Michael Kanaan Leads The Final Nine
After seven hours of sizzling poker action, we are down to the final nine! Michael Kanaan leads the way in the 2012 Macau: Asia Championship of Poker Main Event with 1,393,000 in chips. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen is also among the finalists who will return tomorrow to play for the HKD $4,240,000 (US $547,000) first place prize.
The day started with just 22 players, and James McCarty was the first player to go when he was knocked by Alan Sass. Play picked up near the end of the first level after both Andrew Hinrichsen and Tom Alrner had managed to double through Raiden Kan. After Seungsoo Jeon was knocked out in 21st it was time for the final remaining woman to go. Yuri Ishida got her money in with ace-jack, but she fell to Ying Kit Chan's pocket kings.
Raiden Kan, who started the day fourth in chips, was knocked out in 19th bringing the field down to just 18 players. After the short stacks lingered around for a while it was Zhongwei Wang who got very unlucky. His money went in with top pair and a flush draw against Andrew Hinrichsen's inferior pair. The Aussie hit trips on the turn and knocked out Wang in 18th.
Short stacks Aaron Lim and Paolo Gompagno were next to go as the two remaining tables were getting short handed. Day 1 chip leader Gary Lam had lost a bunch of chips to Chan early on, and he left the tournament in 15th place. Lam ran ten-nine suited into Henry Wang's ace-jack and took home HKD $259,500 for his efforts. Ping Lin busted shortly afterwards as he didn't manage to mount a comeback after starting the day out as one of the short stacks.
One of the most important pots for the outcome of this tournament has to be the one between Kanaan and Mike Watson. Both players were among the biggest stacks in the room for most of the day, and they ultimately clashed when Watson ran his kings into Kanaan's aces. Kanaan grabbed a huge chip lead which he kept heading into the final table. Raymond Wu busted out in 13th place when his queen-eight suited didn't improve against Xing Zhou's jacks. Watson was knocked down short by Kanaan and he was eliminated in 12th place.
The final table bubble started when Tri Huynh lost his chips to Zhou in an unfortunate turn of events. On an eight-five-three flop it was Zhou who had flopped two pair with five-three. Zhou had called Huynh's raise from the big blind and took all his chips when his queens failed to improve. With just ten players left it was time for the short stacks to double up. Many did, but eventually it was Andrew Gaw who was eliminated in 10th place. This is how the final nine players line up heading into tomorrow.
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacques Zaicik | France | 191,000 |
| 2 | Michael Kanaan | Australia | 1,393,000 |
| 3 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 788,500 |
| 4 | Ying Kit Chan | Hong Kong | 348,000 |
| 5 | Henry Hung Tu Wang | Chinese Taipei | 429,000 |
| 6 | Andrew Hinrichsen | Australia | 798,500 |
| 7 | Tom Alner | UK | 826,500 |
| 8 | Alan Sass | USA | 252,000 |
| 9 | Xing Zhou | China | 493,000 |
| Place | Winner | Prize (HKD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,240,000 | |
| 2 | $2,855,000 | |
| 3 | $1,731,000 | |
| 4 | $1,384,000 | |
| 5 | $1,125,000 | |
| 6 | $952,000 | |
| 7 | $779,000 | |
| 8 | $606,000 | |
| 9 | $432,000 | |
| 10 | Andrew Gaw | $346,000 |
| 11 | Tri Huynh | $303,000 |
| 12 | Mike Watson | $303,000 |
| 13 | Raymond Wu | $303,000 |
| 14 | Ping Lin | $259,500 |
| 15 | Gary Lam | $259,500 |
| 16 | Paolo Compagno | $259,500 |
| 17 | Aaron Lim | $216,000 |
| 18 | Zhongwei Wang | $216,000 |
| 19 | Raiden Kan | $216,000 |
| 20 | Yuri Ishida | $173,000 |
| 21 | Seungsoo Jeon | $173,000 |
| 22 | James McCarty | $173,000 |
Tune back in tomorrow at 2:00 PM local time as PokerNews brings you the conclusion of this exhilarating event! For now, we will leave you with a challenge between Donnie Peters and Lynn Gilmartin in the PokerStars Mobile Lounge: