Zigao Yu Takes Early Lead at PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event
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.
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And, of course, follow along with the video coverage as Sarah Herring forces players into some interesting shenanigans.
, the action checked to Guodong Sun, who bet 6,000. Johnjim Kim raised it up to 16,400 before Wei Zhao then moved all in for 45,250. Sun eventually folded, but Kim called all in for slightly less to put himself at risk.
turn gave Zhao some more outs to win the hand and massive pot, but the 
river was none of them. Zhao had less than 10 big blinds left, while Kim scored a massive double for 41,950.
and was looked up by Vladimir Troyanovskiy holding pocket sevens. 
, the action checked to Vinay Agarwal and he bet 2,500. Xuan Liu check-raised all in for 11,075 and Sven Andersson called before Agarwal reraised all in for 37,100 in total. Andersson eventually called to put two players at risk with the biggest stack of the trio.
turn and 
river were both blanks and Liu was eliminated, while Agarwal doubled through Andersson and joined the big stacks.
, Daniel Laidlaw faced a bet worth 5,000 by Xia Lin and raised it up to 13,000. Lin wasted little time before moving all in for what looked like 25,000 and Laidlaw quickly called.
in an already sizable pot with what looks to be over 20,000 in chips already in the middle of the table.
for a flopped set of fives leaving Aloev to flash a wry smile, his 
