Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2017 PokerStars Championship Macau
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Championship Macau
Buy-in
42,400 HKD
Prize Pool
20,796,800 HKD
Entries
536
Level
34
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
50,000
![[user270022]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
A great call midway through the day propelled China’s Zigao Yu to the top of the counts on Day 1a of the PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event, ending the night with 162,400.
The first PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event ever kicked off early Monday afternoon at the City of Dreams resort. Day 1a got underway at noon local time with six 75-minute levels on the schedule. A total of 193 entries put up the HKD $42,400 buy-in throughout the day with 117 surviving through to Day 2.
Joining Yu at the top of the leaderboard was majority Day 1a leader Daniel Laidlaw from Australia (135,400) and Canada’s Ryan Yu (125,900).
Other notables securing a seat on Day 2 include Yan Li (107,700), Albert Paik (98,900), “Billy the croc” Argyros (96,800), Dong Guo (88,200), Bryan Huang (83,400) and Daniel Dvoress (65,000).
Many of the game's elite took a shot on Day 1a. Some familiar faces seen around the room were John Juanda, David Peters, Sam Greenwood, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Fabian Quoss, Davidi Kitai, Xuan Liu and Maria Ho.
Liu’s tournament came to an end when the Canadian pro ran into a wall. Well, two walls really, but mainly Vinay Agarwal’s. Liu had flopped top two-pair but unfortunately, Agarwal and another tablemate both flopped flushes, Agarwal’s being best.
Ho also fell victim to an early exit. Facing a call for her tourney life on the river, Ho slid her remaining chips in the middle only to see her opponent table a straight as she took her leave. Tom Alner, Philipp Gruissem, JC Alvarado and Nick Wong were also among the casualties on Day 1a.
The start of Day 1b will be pushed slightly ahead on Tuesday to give players a chance to fire away in the HKD $200,000 Single Day High Roller, which will commence at noon local time. Day 1b of the Main Event will start at 6:00 p.m. with six 75-minute levels on the slate.
PokerNews will be here throughout the PokerStars Championship Macau, bringing you all the news, updates, videos, and photos. Follow for live updates and more. Also, follow PokerNews on and .
And, of course, follow along with the video coverage as Sarah Herring forces players into some interesting shenanigans.
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
162,900
2,900
|
2,900 |
|
135,300
5,300
|
5,300 |
|
125,200
5,200
|
5,200 |
|
118,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
107,700
17,700
|
17,700 |
|
101,900 | |
|
101,400
12,400
|
12,400 |
|
99,700
-5,300
|
-5,300 |
|
98,900
19,900
|
19,900 |
|
98,300
3,300
|
3,300 |
|
96,800
30,800
|
30,800 |
|
94,100
-25,900
|
-25,900 |
|
|
88,800
88,800
|
88,800 |
|
88,200
23,200
|
23,200 |
|
87,200
87,200
|
87,200 |
|
86,900
25,900
|
25,900 |
|
83,400
11,400
|
11,400 |
|
80,300
38,300
|
38,300 |
|
||
|
|
79,800
79,800
|
79,800 |
|
|
79,000
79,000
|
79,000 |
|
78,800
78,800
|
78,800 |
|
78,700
78,700
|
78,700 |
|
77,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
|
||
|
76,700
21,700
|
21,700 |
|
74,000
74,000
|
74,000 |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
During the last five hands of the day, David Peters raised to 1,400 and picked up three callers including Vladimir Troyanovskiy on the button. Hua Li then moved all in with his short stack in the small blind and Shinobu Tanaka reshoved to get everyone else out of the way.
Li flipped over 
and Tanaka had the 
. The board came 
and Li was eliminated, while a frustrated Troyanovskiy bagged up less than the starting stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
101,900
-8,100
|
-8,100 |
|
35,100
-4,900
|
-4,900 |
|
||
|
30,200
30,200
|
30,200 |
|
27,800
-3,200
|
-3,200 |
|
|
Busted | |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
Russia’s Asker Aloev probably wishes the ‘last five hands’ announcement came five hands ago after taking a hit at the hands of Xiaoyang Luo almost instantly after this proclamation.
We caught the action on the 
flop in the three-way hand involving Aloev, Luo and Troy Quenneville, that latter of whom had just checked from the big blind.
Aloev led out for 3,500 and both Luo (button) and Quenneville made the call, keeping the action three-way to the 
turn. Quenneville checked again and Aloev tossed out three yellow 5k chips for a bet of 15,000.
Luo quickly moved all-in and after Quenneville got out of the way Aloev called just as fast and the cards were turned over.
Asker Aloev: 
Xiaoyang Luo: 
While Luo was technically the at-risk player the fact he had turned a boat and left Aloev drawing to the decks two remaining queens minimized his chances of busting.
The river saw Luo earn the double and climb to around 42,0000 while Aloev dropped down to roughly the same.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
42,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
|
|
42,000 |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
Just when the last hands of the day were announced, Hui Shi was spotted all in for her last 26,425 on the 
turn. Less than half an hour ago, Shi had open-shoved from under the gun for around 16,000 and then doubled soon after. Her sole remaining opponent this time was Yuki Ko from two seats over, and the Korean spent a long time in the think tank.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy eventually called the clock on him and Ko dropped in the chips with less than 30 seconds into his one minute of consideration.
Hui Shi: 
Yuki Ko: 
Shi needed to dodge a club in order to double, however the 
on the river gave Ko the nut flush and sent Shi to the rail just shy of making Day 2.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
110,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
As the final level of the day draws near its end, here are the largest stacks we could find in the room at the moment.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
160,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
130,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
120,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
|
120,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
The clock has been stopped with 15 minutes left on the level and the draw for the last hands of the night was made. There will be five more hands until bagging and tagging, the T-25 chips will be raced off prior to that as well.
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
On the heads-up flop of 
, Changhun Lee bet 5,600 in the big blind and Michel Abecassis called on the button. Both then saw the 
appear on the turn and Lee waved with his hand to see the stack of Abecassis. The Frenchman had around 18,000 left and Lee moved his big chips forward to announce all in.
After brief consideration, Abecassis called and turned over the 
. Lee only had 
and the on the river gave Abecassis even an eight-high straight. The Frenchman doubled for 18,425 and boosted his stack up to more than average.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
55,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
50,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
Level 6
: 250/500, 75 ante
We are a little less than 60-minutes away from the end of play and the action has slowed down a little. Over on Sam Greenwood’s table the Canadian is still busy plugging away at that crossword and action folded around to Russia’s Sergey Kogotkov in the small blind who elects to check his option.
Big blind Fabian Quoss decided to play for a little more though and raised it up to 1,700. Kogotkov shot Quoss a sidelong look before deciding to re-raise and makes it 4,000 to go.
It is Quoss’ turn to shoot his opponent a sidelong glance but after a few seconds the German elected to call and the two are off to a flop of 
.
Kogotkov continuation bet 4,500 and Quoss thought it over before sliding a single yellow 5k chip into the middle of the table and the dealer burns and turns the .
Neither player seemed too thrilled about it and the action went check, check to bring in the 
river. Both players are playing the sidelong stare-down game, attempting to eye each other up as the river comes off the top of the deck without being caught eyeing each other up. This makes for interesting viewing and it looks like Quoss won that battle as Kogotkov is the man to look away first.
Unfortunately for Quoss this is all he wins in this particular hand as Kogotkov was looking away to determine his bet size and leads for 3,500 and Quoss quickly folds.
Greenwood is still plugging away at his crossword as we leave, so it must be a tough one.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
33,000 | |
|
19,700
-12,300
|
-12,300 |