2010 Macau Poker Cup

Pre-flop, the large crowd surrounding the final table broke into frenzied excitement as Victor Chen, Kenichi Takarabe, and Chen Feng Li all got their stacks in!

Victor:
Kenichi:
Cheng:

Kenichi had both covered but Chen had the better hand while Victor still had a shot at pairing his ace. With the crowd on its toes, the flop was dealt:

Flop:

It was pandemonium around the final table as a nine came on the flop to give Kenichi a set and put Victor and Chen on the brink of elimination.

The turn was a blank for both, leaving them with just once chance at survival.

It did not come as the landed on the river, eliminating Victor in fourth place with HK $202,000 in prize money and Chen in third place with HK $256,100 in winnings.

We are now heads up!

After the two recent eliminations, the final four players have tightened up a little bit.

That may change after the break, though, when the blinds go up.

Eric Stanley, whose stack was severely crippled on an earlier hand, has been eliminated from the Red Dragon main event.

Pre-flop, Kenichi Takarabe made a raise to 50,000 and Eric went all-in for his few remaining chips. Kenichi made the automatic call and the cards were tabled:

Kenichi:
Eric:

The flop brought no help for Eric as it came .

He would need to hit an ace but it never came as the final two cards came and to eliminate him in fifth place.

Pre-flop, Kenichi Takarabe made a raise to 50,000 but decided to get out of the way after Che Wei Chao and Chen Feng Li both got all their chips in.

Che Wei:
Chen Feng Li:

Che Wei was ahead with pocket eights but he would not be pleased when the flop came to pair Chen Feng's ace.

The turn did not bring the eight that Che Wei needed and neither did the on the river, sending him out in sixth place.

Eric Stanley is now in deep trouble after a confrontation with Kenichi Takarabe left him severely short-stacked.

Pre-flop, a raising sequence between the two ended up with Kenichi shoving all-in and Eric making the call with a slightly larger stack.

Eric flipped over but it was in dire need of help as Kenichi tabled .

The flop of did not help, giving him only two more chances to stay alive.

A nine, the , came on the turn, giving Eric some hope.

However, the river did not bring another nine as it instead showed the .

Kenichi is now at over 700,000 in chips while Eric is left looking for a miracle with a stack of about 70,000.

Victor Chen's loud crowd of supporters had something good to cheer about again after the last hand.

Pre-flop, Victor moved all-in for his last 150,000 or so in chips and got a caller in Bryan Huang.

Victor:
Bryan:

It looked like Bryan was en route to winning another hand again when the cards were tabled. However, a queen came on the flop of , sending Victor's fans into a frenzy.

The turn and river did not change anything and the one-time MPC winner is now up to over 300,000 in chips.

Pre-flop, Bryan Huang decided to make a move from the small blind and went all-in to try and get Kenji Kurashina to fold in the big blind. After thinking about it for a while, though, Kenji made the call and the cards were shown:

Bryan:
Kenji:

Kenji was ahead but Bryan had two live cards and could still win if he hit something.

The flop came , keeping him ahead. It was also the same story on the turn of and Kenji was one card away from doubling up.

Unfortunately for him, it was the that magically appeared on the river for Bryan, eliminating Kenji from the tournament in seventh place.

Bryan, meanwhile, continues to run well in this tournament and he is up to about a million and a half in chips.

Kenji Kurashina raised to 40,000 and Eric Stanley declared all-in for 141,000 more. Kenji made the call and the cards were tabled:

Kenji:
Eric:

Eric was ahead with pocket sixes and would at least need to avoid a queen or ace to stay alive and double up.

That's exactly what happened as the board blanked out with to give Eric a boost to over 300,000 in chips.