Brad “Otis” Willis for getting his feet wet in Asia, to Jenn Barr for her updates on the Japanese contingent, and to Ken and Long from Kenneth Lim Photography for their superb photography throughout the week.

This event marks the end of the year on the Australasian poker circuit as we take a short summer break before the Aussie Millions kicks off in January. We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and we look forward to you joining the PokerStars Blog team for even bigger and better events in 2012.

Good night from Macau!

APPT Macau: Day 3 live updates, levels 16-19

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

–BW

4:15pm: Unlucky treys for Tomita
“Unlucky hand,” said Tetsuro Tomita with a smile after being eliminated from the tournament in rather devastating fashion.

The unlucky hand in question was pocket threes as Tomita will be having nightmares tonight about the treys.

First he flopped a full house on a flop of [qc][3s][qh]. That sounds good, but when the money went in on the river following the [ac] turn and [2c] river, his opponent Lance Yuen tabled [ah][qd] for a bigger full house.

Brutal.

As Yuen was stacking up his 480,000 chips, Tomita was all in the very next hand for his last 15,000 or so chips with the pocket threes once again. A few callers saw Tomita beaten at showdown as he was sent to the rail. –HC

4:28pm: Another Chan bites the dust
Terrence Chan supposed earlier that he was going to be a good candidate for the money bubble. Instead, he managed to make it into the money. Alas, he didn’t get a great deal further. He’s gone in 56th place. He decided to go take a rest and return later for the High Roller, aka “my last tournament of a lousy 2011.” –BW

Terrence Chan

4:22pm: APOY update
If you’ve been keeping up with the Asia Player of the Year race, here’s a quick update.

Current leader Shaq Lin has not picked up any more points in the past couple of days. Meanwhile Raiden Kan, the man finished sixth in the 3,000 yesterday to draw within 852 points of Lin. Now, he still has a chance. He told us, “The High Rollers will make it or break it.”

That race may be tight, but Kan isn’t the only one who can catch Lin. Aaron Lin is still in Day 2 of the 15K event where a first place finish would earn him 1,440 points, enough to take the first spot. Also, if he manages to make the final table, it will be his eleventh of the year, a single-season record. He currently shares the 10 final table record with China’s Alex Chieng.–BW

4:13pm: Winners updates
The fine people in the cage here at the PokerStars Macau poker room have started providing us with the list of prize winners today. We’ll be updating it periodically on our APPT Macau payouts page.

4:01pm: Barrett enjoys a discount
Josh Barrett opened with a raise to 13,000 from middle position before Thomas Ward three-bet to 27,500 on the button. Action folded back around to Barrett who made the call to see the flop land [8h][9d][7d].

Both players checked and the [kc] hit the turn. Barrett led out with a bet of 27,000 and Ward made the call in position as the [5d] was a dangerous looking river card.

Barrett checked it over to Ward who gave a discount price as he bet just 23,500. Barrett quickly verbalized a call as his [ac][9s] was good with Ward tabling [qs][jd] for just queen-high. Ward drops to 480,000 with Barrett starting to find some momentum with a stack of 275,000. –HC

3:57pm: Rossiter rockets past Scott
Jeff Rossiter is flying high after eliminating fellow Aussie Andrew Scott. Rossiter recalled to us that he held aces against Scott’s queens and the rest was history.
Scott is out as Rossiter moves up to 700,000 chips.–BW

3:51pm: Hero vs. hero ends Chan’s ouster
Local poker hero Johnny Chan has been eliminated by Australian horse racing hero Shane Dye. Dye turned a straight on the WSOP champion with [tc][8c] on a [jc][9d][6c][7d] board. –BW

3:40pm: No more Tang
Devon Tang is out, at the hand of Manami “Tink” Hayamizu. Tink raised, prompting Tang to shove all-in.. Tink called with her A-Ko and hit an A on the flop emphasizing her lead while Tang missed. A queen came on the turn but the two on the river was no help, and the former MPCC champion took the rail. Hayamizu is up to about 350,000. –JB

3:20pm: Steicke sets up massive chip lead
David Steicke is now the first man to enter the millionaire’s club after an enormous hand has just gone down on table one to see our field reduced to the final eight tables.

Three players including David Steicke saw a flop of [2c][8c][ac] where the preflop aggressor led for 62,000. Steicke came back with a min-raise to 64,000 before the player in the big blind check-raised over both of them with a big raise all in! The first player made a reluctant fold as Steicke deliberated.

It was around 300,000 in total and after a few minutes of thought, the flushy flop didn’t deter him enough to fold his [2d][2s] as he made a big call. His opponent showed [kc][5h] for just the bare nut flush draw which missed on the [js] turn and [kh] river.
With that incredible pot, Steicke is now a commanding chip leader with 1.1 million. –HC

3:08pm: Day 1a chip leader bubbles
Shih Chieh Su, the day 1a chip leader, just bubbled main event. After bluffing off a big part of his stack moments ago, Su got it all in with [jh][js] against Ligong Wei’s [as][kc]. Wei flopped two kings, Su couldn’t find a jack, and the remaining 70 players in the event are now in the money. –BW

