The record-setting Macau Poker Cup Championship produced a field of 308 entrants to create a massive HK$5,553,856 prize pool. After three days of blood, sweat and a few tears on the felt of the PokerStars Macau Poker Room, our field has been whittled down to a final table of nine.
Let’s take a closer look at our MPCC Main Event final tablists:
Seat 1: Seijiro Machi (Osaka, Japan) – 616,000 chips
The Japanese are always well represented in Macau, and this time it’s 36-year old Seijiro Machi carrying the flag for the land of the rising sun. After being introduced to the game of poker four years ago by his work colleagues and friends , Machi is showing some incredible form this week after taking down the Charity Event earlier in the week for a HK$68,600 score. He’s already eclipsed that figure as he eyes off the HK$1.25 million first place prize.
Away from poker, Machi enjoys video games and he enters this final table in fourth chip position.
Seat 2: “Chester” Seng Yong Lee (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) – 598,000 chips
Seng Yong Lee, or “Chester” as he is better known, is an amateur poker player from Malaysia with three years experience in the game.
With no tournament record to speak of, this will be Lee’s first major final table appearance. Away from poker, Lee enjoys swimming – hopefully he’s no fish as he enters the final table perched nicely in the middle of the pack after a strong showing on day two.
Seat 3: Hau Huang Chang (Taiwan) – 466,000 chips
Hua Huang Chang has flown largely under the radar in this tournament, perhaps that’s part of his image as he lurks quietly underneath his hoodie. Chang has been playing poker for nine years after first watching the WSOP on television.
Chang is primarily a cash game player and describes his journey to reach the final table as “lucky”. He’ll need a bit more lucky tomorrow as he enters the final table as one of the short stacks.
Seat 4: Richard Hu (Jiangxi, China) – 566,000 chips
Richard Hu is a 45-year old from China who primarily plays HK$100/200 cash games here in Macau. With five years in the game, Wu is one of the more experienced players on this final table and his resume includes a final table appearance in this very event last year. Hu finished 8th last year for HK$139,000 in prize money and will be looking to go a few places better this time around.
Hu performed strongly on day two where he was responsible for the elimination of the defending champion Julian Hasse. Hu commented that he loves seeing more and more people join in poker in the PokerStars Macau Poker Room and being part of the record MPCC fields.
Seat 5: Hung-sheng “Shaq” Lin (Taipei) – 614,000 chips
The man they call “Shaq” is a 29-year old poker professional who has been playing poker for four years. His dangerous game is largely influenced by the online world, by pros such as Phil Galfond, which is far removed from the experience of many of our other final table players.
Lin is of course the 2011 Macau Millions champion and the current number one ranked player in the Asia Player of the Year, with a record-equalling nine final tables this year, including three just this week. Lin mentioned that he has enjoyed the excellent structure of the MPCC Main Event, with long levels and slow blinds, to allow him to use his skills to their full advantage.
Seat 6: Charles Lam (Hong Kong) – 360,000 chips
Charles Lam is a 30-year old Banker with eight years of experience in poker after his friends taught him how to play in a home game.
Lam has a series of results in Macau to his credit including deep runs in both of the last two APPT Macau Main Events and a 5th place in the Macau Poker Cup February Main Event for HK$254,000 in prize money. These results see him currently ranked in 11th place in the Asia POTY – a position that he will improve upon with a big result on this final table, although he has some work ahead of him as our short stack. Away from poker, Lam enjoys triathlons and basketball.
Seat 7: Raiden Kan (Malaysia) – 1,237,000 chips
The day enjoyed by Raiden Kan on day three is the stuff of fairytales. Kan surged through the pack with some massive cards, epic coolers and huge pots to storm to the chip lead where he never looked back. Kan is a 27-year old poker professional with a string of impressive tournament results, including a win in a No Limit Holdem side event in the May Macau Poker Cup for HK$187,100. This puts Kan in fourth position in the Asia POTY.
Of course Kan hasn’t forgotten when he was all in with pocket tens against both kings and aces early on day two, only to river a straight to stay alive. He’s taken that good fortune all the way to the final table chip lead. Away from the tables, Kan enjoys travelling and playing Starcraft.
Seat 8: Hyung Sun “Sunny” Jung (Seoul, Korea) – 669,000 chips
Our runaway day one chip leader, Sunny Jung has made it all the way to our final table in third chip position. Jung is a 37-year old poker professional with well over a decade of experience in the game. Primarily a high stakes cash game player in Macau, Jung has reached four final tables in Asia since 2010, including a fifth place in the 2010 APPT Manila Main Event, but has finished no higher than third. He is extremely motivated to finally grab that elusive trophy in this tournament.
Jung plays an exciting brand of poker, which can sometimes result in some wild swings. In his words, “It is exciting and very stressful!”
Seat 9: Victor Chong (Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia) – 981,000 chips
Victor Chong is a 30-year old DHL Premium Reseller from Malaysia with a dozen years of experience as an amateur poker player after starting out as a Limit Holdem player when first exposed to the game in Christchurch Casino in New Zealand. Chong is usually found on the cash game tables and this will be his most significant tournament result.
Chong was virtually our chip leader approaching the end of day two before losing a massive pot on one of the final hands. Chong had the night to dwell on it and responded impressively to now sit with the second most chips entering the final table.
