Lim Chin Wei Leads 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau Final Table
Just eight players now remain in contention for the trophy, title and lion’s share of the HK$8 million (~$1.02M) prize pool in the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau Main Event.
It had taken a lot of poker, played out over five starting legs in four different countries to whittle the 928-strong field to 68 Day 3 survivors when play resumed for at 1pm local time (GMT+8) on Friday, 1 December.
With only 35 players making the hallowed money spots the action was fast and frantic from the get-go and the bust outs began almost as soon as play resumed with Poland’s Karol Janiszewski, Australia’s Bobby Zhang and China’s Yu Dong Yang all falling before the first break.
Of these, it was Yang’s exit that was the most shocking. The Chinese player began the day as chip leader with a monster stack of 987,000 but lost a huge pre-flop coin flip when his pocket eights were out-flopped by the ace-king of Malaysia’s Jun Wah Yap and could not recover.
The field’s other two top stacks coming into Day 3 – Malaysia’s Wai Kiat Lee and Michael Soyza – both made the money but could not make the final eight, with Soyza departing at the hands of the official final table frontrunner Lim Chin Wei and Lee busting to Taiwan’s Chen An Lin in 25th and 18th place respectively.
Other notables to fall by the wayside well short of the money included Korean pro Vivian Im, China’s Guo Dong and Hong Kong’sBen Lai. The man who departed in the most painful position of all and exited on the bubble was Paul Toeh. The Malaysian fell at the hands of Korea’s Je Ho Lee after defending his big blind with king-jack suited and getting all the chips in on a king-high flop.
Unfortunately for Toeh, there were two clubs on the board and Lee was holding ace-jack with the ace of clubs and running cards saw the Korean make the nut flush to guarantee the remaining 35 players an HK$50,900 payday.
It took nine grueling 60-minute levels to thin the field down to the final eight and set up the official 8-handed final table, with Chen An Lin falling at the final hurdle to close out the day after busting at the hands of Hong Kong’s Danny Tang.
The man best positioned to take down the HK$1,925,000 first prize is Malaysia’s Lim Chin Wei who climbed into an early lead, before Je Ho Lee powered into the top spot, where he remained for the majority of the day before an ill-timed bluff against Chien Jenyen two tables out saw Wei re-take the lead.
Both Lee and Jenyen made the final table, as did Day 2B frontrunner Sahashi Hideki and Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung – who has cashed an unbelievable 62 times this year and currently holds the top spot for most 2017 cashes worldwide – will be making his 34th final table appearance of the year, with the last eight as follows:
2017 Suncity Cup Main Event Day 2B Seat Draw
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lim Chin Wei | Malaysia | 5,500,000 | 91 |
| 2 | Chien Jenyen | Taiwan | 2,190,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Je Ho Lee | Korea | 2,430,000 | 40 |
| 4 | Eugene Co | Philippines | 2,300,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | 5,215,000 | 86 |
| 6 | Sahashi Hideki | Japan | 1,250,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Sparrow Cheung | Hong Kong | 1,365,000 | 22 |
| 8 | Kosei Ichinose | Japan | 1,835,000 | 30 |
The final table will resume at 1:30pm on Saturday, 2 December and blinds will be starting at 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 running ante. Join us then to see who has what it takes to become the 2017 Suncity Cup champion.