Su, back when life wasn’t so bubbly

3:03pm: Su bluffing wrong guy
Day 1a chip leader Shih Chieh Su just made a huge bluff against the wrong guy. When the board went runner-runner jacks, Su thought it would be a good idea to commit most of his chips on a bluff. David Man called him down with pocket queens. Su is now in jeopardy of being the bubble boy. –BW

3:00pm: Not hand for hand…yet
With 72 players remaining and two off the money, Tournament Director Danny McDonagh is avoiding a hand-for-hand slowdown as much as possible. He just announced that any player caught stalling will have decision time personally restricted. That’s happy news for Terrence Chan who abhors people who stall on the bubble. He said via Twitter, “I verbally abuse the stallers even when the stalling benefits me. I’m an equal opportunity jerk.” –BW

2:50pm: Nightmare cooler for Kim
Fabio Kim’s run in the APPT Macau Main Event has come to an abrupt halt at the hands of Thomas Ward in a massive preflop clash.

With a raise to 12,000 and a call in front of him, Kim raised to 40,000 from the cutoff. Action was then with Ward who re-raised to 91,500. The play folded back to Kim who announced himself all in but Ward calmly made the call with [ac][ah] as Kim’s [qh][qc] was in a world of pain.

The board ran out [8s][ks][7h][3d][2c] and after a count down of chips, Ward narrowly had Kim covered to send him to a disappointing exit just two players from the money. Meanwhile Ward is now up to a very healthy 550,000 chips. –HC

2:43pm: Steicke outraces Finstein
American Michael Finstein opened for 12,000 and got a three-bet from David Steicke. Finstein wasted no time in moving his short-ish stack all-in. Steicke made the call with two red sevens, up against Finstein’s [ad][qs]. The board ran out [kh][4c][8h][4d][9h] and Finstein was gone just short of the money. –BW

2:35pm: Tsuchikawa takes a hit
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa just lost a chunk of his stack when his 2-pair was outdrawn by his opponents middle pair (hitting the A kicker on the river). His opponent doubled up and Tsuchikawa remains short at the same table as poker legend Johnny Chan and World Gaming Magazine president, Andrew Scott. –JB

2:30pm: Level up
The players are now back for 3,000-6,000-500 blinds. –BW

2:20pm: Break time
Players are now on a ten-minute break. –BW

2:15pm: Steicke stumbles but still leads
Just before the break David Steicke has lost a small pot. Holding [jh][jc], he called a short-stacked player’s push for 54,000 but ran into [qs][qc]. The board ran out [kd][ac][ks][9s][qh] to give his opponent a full house for the double up.

Steicke slips to 600,000 but is still likely to be close to the chip lead with Dan Park, Nathaniel Seet and Fabian Spiedelmann all close to that mark. –HC

2:11pm: Bubble approacheth
With 77 players remaining, we’re just seven eliminations from the money. Expect a slowdown in 3…2…1…-BW

2:01pm: Su slow but same
Terrence Chan, still a little stung after losing that big pot earlier to Danny Park, just open-shoved for 85,500 and got an immediate call from Shi Chieu Su. David Man thought a good long while before folding from the blinds. Chan immediately flipped up [ad][ks]. Su looked depressed. He looked as if he were a beaten man. He looked as if he was embarrassed to turn up his cards. He took so long to table his hand, other players were reaching for his cards. Finally he turned up…[ah][kh]. Chan handled it well, requested some black cards, got none, dodged Su’s flopped freeroll, and then took his chips back with a smile. –BW

1:50pm: Huntly becomes the hunted
It was a cooler flop that did the damage as Scotland’s Gordon Huntly has been unfortunately derailed in the APPT Macau Main Event.

We arrived to see [as][8s][ac] on board and a bet of 25,000 in front of Huntly. His opponent was Korean Fabio Kim who check-raised to 100,000. Huntly didn’t waste too much time in moving all in as Kim instantly called and slammed [8c][8d] down on the table for a full house. Huntly rolled his eyes as his [ad][td] had shrunk before his eyes.
The [ks] hit the turn to give Huntly a couple more outs but the [5d] left him to make a devastating exit from the PokerStars Macau Poker Room.

Meanwhile Kim, who is one of the original PokerStars Macau cash game players, is now up to 380,000 chips. –HC

1:55pm: Zheng sunk
Kiwi Jackson Zheng has been sent to the rail after moving his last 80,000 chips all in preflop from under the gun with ace-nine but he ran into an opponent’s pocket tens.
A king-high board couldn’t save Zheng as he narrowly misses cashing in three consecutive APPT events.–HC

1:39pm: No more Nacho
After losing that big flip earlier, Team PokerStars Pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero couldn’t find the cards to mount a recovery effort. He’s gone, as are his hopes of his first major win in Asia. –BW

Jose Barbero in happier times

1:30pm: Chan looks ill
Terrence Chan looks ill. Green even. Though he didn’t say it aloud, it’s clear he can’t quite believe what he just saw.

I arrived at the table toward the end of had already been an active pot. On the board were the following five cards: [6c][6s][td][2d][2c]. It appeared Chan had offered 38,000 at the river and Danny Park had made it 50,000 more. This all occurred less than 15 minutes after Park had three-bet Chan from the blinds and folded to Chan’s all-in. At the time, Park had said, “Big laydown.”

Now the decision was on Chan.

“Maybe it’s my turn to make a big laydown to you,” Chan said.

But it was clear the story didn’t make sense to Chan. He whipped off his hat and looked at the board.

“So polarized!” Chan exclaimed. “I don’t see how you would flat with a six in your hand,” presumably talking about whatever previous action had brought them to that point.

“I’m looking at four sixes or tens full,” Chan said.

But neither of those hands fit. It just didn’t make sense. So, Chan tossed out the extra chips and looked to Park who rolled over [ah][2h].

Chan didn’t say a word. He seemed to replay the hand in his head for a few seconds before silently pushing his cards to the muck. He’s still alive, but lost what appeared to be around 140,000 on that hand. Park, meanwhile, is making a run for the chip lead. –BW

1:28pm: Nacho rides the rollercoaster
Seeing Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero for the first time in this APPT Macau Main Event, I’ve quickly discovered he’s an entertaining player to watch. Perhaps it’s the style of Latin America – it’s great to watch but the heart palpitations must shorten one’s lifespan to actually play it.

We just discovered Barbero’s once-mighty empire had been decimated after losing a preflop race with pocket jacks against Sangeeth Mohan’s ace-king.
Barbero was left with just 19,200 which he committed soon after with [jh][jd] as Fabian Spiedelmann made the call with [td][tc].

The flop was scary for Barbero as it arrived [qc][2c][kc] to give Spiedelmann a flush draw but the [5s] turn and [as] river were safe to see Barbero more than double to around 60,000 to once again find a pulse in this tournament. –BW

1:16pm: No backing down for Chan
Terrence Chan came in for a raise to 12,000 and got a call from Shih Chieh Su. Play folded back to Danny Park in the blinds. Park had started the day second in chips and the lead on his table. He made it 32,000 total. Chan thought for a moment before moving all in for another 99,600. Su folded quickly, but Park thought a bit longer. Finally, he folded with, “Nice hand.” Park thought for another moment as he watched his cards slide into the muck. He pointed at what had once been worth 32,000 in chips to him. “Big laydown,” he said. –BW

1:00pm: Level up
Players are now on 2,500-5,000-500 blinds. –BW

12:45pm: Chan takes a hit
Andrew Scott has just taken a slice from the stack of the great Johnny Chan. We arrived with the board already spread [7c][ah][8s][8d][5s] and Scott leading for 30,000 from the big blind. Sitting under the gun, Chan snap-called the bet, but mucked when Scott tabled [ad][8h] for a full house.

Scott moves up to 225,000 with Chan slipping back to 170,000.– HC

Johnny Chan

12:53pm: Nanonoko starts the day
As we got started today, Randy “nanonoko” Lew had a chat with our Lynn Gilmartin.–BW

12:45pm: Big stacks find some luck
We didn’t catch all of the action but we saw Renat Lyapin angrily bounce his chips onto the felt after copping a bad beat against Germany’s Fabian Spiedelmann.

The chips were in preflop with Lyapin holding ace-queen and looking good for a big double up against Spiedelmann’s king-queen, but another king on the flop was enough for Spiedelmann to take it down. He’s up to 600,000.

Another big stack to jump out of the gates is Hong Kong-based Aussie David Steicke. He got his chips in with pocket aces against an opponent’s pocket eights and things looked grim when a third snowman hit the flop. However such is the power of Steicke, that he made a running flush to take it down and move up to a cool half million in chips. –HC

12:30pm: The champ starts well
The defending champion Victorino Torres is heading for another deep run in the APPT Macau Main Event after the elimination of Israel’s Alon Simka.

Torres opened the action with a sizable raise to 14,800 from early position before Simka moved all in for an additional 48,500. Torres thought briefly before making the call with [tc][td] to find himself racing with Simka’s [ac][qs].

Torres was looking to avoid the ace or queen but didn’t have to worry when the flop landed [9h][ts][2h] to give him a set. Torres then filled up on the [9c] turn as the meaningless [js] hit the river. Simka is an early casualty as Torres moves up to 330,000. –HC

Victorino Torres

12:20pm: Table 15 needs a diet
If there is a table to watch today, it’s the one numbered 15. Three of the top ten chip stacks are there. Danny Park, Wenfei Huang, and Ligong Wei all have seats around the baize. They’re joined by Terrence Chan and Day 1a chip leader Shih Chieh Su. If that table doesn’t break any time soon under its own weight or by TD’s order, it may just collapse. –BW

12:12pm: Play underway
As the final few stragglers make their way to their seats, it’s time to shuffle and deal.

12:00pm: Day 3 set to begin
The remaining 96 players of the APPT Macau main event are sitting down to unbag their chips. Nathaniel Seet leads them all right now with a chip stach worth around five times the average stack.

This is looking to be an exceptionally long day. Make a pot a coffee and stick with us as we head toward the money bubble and way beyond. –BW

Live updates form APPT Macau brought to you by Heath “TassieDevil” Chick and Brad Willis (with occasional and very welcome updates from our Japanese blogger Jenn Barr).

APPT Macau Day 3 table draw

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

Ninety-six players remain in the APPT Macau Season 5 main event.

Play resumes at 12:10pm local time in what is expected to be a long day of play.

The table and seat draw for Day 3 is listed below.

