MPC 26: Red Dragon Main Event Breaks Record With 1,216 Entries, Apoorva Goel, Dhaval Mudgal, Vidwath Shetty & Sumit Sapra Make Day 2; Shashank Jain Wins HK$1,500 Flipout Event For ₹10.16 Lakhs

MPC 26
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  • PG News February 15, 2017
  • 3 Minutes Read

Macau Poker Cup (MPC) 26 rewrote history once again as the Red Dragon Main Event cemented its claim as the largest freezeout in the Asia Pacific region by drawing 1,216 players.

Held at the PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room, Tuesday’s final Day 1 flight had 499 runners. That total would combine with the 717 entrants from the previous two flights to extend the Red Dragon record for a third consecutive time.

Mark Blake, the PokerStars Head of Live Events in the Asia Pacific, said, “The passion the players have for the Red Dragon and aspiration to win it is something truly special and unique to the Macau Poker Cup series.” a day prior and that certainly held true on Tuesday night.

Team India continued its impressive run at the series with Shashank Jain shipping Event 18 – HK$1,500 Flipout for HK$117,890 (~INR 10.16 Lakhs). Fellow countryman Amit Jain finished fifth in the event for HK$28,370 while Shravan Chhabria banked HK$3,850 from his 25th place finish.

China`s Fei Han took down Event 17 – HK$5,000 NLH for HK$323,475. Vinod Megalmani was the sole Indian to cash in the event at 14th place for HK$18,600.

 

Red Dragon Main Event – Day 1C

It was another landmark day for Poker in Asia with the MPC 26 Red Dragon Main Event obliterating its previous record of 1,145 players in the event within the first hour of play on Day 1C yesterday.

The final count of 499 runners on Day 1C took the total no of entries in the event to a record shattering 1,216 players, making the Red Dragon Main Event the largest freezeout event in the Asia Pacific.

The official prize money weighed in at HK$15,923,520 and the top 144 players will make the money with the winner taking home the iconic trophy along with the HK$3,265,000 (~US$420,000) top prize.

Tuesday’s Day 1C went from 499 players down to 151 after playing through twelve 40-minute levels. It appeared as though China’s Ming Cui was the chip leader at the end of the day but Spain’s Saul Oliver Fortea made a late push to top the Day 1C field.

The remaining players from the Indian contingent joined in on the action on the final starting flight. In total 11 players from the Team were seen in action namely Pradeep Nudurumati, Vidwath Shetty, Shravan Chhabria, Rajeev Kanjani, Akash Chandrashekhar, Amit Jain, Amarnath Bijivemula, Apoorva Goel, Dhaval Mudgal, Shashank Jain & Sumit Sapra.

Four among them were able to make Day 2 with the in-form Apoorva Goel bagging the sixth largest stack of 150,000. Joining him on Day 2 will be Dhaval Mudgal (96,300), Vidwath Shetty (82,300) & Sumit Sapra (40,400).

Topping the chip counts was Spain`s Saul Fortea who bagged 210,900 and trails only JP Kelly (247,300) for the overall tournament lead.

Others to advance from Day 1C included Single Day High Roller winner Sergio Aido and $50,000 NLH champion Sparrow Cheung.

Team PokerStars Pros Celina Lin and Randy Lew both took part in Tuesday’s flight but hit the rail midway through the day. Other notable eliminations include former Red Dragon winners Kitty Kuo, Raymond Wu, and defending champion Tom Alner.

368 players will return when play resumes on Wednesday afternoon for Day 2 of the Red Dragon.

Apoorva Goel
Apoorva Goel

Top 10 Day 1C Chip Counts

1. Saul Oliver Fortea – 210,900
2. Ming Cui – 193,1003. Da Xiong – 184,600
4. Gab Yong Kim – 172,500
5. Wai Kiat Lee – 151,800
6. Apoorva Goel – 150,000
7. Shanmin Chen – 145,000
8. Motoki Jinno – 140,000
9. Nan Hong – 136,600
10. Tao Fan – 132,900

 

Event 17: HK$5,000 NLH

The event attracted 315 entries creating a prize pool of HK$1,374,975 and the event was taken down by Chinese player Fei Han who took the first place prize money of HK$323,475.

In another notable finish by our challengers, Vinod Megalmani finished in 14th place for HK$18,600.

Fei Han
Fei Han

 

Event 18: HK$1,500 Flipout (re-entry)

The HK$1,500 Flipout event attracted 420 runners and outlasting them all was India`s Shashank Jain who defeated Korea`s Hanwool Jang heads-up to win the title and HK$117,890 in prize money. Amit Jain took fifth place for HK$28,370 with Shravan Chhabria finishing 25th for HK$3,850.

Kunal Patni kept the rail alive by giving us updates from the final table on Facebook.

Jain was short. He shoved from button with 9-10. Small blind very short calls with QJ. Big blind shorter than Jain calls with A4. Jain eliminates 2 people. What a beast”.

There were 7 players left and soon after he posted,

“Shanky loses a big pot AQ < A5 against moti machhi”.

Jain further went to eliminate one more player where his pocket queens held against opponent’s pocket fours. With 5 players remaining we get another update from Patni.

Jain loses a sick one. Small blind to big blind AA < K8. K8 hits a one card flush.”

He later added “Jain busts 5th after that sick hand”.

Soon we came to know that one more player has been eliminated,

3 left. Shanky still there

Soon thereafter it was heads-up for the title.

Heads up now

Lucky double up for Shanky. A10 > AA. He hits a one card flush”.

The very next update by Patni confirmed that a deal was agreed between the players with the game now on for the trophy and some extra cash. Shashank Jain`s picture with the winning hand confirmed his victory!

Shashank Jain
Shashank Jain

Stay tuned on PokerGuru for the latest updates from MPC 26.

Images and Content courtesy: PokerStars Blog

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