Elliot Smith Leads Final Six Into PokerStars Championship Macau Final Table
The PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event is down to a final table of six players with Canadian Elliot Smith leading the way.
It was a day that began with 16 players returning to the tables in the PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room in City of Dreams. Less than seven hours later, just six remained with their eye on the HK$3,130,000 first-place prize and the title of PokerStars Champion — only the third since the new tour began.
Final Table Lineup
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayman Hata | 1,970,000 |
| 2 | Tianyuan Tang | 4,500,000 |
| 3 | Avraham Oziel | 1,735,000 |
| 4 | Yen Chen | 1,170,000 |
| 5 | Elliot Smith | 4,585,000 |
| 6 | Daniel Laidlaw | 1,855,000 |
The day began with Aymon Hata holding the chip lead. He lost his grasp on that lead throughout the day, but he had it again as the field consolidated to one final table. With nine players left, he held 2,950,000.
Hata added to his lead when he took out Fabrice Soulier just minutes into the final table. Hata’s 
held on against Soulier’s 
and Soulier was eliminated in ninth place for HK$386,000. Hata chipped up to 4,150,000.
However, Tianyuan Tang had his eye on those chips, and he challenged the giant in an enormous pot where the two got in a preflop betting war. It ended with Tang five-bet shoving over Hata’s raise to 770,000 and getting a fold from his opponent. Then he showed 
as he pulled in the heap of chips.
Tang didn’t keep the lead for long though. Elliot Smith got involved in a pot with Tang to take away a big chunk of chips. Smith bet out on the turn with a board of 
and Tang folded after a a few minutes of thought, giving the chip lead to Smith.
Xuan Tan was the eighth-place finisher when he got it all in preflop against Tang and his 
failed to hold against Tan’s 
when Tang hit a queen on the river. Tan collected HK$386,000 for eighth place.
The day ended with Yan Li opening to 125,000 from under the gun and Elliot Smith three-bet to 300,000. Li jammed all in and Smith made the quick call, showing 
over Li’s 
. A queen appeared in the window to improve Smith to a set. Li was eliminated in seventh place for HK$521,000.
With just six players remaining, they bagged chips for a final day. They’ll return for Day 6 on Sunday to play down to a winner. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back to do hand-for-hand coverage all day, so follow along for every action right here on this page.
. All three players checked once again. Tang flipped over 
for a rivered set that he couldn't entice anyone to bet into.
and Li checked. Tan bet 175,000 and Tang figured he'd used up his luck, releasing his hand. Li called.
and Li checked again. Tan bet out 350,000 and Li thought intently for half a minute before folding.
. Soulier was eliminated in ninth place for HK$386,000 and Hata added to his chip lead, pulling away from the rest of the players.
and, with that, Guo was eliminated and an unofficial final table of nine has been set.
and Hata called another bet from Metalidi, this time for 100,000.
on the turn gave him a ton of outs. The river was a safe 
