• Bet365$500
  

• Betfair£25
  

• BetssonN/A
  

• Blue Square£25
  

• Bodog10%
  

• Boylesports£200
  

• Ladbrokes£25
  

• StanJames£25
  

• Sportingbet£150
  

• Paddypower£30
  

• Pinnacle$500
  

• VCbet£100
  

• Spin Palace$1000review
  

• ParadiseCasinoVariesreview
  

• Betfred£1600review
  

• Casino Las Vegas$4,000review
  

• CasinoEuro€111review
  

• DublinBet€100review
  

• Europacasino$2,400review
  

• Intercasino$225review
  

• LadbrokesCasino$100review
  

• Littlewoodscasino£200review
  

• ParadiseCasino£100review
  

• RubyFortune$750review
  

• SwissCasino$4,000review
  

• VegasRed$10 free
  

• Aced$1000
  

• Absolute Poker$500review
  

• Bet365 Poker$500review
  

• Betfair Poker$1500review
  

• Blue Square Poker$500review
  

• Bodog Poker10%review
  

• BoylePoker$600
  

• Bwin Poker
  

• Cake Poker$500
  

• EverestPoker$100review
  

• Full Tilt Poker$600review
  

• Interpoker$100
  

• Ladbrokes Poker$1000review
  

• LittlewoodsPoker$100
  

• Pacific Poker$400review
  

• PaddyPowerPoker$600
  

• Paradise Poker$100review
  

• PartyPoker$500review
  

• Poker Heaven€500review
  

• Pokerstars$50review
  

• Stan James Poker$100
  

• Titan Poker$500review
  

• UBPoker$1,100review
  

• UltimatePoker$1,110review
  

• VCPoker$35review
  

• VulcanPoker$200
  

• William Hill Poker£250review
  

Dinh Le (credit: Poker Stars Blog)

352 people made it to Macau to play in China’s first-ever major international Texas Hold’em Tournament.  On Day One, big names like Jeff Lisandro and John Juanda hit the rails but promised to return for the $15,000 High Roller Event early next week. The 2005 WSOP Main Event champ, Joe Hachem, got pocket rockets twice in the low levels, playing them well and doubling his stack.

Lovely ladies Isabelle Mercier and Liz Lieu were among the 77 who made it to Day Two along with up-and-coming Aussie online phenom, Celina Lin. 40 players made bank. Unfortunately, Mercier was not among those. The Canadian’s pocket cowboys came up against her opponent’s American Airlines (AA in the hole) and she said au revoir to her table mates sooner than anticipated. Lin finished before the dinner break on Day Two, earning some cash but missing out on the final table.

Liz Lieu, who recently moved Across the Pond to London where she represents online poker room Chilipoker, finished out the day with 384,000 chips and a seat at the final table along with Poker Stars’ own Joe Hachem and Betrand “ElKy” Grospellier, who lost some weight and died his hair blond (due to a prop bet, or so the story goes).

First out of the final table was the short stack, Simon Randall. The UK-based player, who owns two comedy clubs in West London, found nothing funny about the king that hit the flop, pairing his opponent’s top card and sending him to the rail in ninth position.

Hachem became the short stack at the table and the next elimination. The talented Australian called Sangkyoun Kim’s all-in reraise with pocket aces. Unfortunately, for Hachem, Kim, a 41 year old father of two living in Seoul, South Korea, made a broadway straight with his A,Q on the turn. The Aussie’s eighth place finish was good for more than $24,000.

At this point, the stylish Lieu, a true “Poker Diva”, continued the trend of short stacks busting out of the table. She moved all-in pre-flop with an Ah,6d and was called by Guillaume Patry, aka TheGrrr, a native of Quebec who makes his living as a professional gamer in South Korea. Patry held a 2, 7 which didn’t frighten the diva ‘til the river when he hit trip sevens. Ouch!

After the dinner break, William Tan, a 21 year old dealer from the Treasury Casino in Brisbane, Australia, got all his chips in the middle on the very first hand. Two pair hit the board and Sangkyoun Kim had the ace kicker to eliminate him in sixth position with $40,480 to show for his efforts.

Grospellier and Patry, former roommates and pro gamers, then went out one after the other. Dinh Le took Grospellier out with a pair of jacks. Patry found himself up against it with Kim’s pocket ladies. Combined, the duo earned about $100,000.

Kim lost the chip lead to Dinh Le on hand 92. Then, takes a solid beating by Ivan Tan, leaving him with just 65k one hand later. He triples up and seems on the comeback trail until hit the rails in a split pot won by Le and Tan. Kim, who was playing in his first major tournament ever, received more than $70,000 for his third-place finish.

This left Tan, a 26 year old cash game specialist from Singapore who timed a holiday to Macau with his wife in the hopes of securing a seat on the cheap for this event, and Le, a  27 year old, Vietnamese-born nail technician who makes his home in England these days, to fight it out for the title. Le played aggressive poker, moving all-in on more than one occasion. Less than ten hands after the heads-up match-up began, Tan was out and Le was all-in for the win.

Here are the final results:

1) Dinh Le (Vietnam) - $222,640
2) Zhong Wei “Ivan” Tan (Singapore) - $129,536
3) Sangkyoun Kim (South Korea) - $72,864
4) Guillaume Patry (Canada) - $56,672
5) Bertrand Grospellier (France) - $48,576
6) William Tam (Australia) - $40,480
7) Liz Lieu (USA) - $32,384
8) Joe Hachem (Australia) - $24,288
9) Simon Randall (United Kingdom) - $16,192

Be the first to comment Share This  Print Article Share this Share this Email to a friend Email to a friend  Close  Del.icio.us  Google Bookmarks  Digg  Furl  Reddit  Ask  My Favorites  Yahoo MyWeb  StumbleUpon  Facebook  Live Bookmarks  Fark  Spurl  Mister Wong  Close Your name (required): Your email address (required): Send to email address (required, separate with commas): Add a personal message (optional): Tags: APPT,  APPT Macau,  Asian Pacific Poker Tour,  Bertrand Grospellier,  Dinh Le,  Elky,  Guillaume Patry,  Ivan Tan,  Joe Hachem,  Liz Lieu,  Sangkyoun Kim,  Simon Randall,  William Tam  534 Clicks Post to Twitter Share on Facebook

Add a new comment