Table Seat Player Chips

1 1 Michael Finstein 151300
1 2 Frederik de Linde Farrington 125200
1 3 David Steicke 372400
1 4 Randy Lew 145000
1 5 Josh Barrett 164500
1 6 Fu Leong Cheong 191600
1 7 Wei-Bo Ye 249800
1 8 Jackson Zheng 75000
2 1 Chin Hao Hsu 63800
2 2 Michal Karolak 73300
2 3 Bo Wu 205600
2 4 Steven Tegnelia 98000
2 5 Hui Xia 293600
2 6 Othonas Katakis 52900
2 7 Chi Chen 173200
2 8 Tetsuro Tomita 257100
3 1 Kai Yat Fam 228300
3 2 Fabio Kim 161000
3 3 Anh Son Hoang 146400
3 4 Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero 257400
3 5 Haifeng Xue 287400
3 6 Joey Masangcay 93800
3 7 Sparrow Cheung 260700
3 8 Haifeng Xue 69600
6 1 Tommi Etelapera 97500
6 2 Yakov Artemovich Onuchin 142200
6 3 Johannes Haase 126500
6 4 Zheng Tai Tan 231300
6 5 Clifford Bruce 248100
6 6 Yue Xu 144600
6 7 Xiao Ming Liang 132300
6 8 Tsugunari Toma 282300
6 9 Kelvin Lau 152900
7 1 Sangeeth Mohan 213200
7 2 David Hrdlicka 333600
7 3 Nanqing Xue 80600
7 4 Gianpaulo Bini 134800
7 5 Lance Richard Lee Yuen 299500
7 6 Renat Lyapin 214300
7 7 Fabian Spiedelmann 389500
7 8 Pui Suen Percy Yung 170400
7 9 Tommy Wong 101800
8 1 Baton Fung 50700
8 2 Vincent Torres 62700
8 3 Thomas Ward 239000
8 4 Darren Paul Judges 181100
8 5 Scott Calcagno 197800
8 6 Weiming Lam 152800
8 7 Roel Pijpers 83100
8 8 Daniel Chua 69900
8 9 Gordon Huntly 126200
12 1 Dimitrios Nanos 65700
12 2 Hans Daniel Nordstrom 191600
12 3 Victorino Torres 296600
12 4 Alon Simka 69500
12 5 Claudia Yum 79000
12 6 Dennis Zezyulin 76000
12 7 Yury Kerzhapkin 79700
12 8 Yang Sun 269400
12 9 Hoi Ting Lee 257100
15 1 Jie Gao 69000
15 2 Terrence Chan 166000
15 3 Chieh Su Shih 179300
15 4 Wenfei Huang 436300
15 5 Andreas Uhde 45000
15 6 Amit Varma 116700
15 7 David Kai-Kwong Man 272000
15 8 Danny Park 478100
15 9 Ligong Wei 312600
16 1 Naoki Takiguchi 87400
16 2 Grant Levy 144600
16 3 Julian Powell 53400
16 4 Konstantinos Nanos 25800
16 5 Manami Hayamizu 182700
16 6 Daniel Francis 298900
16 7 Devan Tang 170600
16 8 Zuo Wang 166900
16 9 Hyunbong Jang 108400
20 1 Antonios Triantafyllakis 84700
20 2 Daoxing Chen 125500
20 3 Nathaniel Seet 774500
20 4 Jian Yang 72700
20 5 Jimmy Pan 239600
20 6 Hing Yaung Chow 90000
20 7 Viacheslav Poskonin 58000
20 8 Peng Ren 235800
20 9 Ying Zhao 197200
21 1 Johnny Chan 244400
21 2 Jeffrey Rossiter 292500
21 3 Wing Kwok Tang 262700
21 4 Alexandre Perreault 93000
21 5 Shane Dye 193400
21 6 Tetsuya Tsuchikawa 62600
21 7 Aditya Agarwal 94700
21 8 Jordan Westmorland 95800
21 9 Andrew Scott 156000

APPT Macau Day 4: Level 28 (blinds 30,000-60,000, ante 5,000)

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

6:00pm: Here comes Randy!

Daniel Nordstrom and Randy Lew have gone to war, with the PokerStars Team Online member getting the better as he starts to look very threatening on this final table.

Nordstrom tabled [7c][7d] but it wasn’t enough to get past Lew’s [ah][jd].

Lew is up to 2.3 million with Nordstrom down to 2.2 million.

5:40pm: Tan Tai Zheng eliminated in 8th place

The board ran out [3d][5c][5d][td][9d] to give Rossiter the pot and eliminate Singaporean Zheng in 8th place for a HK$373,000 pay day.

Rossiter is now up to a commanding 5.2 million and is in charge of this final table.

Tan Tai Zheng eliminated in 8th place

5:35pm: Play resumes

The players are back following the break with Jeff Rossiter grabbing the chip lead after Fabian Spiedelmann lost the hand before the break to slip back into the pack.

APPT Macau Day 4: Levels 25-27 (blinds 25,000-50,000, ante 5,000)

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

5:25pm: Ten-minute break

The level has come to an end and the players are taking a break. We’ll be back in ten minutes with coverage to continue on a new page.

5:20pm: Nordstrom finds a lucky lady

Daniel Nordstrom has doubled up through Fabian Spiedelmann after spiking a set on the river to the roars of the railbirds watching this final table.

