With the re-entry period now over the numbers are in and the prize pool has been announced. The 52 entries (including re-entries) have swelled the prize pool to a rather large HK$48,921,600 (~$6,265,332) with the top eight players getting paid and first prize taking home a massive HK$16,877,600 (~$2,161,520). You can see the rest of the payouts under the payouts tab at the top of the page.
Tom Dwan is back up over starting stack after winning a pot from Sam Trickett, all without a flop being dealt.
While we missed the opening salvo is was Trickett who was the initial aggressor, opening in the action with a raise from the cut off with Dwan re-raising from the big blind. The British player then three-bet and Dwan moved all-in for another 150,000 on top of what Trickett had bet.
The pot was a sizable 150,000 by the time we arrived, not including Dwan’s all-in, and Trickett was trying to crunch the numbers.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here,” said Trickett after tanking for a good few minutes, “at least in a tournament anyway.”
Trickett eventually folded and immediately started discussing the hand with Dwan and tablemate Daniel Cates, with the British pro stating he had ‘a good nine-high’.
The three were still discussing the merits of calling versus folding as we walked away, with Dwan climbing to 280,000 after the hand and Trickett dropping to 530,000 after that little misadventure.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
530,000
-160,000
|
-160,000 |
|
280,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Niveau: 12
Blinds: 6,000/12,000
Ante: 2,000
Here's how the remaining 21 players are stacking up:
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
2,000,000
-200,000
|
-200,000 |
|
950,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
915,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
|
860,000
-60,000
|
-60,000 |
|
||
|
850,000 | |
|
800,000
-300,000
|
-300,000 |
|
750,000
215,000
|
215,000 |
|
710,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
||
|
670,000
-235,000
|
-235,000 |
|
636,000
-151,000
|
-151,000 |
|
500,000
330,000
|
330,000 |
|
|
462,000
-68,000
|
-68,000 |
|
420,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
|
||
|
410,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
|
320,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
|
||
|
284,000
84,000
|
84,000 |
|
||
|
275,000
-95,000
|
-95,000 |
|
275,000
-45,000
|
-45,000 |
|
||
|
200,000
-39,000
|
-39,000 |
|
||
|
102,000
-54,000
|
-54,000 |
|
|
||
Both Steffen Sontheimer and Mikita Badziakouski are deep stacked and the pair have been battling it out over several pots for the last few levels and we caught them both at it again midway through level 12.
Sontheimer was the initial protagonist, making it 27,000 to go from middle position with the neighbouring Badziakouski re-raising to 82,000 in total.
Action folded back around to Sontheimer who gave the Belerusian player a sceptical stare.
“Again?” quizzed Sontheimer.
Badziakouski slid on his sunglasses and said nothing as Sonteheimer slid in the call, checking the 
flop over to the Belarusian.
Badziakouski led out for 50,000 and Sontheimer stared him down for a good minute or so before cracking a smile and flashing 
and folding.
“Wrong color,” quipped the German. Badziakouski didn’t show and climbed to 1.4 million while Sontheimer dropped to 860,000.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,400,000
540,000
|
540,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
860,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
Action folded around to Deven Tang on the button and he made it 25,000 to go and small blind Alexandros Kolonias moved his remaining chips into the middle of the table.
“How much?” quizzed Tang.
“110,000,” replied Kolonias.
“Ok,” said Tang tossing in a single calling chip and the cards were turned over.
Alexandros Kolonias: 
Devan Tang: 
While Tang had Kolonias covered the Greek player had the dominating hand and remained in front all the way until the river when disaster struck after the board ran out 
and Tang spiked his ten on the river to bring Kolonias’ tournament to a close.
A disgruntled looking Kolonias headed for the rail while Tang gave the dealer a high five.
“Wait,’ piped up tablemate Salman Behbehani, “Isn’t that the same dealer who got you there with jack-ten yesterday against my queens?”
Tang nodded the affirmative with a grin that would put a Cheshire cat to shame as he stacked up to 475,000.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
475,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
|
Eliminé | |
|
|
||
There have been two more casualties, both from the same table interestingly enough, and the remaining 18 players are just 10 bust outs away from the money.
The United Kingdom’s Sam Trickett was the first to fall at the hands of Mikita Badziakouski and tablemate Steffen Sontheimer was kind enough to fill us in on the details.
