APPT Macau 2018: James Chen Takes Down High Roller Title, Raghav Bansal Finishes 18th For ₹18.06 Lakhs; Yan, Jian Chen, Kempe, Sun, Mu & Tchong Pick Up Side Event Titles

APPT Macau 2018
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  • PG News March 26, 2018
  • 5 Minutes Read

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau 2018 just closed out another smashing edition. Yesterday was a big day at the series with the APPT Macau Main Event crowning a champion in China`s Lin Wu. Wu came back from what was looking like a certain runner-up finish to deny PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal his first live title.

Running alongside the Main Event was another featured event of the series i.e. HK$100,000 High Roller where Taiwan’s James Chen emerged victorious to claim the title and the PSPC Platinum Pass along with HK$4,021,000 in prize money. High-roller specialist Raghav Bansal added yet another score to his expanding resume with an 18th place finish in the event that fetched him HK$218,000 (₹18.06 Lakhs).

As the final day of the series was upon us, we saw a spate of last side event winners including Tak Chung Yan, who won the HK$3,000 NLH (One Entry Per Flight) event for HK$153,800. Adding another score to the Indian scorecard was Kunal Jain, who pocketed HK$7,200 (~₹59,558) for his 16th place finish in the event.

Jian Chen picked up a title in the HK$20,000 Deepstack event for HK$466,700. India’s Kalyan Chakravarthy lived up to his consistent form by finishing seventh for HK$103,700 (~₹8.52 Lakhs).

Over to the other high buy-in event, the APPT HK$100,000 High Roller event was taken down by Rainer Kempe for HK$1,203,000 and the Main Event – Turbo Edition was won by Ke Sun for HK$105,200.

Rounding up the other side event winners were Dapeng Mu, who claimed the HK$8,000 6-Handed event title for HK$170,500 and Michael Kue Seong Tchong, who won the HK$2,000 buy-in Hyper Turbo Deepstack event for HK$108,252.

Overall, it was another historic Macau outing with a total of 13 cashes from our Indian challengers.

Here is a complete list of scores by Team India.

 

Event 18: APPT High Roller (Shot Clock, Unlimited Re-Entries)

Taiwan’s James Chen topped a stacked field at the APPT HK$100,000 buy-in High Roller to win the title along with the PSPC Platinum Pass.

The event broke last year’s record of 180 entries, as this time around, 195 high rollers joined in for action. In total, the top 27 places shared the mammoth $18,154,500 prize pool and after three days, Chen, walked away with the first-place prize of HK$4,021,000 along with the beautiful trophy and the Platinum Pass worth $30,000.

Post his victory, Chen said, “This was only the second event I played this year after the 400k (HK$). I fired two bullets in each but ran a lot better in this one. I wasn’t planning to go to the Bahamas (to play in the PSPC), but I guess I’m going now!”

The event also saw India’s rising superstar Raghav Bansal do what he does best – crush the high rollers. Bansal has been in impeccable form at High Roller events in Macau and this series was no different. He picked up HK$218,000 (₹18.06 Lakhs) from an 18th place finish in the event.

Raghav Bansal
Raghav Bansal

Final Day Recap

The final day of the event saw 14 survivors return, led by APPT National High Roller winner Kristen Bicknell.

The first batch to hit the rails took little time coming with Jimmy Guerrero and Xia Lin exiting the event in the very first level of play.

Then, it took until the third level for the next cluster of eliminations with Jan-Eric Schwippert, Yan Zhuang and Justin Bonomo all heading out in succession.

Dapeng Mu made it to the nine-handed table but bubbled the official eight-handed final table.

 

Final Table Recap

Dominik Nitsche busted first after his ace-three failed to improve against Wenling Gao’s ace-queen.

Next up, Chidwick took out Javier Gomez Zapatero in seventh place.

The pace of eliminations then came to a halt with the stacks fluctuating wildly, and by now, almost every player had grabbed the chip lead at some point.

Albert Paik then exited in sixth place followed byWenling Gao. Gao’s pocket kings were cracked by Xin Fan’s ace-five, and the former succumbed to a fifth-place finish.

The remaining four players didn’t waste time with super fast action concluding play. Bicknell succumbed to eventual champion Chen when her king-queen couldn’t edge past the Taiwanese’s ace-queen.

Chen, who held the chip lead, went on to rail UK’s Stephen Chidwick in third place to brings the heads up finale between himself and Xin Fan.

After 20 minutes of heads-up play Chen prevailed over Fan to take home the title and the HK$4,021,000 top prize.