With all the chips in preflop, Spiedelmann pushed with [as][2s]. Nordstrom held a monster [qs][qd] and made the call but fell behind on the [ac][ks][7s] flop.

The turn was the [jc] to give Nordstrom straight outs, but he connected smack-bang with the [qc] river. He doubles up to 2.7 million with Spiedelmann down to 3.7 million.

The chips just keep getting passed around the table as eight players still remain.

5:10pm: Rossiter roars

Jeff Rossiter has taken a massive pot from Kai Yat Fam to jump up towards the chip leaders as he eyes off his second major title this month.

Jimmy Pan opened with a preflop raise with Jeff Rossiter making the call in position. Fam came along in the big blind to see a flop of [ks][3d][4s].

Action checked to Rossiter who bet 225,000. Fam called as Pan got out of the way before the [jc] hit the turn. Fam check-called again, this time for 460,000 as the [ac] hit the river. Fam tapped the table again as Rossiter moved a hefty 855,000 into the middle. Fam thought for a few moments before matching the bet.

Rossiter confidently opened [as][ah] for a rivered set of aces which was too good as Fam tossed away his cards. Rossiter climbs to 4.1 million with Fam down to just 1.25 million.

4:50pm: David Steicke eliminated in 9th place

David Steicke is the first elimination of the day as he departs in 9th place. Following the devastating beat of the previous hand, Steicke waited two more hands before raising to 155,000, leaving himself just 5,000 behind. Daniel Nordstrom popped it to 300,000 to isolate and the table folded back to Steicke who tossed out his last chip.

Steicke: [4h][7d]
Nordstrom: [as][ad]

Well, Steicke was going to have to use all his powers to get out of this one, and there were a few murmurs in the crowd when the flop came down [5c][2d][3c] to give him hope with a straight draw. However the [9c] turn and [td] river completed the board to see him head to the cashier to collect HK$263,300 in prize money.

David Steicke eliminated in 9th place

4:45pm: Lew doubles through Steicke

Randy Lew opened with a raise to 100,000 before David Steicke three-bet to 205,000. Action folded back around to Lew who moved all in for around 750,000 and Steicke instantly called!

Lew: [qs][qd]
Steicke: [ac][ad]

Lew was on his feet ready to exit but he was forced to sit back down after the board ran out [8c][4h][qh][6s][7s]. Lew spikes his two-outer to double to 1.7 million as Steicke could only grin through clenched teeth as he was left crippled.

4:30pm: A showdown without cards

Action has slowed over the last half hour with players taking a long time over their decisions.

Fabian Spiedelmann took down a three-bet pot with a bet on the turn on a board of [ac][6c][4h][ah] against Zuo Wang, before Wang got a few chips back when he took down a sizable pot with a turn bet against Jimmy Pan on a [kc][3c][td][4h] board.

We thought we had a rare showdown when Zheng Tai Tan clashed with Kai Yat Fam.

Fam raised to 100,000 from the cutoff, checked the flop and then called bets of 150,000 on the turn and 215,000 on the river on a board of [qs][7h][8s][kh][3d]. However Tan was caught in the cookie jar as he tossed his cards straight into the muck to concede the pot to Fam. Tan is now down to 900,000 as nine players still remain.

4:15pm: Update from the side even with Team Japan

Since Tsugunari Toma finished the main event in 13th place, there are no players from Japan on this side of the tournament area. In the $2500 bounty event, however, the big names have gathered and are looking for a piece of the final event of this APPT series. Just a quick glance around and we saw Seijiro Machi (winner of the $15,000 side event last night), Yu Kurita (4th in the same event), Azusa Maeda (2nd place in the WSOPE 6-handed event), Wooka Kim, mahjong pro Garthe Nelson, the popular Hirotoshi “Hirobow” Nakago and Manami “Tink” Hayamizu (cashed in the main event yesterday). We’re looking for some big results from this talented group to report on as the day progresses. — JB

4:00pm: Level up, blinds 25,000-50,000, ante 5,000

3:55pm: King-deuce does it for Nordstrom

Swede Daniel Nordstrom has just found a big double up to stay alive in the APPT Macau Main Event. He open-shoved the button for 610,000 and action folded to Zheng Tai Tan who asked for a count in the big blind before announcing a call.

Nordstrom sheepishly tabled [kh][2c] but was surprisingly in front as Tan had gambled with [qs][jc].

The flop of [jd][5c][kd] hit both players, but Tan couldn’t improve further on the [8h] turn or [3d] river. Nordstrom doubles to 1.25 million with Tan now down to 1.5 million.

3:35pm: Pan and Tan collide

Jimmy Pan has just burnt a cool million chips in a battle of the blinds with Zheng Tai Tan.

Pan raised the small blind to 105,000 and Tan called to see a flop of [7c][3h][3c].

Pan led for 140,000 before Tan raised to 370,000. Pan came back with another raise to 665,000 in total to send Tan into the tank. After several minutes of thought, Tan announced himself all in which brought a quick fold from Pan.

Pan slips to 1.1 million with Tan now up to 2.3 million.

3:25pm: Spiedelmann soars

It only took three hands for us to see our first all-in clash and it was a beauty!

Fabian Spiedelmann opened with a raise to 85,000 which Zuo Wang called before chip leader Kai Yat Fam popped it another 200,000 from the small blind.