“Mikita raised big from the button,’ said Sontheimer, ‘and Sam shoved for 33 big blinds and this fish,’ [points to Badziakouski] ‘had no idea what to do.” Sontheimer joked, giving Badziakouski a friendly needle.
Badziakouski eventually made the call with pocket fives and Trickett had ace-queen and lost the race for his tournament life while Badziakouski stacked up to over 1.65 million.
“Maybe say I had eights,’ Badziakouski quipped, ‘it will look better,” the Belarusian said with a cheeky grin.
Tom Dwan departed shortly afterward after losing a blind on blind battle against Tony Cheng. The US player moved all-in from the small blind with 
and Cheng made the call with 
, which held to bring Dwan’s Main Event to an end while Cheng stacked up to 680,000.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,650,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
680,000
270,000
|
270,000 |
|
|
Eliminé | |
|
|
Eliminé | |
Niveau: 13
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 2,000
The Shanghai Wang express is building up steam and is showing no signs of being stopping at the station anytime soon. We caught Wang Qiang in action with the Chinese player making it 33,000 to go from the cutoff and Gabe Patgorski chose to defend his big blind to take the action heads-up to a flop of 
.
Patgorski checked the action over to Qiang who continuation bet 55,000 and the US player made a quick call to bring the pair to the 
turn.
That was it for the betting, with Patgorski checking and Qiang checking it right back with the same pattern continuing on the 
river.
Patgorski tabled 
and while he had Qiang out-pipped pre-flop the Chinese player had caught a piece with 
and stacked up to 2,550,000 while Patgorski dropped to 480,000.
Here’s how the rest of the field is stacking up:
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,550,000
550,000
|
550,000 |
|
|
1,550,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,100,000
185,000
|
185,000 |
|
|
1,070,000
360,000
|
360,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
830,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
|
810,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
|
610,000
-190,000
|
-190,000 |
|
|
600,000
-350,000
|
-350,000 |
|
|
520,000
-150,000
|
-150,000 |
|
|
520,000
236,000
|
236,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
480,000
-370,000
|
-370,000 |
|
|
470,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
410,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
|
|
400,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
360,000
-140,000
|
-140,000 |
|
|
355,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
|
310,000
-326,000
|
-326,000 |
|
|
127,000
-193,000
|
-193,000 |
|
|
||
Su Hao is no longer in the running and departed midway through the level and Fedor Holz will not be adding anymore trophies until his haul this week either, busting at the hands of fellow countryman Dominik Nitsche in what turned out to be an interesting hand.
Pre-flop it was Nitsche who was the aggressor, opening the action with a raise from the cutoff with Holz making the call from the button. We picked up the action on the river but Salman Behbehani was kind enough to fill us in on the details and according to him Holz check-called Nitsche’s continuation bet on a 
flop before seizing the initiative on the the 
turn and leading for 60,000 when Nitsche checked.
Nitsche made the call and the 
river completed the hand. This is where it got interesting and is where we picked up the action with Nitsche leading out for 130,000 only to see Holz move all in for 327,000 in total.
Nitsche tanked long and hard before making the call and Holz rolled over 
. While this was no good it was not because Nitsche had an ace, but rather had rivered a set holding 
. Holz headed for the rail while Nitsche stacked up to over 1 million and play was briefly paused as the third table broke and the players were split between the two remaining tables.
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | 200,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Chan Wai Leong | Malaysia | 275,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Daniel Cates | USA | 355,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 1,040,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Peter Chan | Hong Kong | 1,030,000 |
| 1 | 6 | John Juanda | Indonesia | 400,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Salman Behbehani | USA | 340,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Devan Tang | Hong Kong | 470,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Manig Loeser | Germany | 1,330,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | 760,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 1,700,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Wang Qiang | China | 2,300,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Antonios Paschalidis | Greece | 730,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | 800,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Tony Cheng | Hong Kong | 820,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Gabe Patgorski | USA | 520,000 |
Paul Phua busted shortly afterward and the players are now on a 20 minute dinner break.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,300,000
-250,000
|
-250,000 |
|
|
1,330,000
260,000
|
260,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,040,000
520,000
|
520,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,030,000
-70,000
|
-70,000 |
|
|
820,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
|
800,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
|
760,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
|
730,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
|
520,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
|
470,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
400,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
355,000
-165,000
|
-165,000 |
|
|
340,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
|
275,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |
|
|
Eliminé | |
|
|
||