James Chen
James Chen

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. James En-Ching Chen – HK$4,021,000

2. Xin Fan – HK$2,714,000

3. Stephen Chidwick – HK$1,868,000

4. Kristen Bicknell – HK$1,523,000

5. Wenling Gao – HK$1,215,000

6. Albert Paik – HK$933,000

7. Javier Gomez Zapatero – HK$678,500

8. Dominik Nitsche – HK$492,000

9. Dapeng Mu – HK$406,000

 

Event 20: HK$3,000 NLH (One Entry Per Flight)

Hong Kong`s Tak Chung Yan emerged victorious in the HK$3,000 NLH (One Entry Per Flight), outshining the 247 entries in the fray. The event paid out the top 31 places who shared a piece of the HK$646,893 prize pool.

The only Indian to cash in the event was Kunal Jain who banked HK$7,200 (~₹59,558) for his 16th place finish.

Tak Chung Yan
Tak Chung Yan

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Tak Chung Yan – HK$153,800

2. Fan Shen – HK$98,800

3. Philipp Scharpenack – HK$63,200

4. Yang Zhou – HK$50,300

5. Alex Xiang Wei Lee – HK$38,000

6. Tak Kei Kuan – HK$30,900

7. Guangli Liu – HK$24,400

8. Kelvin John Beattie – HK$19,600

9. Feng Zhao – HK$15,693

 

Event 22: HK$20,000 Deepstack

The HK$20,000 Deepstack event registered 99 entries that resulted in a HK$1,728,540 prize pool to be divided among the top 10 finishers. The event found its champion in China’s Jian Chen who defeated USA’s PokerStars Team pro Randy Lew in the heads-up match. Chen banked the HK$466,700 top prize for his finish.

Jian Chen
Jian Chen

India’s Kalyan Chakravarthy kept his winning form intact by final tabling the event. Chakravarthy finished seventh for HK$103,700 (~₹8.52 Lakhs).

Kalyan Chakravarthy
Kalyan Chakravarthy

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Jian Chen – HK$466,700

2. Randy Lap Lew – HK$311,100

3. Anson Yan Shing Tsang – HK$207,400

4. Michael Wang – HK$172,800

5. Daniel James Laidlaw – HK$138,340

6. Takao Shimizu – HK$121,000

7. Kalyan Chakravarthy – HK$103,700

8. Chunjing Zhai – HK$86,400

9. Fan Zhang – HK$69,100

Event 23: APPT High Roller (Single Re-Entry)

The high buy-in two-day APPT High Roller event with a HK$100,000 buy-in, attracted a star-studded field of 38 high rollers that resulted in a gigantic HK$3,537,800 prize pool.

Topping the German heavy final table was Rainer Kempe who cashed the HK$1,203,000 top prize after defeating fellow countryman Manig Loeser heads-up for the title.

Rainer Kempe
Rainer Kempe

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Rainer Kempe – HK$1,203,000

2. Manig Loeser – HK$831,000

3. Marius Gierse – HK$531,000

4. Lander Lijo Bereciartua – HK$407,000

5. Benjamin Tollerene – HK$318,000

6. Jinghui Ying – HK$247,800

 

Event 24: Turbo Edition of the Main Event (Single Re-Entry)

The Turbo Edition of the Main Event saw a field of 73 hopefuls ponying up the HK$5,000 buy-in to generate a HK$318,645 prize pool, where the top seven places would finish in the money.

Outlasting them all was China’s Ke Sun who netted the HK$105,200 first-place prize after defeating Japanese player Hiroshi Naito in the heads-up finale.

Ke Sun
Ke Sun

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Ke Sun – HK$105,200

2. Hiroshi Naito – HK$66,900

3. Chenbin Xu – HK$44,600

4. Erik Roger Spets – HK$35,045

5. Tin Lam Wong – HK$25,500

6. Jiwei Deng – HK$22,300

7. Maria Konnikova – HK$19,100

 

Event 25: 6 Handed

The HK$8,000 6-Handed event drew a modest yet strong field of 74 entries to create the HK$516,816 prize pool. USA’s Dapeng Mu was the last player standing and took home the HK$170,500 first place prize after outdueling China’s Chen Li heads-up.

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Dapeng Mu – HK$170,500

2. Chen Li – HK$108,516

3. Lai Heng Tse – HK$72,400

4. Xuming Qi – HK$56,800

5. Yunsheng Sun – HK$41,400

6. Chahn Hoon Jung – HK$36,200

7. Jianqiang Yu – HK$31,000

 

Event 26: Hyper Turbo – Deepstack

The HK$2,000 buy-in Hyper Turbo – Deepstack event saw a field of 62 entries and the top seven places shared the HK$108,252 prize money. Australia’s Michael Kue Seong Tchong banked the HK$35,700 top prize for defeating Hong Kong’s Leo Gar Bon Kam heads-up.

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. Michael Kue Seong Tchong – HK$35,700

2. Leo Gar Bon Kam – HK$22,700

3. Chen Xu – HK$15,152

4. Guangli Liu – HK$11,900

5. Jia Tang – HK$8,700

6. San Hon Pang – HK$7,600

7. Hitoshi Nimiya – HK$6,500

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