Action folded to Spiedelmann who announced a re-raise of another 320,000 to force Wang from the pot, but Fam wasn’t going anywhere. He moved all in and Spiedelmann insta-called as five million chips were in the middle!

Spiedelmann: [kd][kh]
Fam: [ad][kc]

The board ran out [9d][3s][2d][5s][qs] to give Spiedelmann the massive double up to take the chip lead. Fam is down to 2.2 million.

3:15pm: Play resumes

The players have been introduced to the audience and the button has been drawn (seat 3). Nothing more is left than for APPT President Danny McDonagh to utter the words “Shuffle up and Deal!”

There has been a bit of a wind back as we’ll play another 45 minutes at 20,000/40,000 with a 5,000 ante.

Final Table Lineup

Seat 1: Randy Lew (PokerStars Team Online) – 750,000
Seat 2: Jeff Rossiter – 1,725,000
Seat 3: Fabian Spiedelmann (PokerStars Qualifier) – 2,295,000
Seat 4: Zuo Wang – 2,180,000
Seat 5: David Steicke (PokerStars Player) – 965,000
Seat 6: Kai Yat Fam – 4,515,000
Seat 7: Daniel Nordstrom – 800,000
Seat 8: Jimmy Pan – 2,010,000
Seat 9: Zheng Tai Tan – 1,685,000

2:40pm: Sangeeth Mohan eliminated in 10th place

Our final table bubble has burst with India’s Sangeeth Mohan the unfortunate one to miss out on an APPT final table berth. He was very unlucky too, after getting his last chips in the middle with the nuts.

It started with Mohan raising the button to 110,000 before Kai Yat Fam three-bet an additional 170,000 from the small blind. Fabian Spiedelmann tanked for several minutes before giving up his big blind, and perhaps it was a good thing, as Mohan four-bet another 330,000 on top.

Fam thought briefly before making the call as the flop landed [qd][td][4h]. Fam checked and with so much already in the middle, Mohan announced himself all in but Fam quickly called as the cards were on their backs!

Fam: [kd][jd]
Mohan: [qh][qc]

Wow! It was top set against a Royal Flush draw on the ultimate action flop. Mohan walked from the table and couldn’t watch as the [2d] hit the turn to give Fam a flush and leave Mohan on the brink of elimination, needing to pair the board to stay alive.

It wasn’t to be as the [as] landed to see Mohan finish in 10th place as Fam grabs a massive chip lead as our final table is set!

There will now be a short break while the players relocate to a dedicated final table area, take some photos and conduct media interviews before play is scheduled to recommence at 3:15pm local time.

Sangeeth Mohan eliminated in 10th place

2:30pm: Play resumes

We’re back in action with the blinds up to 25,000/50,000/5,000 and one elimination away from our final table of nine.

2:20pm: Ten-minute break

With play slowing right down towards the end of that level, the players are now taking a much-needed ten-minute break.

1:45pm: Queen-ten is good enough

Zheng Tai Tan has found a big double up through David Steicke, although it wasn’t quite your standard preflop race.

Tan opened the button to 105,000 before Steicke moved all in from the big blind. Tan quickly called and opened [qc][th] as Steicke was probably a little surprised to find his [kc][7c] was actually in front.

It didn’t stay that way for long as the board was spread [3d][8s][ts][5c][6s] to pair up Tan for the double up to 1.7 million. Steicke slips to 990,000.

1:35pm: Baton Fung eliminated in 11th place

Baton Fung is next to his the rail as we’re now one elimination away from our final table.

Zuo Wang opened with a raise from late position with ace-king before Fung moved all in for his last chips with pocket sevens. Wang made the call, spiked a king on the flop and that was all she wrote.

Wang is now up to a healthy two million in chips.

1:30pm: Great Wall of Steicke starts construction

Daniel Nordstrom opened with a raise to 84,000 from under the gun and David Steicke made the call in the big blind to see a flop of [2d][ad][2h].

Both players checked and the turn brought the [5h]. Steicke checked and Nordstrom bet 85,000. Steicke responded with a check-raise to 205,000 but Nordstrom made the call as the [jd] completed the board.

Steicke led out for another 205,000 and Nordstrom paid to see. Steicke revealed [8d][7d] for a rivered flush which was good to rake in the big pot. Steicke has started to build the infamous “Great Wall of Steicke” around the side of the table, with his wall currently standing at around a dozen towers in width as he’s up to 1.6 million.

1:25pm: Fam flexes

Kai Yat Fam is starting to flex his muscle with a powerful four-bet in a battle of the blinds against Fabian Spiedelmann.

Fam opened to 100,000 before Spiedelmann three-bet another 160,000 on top. Fam came back with a four-bet of an additional 240,000 which was too much for Spiedelmann as he folded.

Fam proudly flashed [js][6s] on the table as he stretches his chip lead to 2.8 million.

1:15pm: Dao Xing “Bobo” Chen eliminated in 12th place

Daniel Nordstrom opened with a raise from the button before Bobo Chen moved all in from the big blind. Nordstrom made the call with [kh][jd] and found himself with live cards against Chen’s [ah][qd].

