Canadian player Elliot Smith prevailed over Chinese local Tianyuan Tang to claim the champion title at the first ever PokerStars Championship Macau tournament series. The 29-year old Canadian went home with the top prize of HK$2,877,5000 after agreeing on a heads-up deal with Tang. Smith joined Kenneth Smaron and Christian Harder to become the third champion in the new PokerStars tournament series.
The HK$42,400 PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event attracted a field of 536 hopefuls and took place in the PokerStars LIVE card-room at the City of Dreams, the branded venue located at the Melco Resorts and Entertainment casino resort on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The field generated a hefty prize pool which totalled HK$20,796,800.
The field was eventually reduced do six survivors who joined the final table to compete for the first-place prize. Player Pete Chen moved all-in from a late position with his pocket tens only to run into Tang’s pocket jacks. The river enabled Tang’s to improve his starting hand with yet another jack and sent Chen to the sixth place, with 705,000 in chips.
Smith then sent German player Aymon Hata to the cashier’s cage with his pocket kings. Hata held [Qd][Jd] and moved all-in pre-flop but the turn enabled Smith to form a two pair. Hata finished fifth and left the final table with $HK950,000 in prize money. Avraham Oziel followed in Hata’s footsteps after his pocket aces failed him against Tang’s pocket sevens. When another seven came on the flop, Oziel had no other option but to leave in fourth place and settle for the prize of HK$1,280,000.
Daniel Laidlaw, an Australian player who lives in Macau, went all-in as his [Ad][10c] was initially ahead of Smith’s [Ks][5d]. The flop brought another five allowing Smith to form a pair. Laidlaw hit a flush draw but as the turn and the river did nothing to improve his situation, he finished third and went home with HK$1,724,000.
After the final table was reduced to the last two survivors, Smith and Tang asked for the clock to be paused so they could negotiate a deal. It took over an hour for the two opponents to agree on equal chops of HK$2,577,500, leaving the sum of HK$300,000 and the champion trophy for the player, who ranked first.
The chip difference between the two players was less than a couple of million, with the chip leader changing every few hands. This continued for a staggering amount of time as the heads-up battle lasted for over eleven hours until Smith finally succeeded in gaining a decisive advantage over his Chinese opponent.
The final table’s last hand began with a limp on behalf of Smith causing the shorter-stacked Tang to move all-in with his remaining 5.8 million in chips. Smith was hardly intimidated as we called his opponent’s bet immediately. Tang showed unpaired pocket sixes against Smith’s [Ad][Ks].
The Chinese player’s situation improved for a short while as the flop came [6s][9s][7h], allowing him to hit a set of sixes. Tang’s joy was short-lived, however, as the turn brought [2s], followed by [3s] on the river. This marked the end of what Smith later went on to call a “gruelling battle” and secured him the first-place prize of HK$2,877,500 as well as the prestigious champion trophy. Smith’s latest win boosted his total live earnings to $2,086,720.
- Author
Harry Evans
