Englishman Conquers Macau Poker Cup
Monday, 19 August 2013
The field may have been dominated by locals but when the final chips had fallen in the PokerStars Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event it was England’s Tom Alner who stood victorious.
After making his way past more than 600 players, Alner managed to make it to the final table sixth in chips and soon worked on improving that position. Indeed, although Brian Yip began the session with a dominant chip lead, a major implosion saw his chips scattered across the table as he exited in sixth place.
Having spurned his of chances but improved those of his opponents', Yip made his way to the rail whilst Alner sat back and watched Thomas Ward follow suit and leave the tournament in fifth.
Now down to four it was time to talk money. With Russia’s Victor Sheerman holding the chip lead he was able to negotiate the largest cut of the prizepool, locking up $110,000 whilst Wilson Fu and Jason Chong banked $106,650 and $97,750 respectively.
That split left Alner with $93,250 and another $13,000 to play for. By the time talk of money had subsided, the action resumed and first to hit the rail was Victor Sheerman. The demise of the one-time chip leader paved the way for Alner to improve his position whilst Wilson Fu fell in third.
Now, with only Jason Chong in his way, Alner was able to assert his dominance and scoop the remaining prizepool. Indeed, after whittling down Chong’s stack, Alner finally took down the tournament after his pocket sevens held up against his opponent’s Qc Tc.
With that the final pot was pushed towards Alner, leaving Chong to lament on what could have been and his opponent to stand smiling in the spotlight.
"I've always wanted to win this." said Alner who hails from Bristol and spends plenty of time in Macau. "The reason I've come to Macau was to win the Red Dragon."
PokerStars Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event final result:
1 Tom Alner - $106,250*
2 Jason Chong – $97,750*
3 Wilson Fu - $106,650*
4 Victor Sheerman - $111,000*
5 Thomas Ward - $40,900
6 Brian Yip – $32,600
7 Frank Maley - $26,500
8 Joao de Castro - $20,400
9 Shinichi Takenouchi - $16,323