The flop landed [9h][tc][ks] to pair up Nordstrom but Chen had an overcard and a gutshot to stay alive. The turn was the [6s] and the river bricked the [7h] to eliminate Chen just short of his second APPT Macau final table as the Swede powers up the chip count leaderboard.

Bobo Chen eliminated in 12th place

1:10pm: Tsugunari Toma eliminated in 13th place

Japan’s last hope has been sent to the rail as Tsugunari Toma moved all in with his short stack holding [kh][6h] and Kai Yat Fam made the call with [ad][qd].

The board ran out [as][js][5c][8h][jd] to send Toma home in unlucky 13th place.

1:05pm: Level up, blinds 20,000-40,000, ante 4,000

12:50pm: King of Sweden

Swede Daniel Nordstrom is back in contention with a big double up at the expense of Bobo Chen.

Nordstrom opened with a raise to 60,000 from the button before Randy Lew three-bet to 150,000 in the small blind. Action was then with Chen who soaked up several minutes of valuable oxygen before declaring himself all in.

Nordstrom followed by moving his chips all in as Lew made a reluctant fold. We’re guessing it was a good fold as Chen tabled [qd][qc] and Nordstrom showed [kd][ks].
The board fell [6c][9d][js][kc][4d] to give Nordstrom a set for a massive double up to 1.45 million. Chen slips back to just 300,000.

Daniel Nordstrom is moving up the leaderboard at the APPT Macau

12:45pm: Josh Barrett eliminated in 14th place

Josh Barrett has been unable to find some luck when he needed it most as his tournament has come to an end in 14th place.

With action folded to Barrett in the small blind, he moved all in for a total of 439,000 with his nemesis Fabian Spiedelmann asking for a count before making the call in the big blind. Barrett showed [jd][jh] as Spiedelmann threw his head back in dismay as he opened [ac][3c].

The flop was huge for Spiedelmann as it arrived [9c][9d][7c] to give him additional outs to a flush, but he didn’t need them as the [ad] found its way onto the turn. The river was the [kd] to see Barrett make a disappointed exit from the tournament. Spiedelmann is now up to 2.2 million.

12:40pm: Double for Baton

Jeff Rossiter started things off with a min-raise to 60,000 and action passed to Baton Fung in the small blind. After several minutes of thought, he moved all in for 274,000 in total. The big blind folded but Rossiter insta-called with [ac][tc] up against Fung’s [jd][jc].
The board bricked [5s][kd][3c][2c][8d] to leave Fung’s pair in front for the double up to 600,000.

“Why waste so much time?” sighed Rossiter as he slips to 1.2 million.

12:35pm: Sparrow Cheung eliminated in 15th place

Sparrow Cheung had been successfully pushing his short stack all in to pick up the blinds and antes on multiple occasions, but it felt like a matter of time before he ran into a big hand.

From middle position, Cheung moved all in preflop for around 360,000 with [6h][6s] but Jeff Rossiter woke up with [qh][qd] to make the call.

The board was spread [7s][2d][4s][2h][8c] to eliminate Cheung as our first casualty of the day. Meanwhile Rossiter continues his hot streak as he moves up to 1.6 million chips.

12:25pm: Just quads for nanonoko

Randy “nanonoko” Lew has just made quad aces but couldn’t entice a river bet from his opponent Sangeeth Mohan.

From the big blind, Lew bet the flop of [6d][ad][ac] before checking the [7s] turn over to his opponent. Mohan slid out 175,000 and Lew called before tapping the table again on the [9s] river. Mohan wisely checked behind as Lew’s [as][ah] were way out in front.

The online phenom is going to be dangerous if he picks up hands like this! Lew is up to 1.2 million with Mohan slipping to 2.1 million.

The last remaining member of Team PokerStars, Randy “nanonoko” Lew

12:20pm: Spiedelmann slices Barrett

Josh Barrett and Fabian Spiedelmann have tangled in the first major pot of the day with the German getting the upper hand.

Barrett opened from early position to 65,000 before Spiedelmann three-bet to 155,000. Action folded back to Barrett who made the call.

The flop landed [kh][6d][9h] and Barrett check-called for 150,000 before leading for 200,000 on the repeat [ks] turn. Spiedelmann made the call and both players checked down the [5c] river.

Barrett opened [ah][qs] for ace-high but Spiedelmann showed [9d][8d] for a pair of nines to take the pot to the dismay of the Aussie. Barrett drops to 500,000 with Spiedelmann now up to 1.85 million.

12:10pm: It’s go time!

The players have found their seats and unbagged their chips as Day 4 of the APPT Macau Main Event is back underway. We’ll be playing another 55 minutes of Level 25 with the blinds at 15,000/30,000/3,000.

The cards are now in the air!

Here’s Lynn Gilmartin’s preview of the day ahead as she catches up with PokerStars Team Online player Randy Lew.

After a long day yesterday we’ve reached the final frontier as fifteen players return to the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino, and the PokerStars Macau Poker Room, for their shot at APPT fame and fortune.

The local players and fans love nothing more than getting a little hyped for a final table. They’ll be three and four deep on the rail today, clinging onto every last flop, turn and river. We hope to be able to bring all of that atmosphere into your lounge room today!

Table 6
Seat 1: Daniel Nordstrom (Sweden) – 786,000
Seat 2: Randy Lew (Canada) (PokerStars Team Online) – 845,000
Seat 3: Daoxing Chen (China) – 672,000
Seat 4: Sangeeth Mohan (India) – 2,423,000
Seat 5: Zheng Tai Tan (Singapore) – 985,000
Seat 6: Jimmy Pan (Netherlands) – 1,586,000
Seat 7: David Steicke (Hong Kong) (PokerStars Player) – 886,000
Seat 8: Kai Yat Fam (Singapore) – 2,358,000

Table 15
Seat 1: Zuo Wang (China) – 1,511,000
Seat 2: Tsugunari Toma (Japan) – 635,000
Seat 3: Baton Fung (Hong Kong) – 338,000
Seat 4: Sparrow Cheung (Hong Kong) – 238,000
Seat 5: Josh Barrett (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – 1,013,000
Seat 7: Fabian Spiedelmann (Germany) (PokerStars Qualifier) – 1,425,000
Seat 8: Jeffrey Rossiter (Australia) – 1,173,000

Can PokerStars Team Online member Randy “nanonoko” Lew capture his first major live title? Will David Steicke confirm his place as one of Australasia’s best players? Will overnight chip leader Sangeeth Mohan become the toast of India? Or will a new champion emerge from the pack? The action kicks off at 12:10pm local time. Stay tuned!

Nanonoko in contention as Mohan leads final fifteen in Macau

Posted on November 26, 2011 by admin

When we started out this afternoon we knew we were in for a long day. The equation was always a difficult one to compute. Take 96 hopefuls, squeeze them into 70 cash winners then divide them into a final table of nine by the end of the day. Unfortunately algebra wasn’t our best subject as we’ve fallen a couple of spots short of that solution, but after thirteen hours of play, we’ll happily take our final fifteen and enjoy some rest before we look to crown a new APPT champion tomorrow.

For 26 players, their three days in Macau will come with a few regrets. Instead of enjoying the local scenery, trying some nice restaurants or bungee jumping off the Macau tower, they were stuck inside a casino playing a silly game of cards, that has ultimately resulted in a lot of frustration and zero profit. Among those who missed the cash today were Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero, New Zealand’s Jackson Zheng, Scotsman Gordon Huntly and finally the day one chip leader in Shih Chieh Su who lost a race with [jh][js] against [as][kc] to burst the bubble.

Once the money was reached, players were able to open up their games a little, safe in the knowledge that they had HK$46,700 safely locked up.

Julian Powell (69th), Haifeng Xue (65th), Devan Tang (64th) and Andrew Scott (61st) were among the first to visit the cashier, before they were joined by one of the headline acts of the APPT Macau Main Event.

Johnny Chan cut an epic figure in the PokerStars Macau Poker Room as the ten-time WSOP champion mixed it up with the locals, but eventually it was champion Australasian jockey Shane Dye who ended Chan’s run when he turned a straight. Chan collected HK$46,700 for 60th place.

Terrence Chan (56th) soon followed as Darren Judges (54th), Manami Hayamizu (48th) and Tetsuya Tsuchikawa (44th) enjoyed the pay jump.

One of the big stories of the day was the fall from grace of overnight chip leader Nathaniel Seet. Entering the day with a five-times average chip stack, not much went right for Seet from the get-go, before he barrelled off on a four-heart board but couldn’t get a fold from pocket aces to depart in 38th place.

The defending champ Victorino Torres fell in 36th, losing the last longer bet with brother Vincent, before another APPT champion in Grant Levy ended his rollercoaster ride in 25th place. Levy, who was a short stack for much of the day, soared into the millonaire’s club with a rush before then falling just as fast, as his final stand came when his [qd][8d] failed to improve against Sparrow Cheung’s pocket jacks.

With 24 players left it was time for a dinner break, which effectively froze up the action upon their return. Perhaps dinner discussion revolved around the HK$3,772,000 first place prize? The eliminations were few and far between, but eventually the rising blinds and antes would catch up.

David Man made a move from the big blind which backfired to be eliminated in 24th, as Vincent Torres’ battle with his short stack came to a close in 22nd place.

As play ticked over towards the 14th hour of the day, it was announced that play would be stopped at the final 16 which had the interesting effect of a rush of bustouts including a double KO to end the evening.

Shane Dye pushed his short stack with [as][5c] from the button but ran into the giant-killing Sangeeth Mohan who insta-called with [ks][kh] in the big blind, improving to a full house when the board was spread.

At the same time, Victor Wei had committed his chips preflop with [ad][jc] but ran into the dominant [ah][kc] of Jimmy Pan. Wei couldn’t overcome the disadvantage and he split 16th place prizemoney with Dye as our long day was brought to a close.

Fifteen remain with Mohan sneaking into the chip lead ahead of Singapore’s Kai Yat Fan. Jeff Rossiter, David Steicke, Josh Barrett, Bobo Chen and PokerStars Team Online’s Randy “nanonoko” Lew are all still in contention in what should be an enthralling day on the felt tomorrow.

Here’s how they will lineup tomorrow:

Prizepool and Payout Information

Play will recommence at 12:10pm tomorrow (GMT+8) where another lengthy day is expected in order to crown Asia’s newest poker champion. Make sure you join us then!

All photos Kenneth Lim Photography

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Nanonoko in contention as Mohan leads final fifteen in Macau