It gave the look of it was Sunny Jung's destiny to win back-to-back ACOP Main Event titles.
Everything was going his way. He was sending all of the players to the rail, winning all of the chips and searching very comfortable while doing so.
But Canadian Gabriel Le Jossec had other ideas as after a greater than 14-hour final day he would emerge triumphant over Jung to say the HK$6,300,000 (~US$812,000) top prize and the 2014 ACOP title.
The clock ticked past 5:00 a.m. after we spoke to our champion. He was clearly very tired, yet also ecstatic. Perhaps greater than anything, however, he was relieved.
"It was really hard," the weary Le Jossec said. "I needed to get lucky. It feels amazing, I just tried not to make mistakes. I'm very happy."
"I'm just really tired."
Nothing like a big amount of cash, an immense poker title and a SLYDE wrist watch worth HK$60,000 to pep you up after a mammoth grind.
It was the reigning ACOP champion Sunny Jung who started the general table with the biggest stack. It was never going to be easy for Jung to run over the table, however, considering the common stack during nine-handed play was around 80 big blinds.
The first half an hour of play would see two quick eliminations and so there has been somewhat false hope that it might be a brief day.
The first player eliminated was the start-of-day short stack Tore Lukashaugen.
It was actually just the third hand of the day that might see Lukashaugen get his chips all in preflop with 8♣8♥ and run into the A♣A♠ of Vladimir Troyanovskiy. No help came at the board and so Lukashaugen was sent to the rail in ninth place, collecting HK$675,000 (~US$88,000).
Just a few hands after Lukashaugen was eliminated and Raiden Kan would join him at the rail.
Kan, like Lukashaugen, was all in with pocket eights, but was in with a greater shot at doubling up against Jung's A♣K♠. However, ace fell at the flop, and the river, to offer Jung trip aces and enough to send Kan to the rail in eighth place.
Kan picked up HK$813,100 (~US$100,000) for that result, that is the second one largest score of his career and brings his total tally to over US$500,000 in events at PokerStars LIVE Macau alone.
Following Kan's elimination there would a large lull in play.
In fact, it might take greater than four hours to eliminate the following player.
But once those flood gates were open there could be three eliminations in a half an hour period.
The first of the 3 was Joseph Cheong.
Just minutes before being elimination, Cheong tweeted that he was getting itchy that he was missing the "juicy" high roller that was being played only some tables away.
So when he hit top pair with K♠J♠ he was happy to get his chips all in against Jung and notice what happens. What happened was that Jung had A♦A♥ for an overpair and without a improvement on his pair of kings, Cheong was sent home in seventh place, taking home HK$1,080,000 (~US$140,000).
True to form, Cheong jumped straight within the high roller.
Following Cheong's elimination it was Konstantin Pogodin who would hit the rail.
Pogodin's final hand saw him move all in with top pair at the turn of a 2♣7♦J♥8♣ and prefer Cheong, bumped into pocket aces, with Ami Barer this time the holder of A♠A♥. The river was of no help to Pogodin and so he hit the rail in sixth place for a HK$1,350,000 score (US$175,000).
Pogodin was one among two of his countryman on the final table and so when he was eliminated, Vladimir Troyanovskiy was the last remaining player from Russia.
And that is when his story ended.
Troyanovskiy got his chips in preflop with Q♦Q♠ and was up against Jung's T♠T♣.It was an excellent spot for Troyanovskiy to double up, however the dealer had other ideas, spreading out a 4♦T♥K♣2♣3♦ board to offer Jung a collection of tens and enough to send Troyanovskiy home in fifth place.
Troyanovskiy took home HK$1,620,000 (~US$210,000) for that result, that's added to his almost US$3 million in career results, most of which has are available in high roller events world wide.
It was during four-handed play that things would decelerate.
At first, it was looking like Jung was going to run over the table. He had three quarters of the chips in play and everything was going right. He was going to be hard to overcome. Then Jung sent double ups twice to Zuo Wang and once to Gabriel Le Jossec and with that, the chip counts were with regards to even and the typical stack was still massive.
Back to grinding.
It can be a very long time before another player hit the rail, but someone needed to be the fourth-place finisher and in this occasion it was Ami Barer who fell to the rail with the HK$2,025,000 (~US$260,000) score.
It was a one-two blow that sent Barer home - both punches coming from Jung.The first hand saw Jung all-in at the flop with a couple and a flush draw against Barer's open-ended straight draw. Barer took the lead with a larger pair at the turn, but then Jung rivered two pair to double up.
Barer was crippled after this hand and ultimately got all his chips in with A♥7♥ on a 4♥2♣9♥ flop and was up against Jung's K♥K♠. Jung was ahead and the K♣ turn put him a little bit further ahead. Then the Q♣ river sealed the deal as Barer was eliminated and Jung used to be again a large chip leader.
The short stack throughout some of the entire final table was Zuo "ST" Wang, but that is where his story came to an end as he was eliminated in third place, for which he received HK$2,565,000 (~US$330,850).
Wang's last hand saw him all in preflop holding A♣J♣ against Jung's 9♦9♣. No help came for Jung and so he was sent to the rail to bring in heads-up play between Jung and Gabriel Le Jossec.
Heads-up began with Jung having a virtually two-to-one chip lead over Le Jossec and still it gave the look of it was Jung's fate to win a second ACOP title.
Then Le Jossec doubled up in a little bit a cooler situation when both he and Jung made two pair on a 5♣9♥2♣J♥A♦ board and from there, Le Jossec went for the jugular, ultimately popping out on top when the overall hand of the day played out.
Blinds were 40,000/80,000 and Jung opened the button to 165,000. Le Jossec called and the dealer unfolded a 5♣6♥Q♦ flop. Le Jossec checked and Jung led out for 200,000. Back on Le Jossec and he check-raised to 510,000. Jung then installed a raise before Le Jossec moved all in. Jung made the call, putting his tournament life at risk.
Jung had Q♠6♣ for 2 pair, but was up against Le Jossec's 5♦5♠ for bottom set.
The A♣ turn and the 8♣ river weren't what Jung wanted and so his dream of winning back-to-back titles was all over, while Le Jossec had made his own dream come true.
Congratulations must exit to Gabriel Le Jossec for his mammoth effort. It was a protracted final day, but hopefully an enormous HK$6,300,000 (~US$812,000) top prize and the ACOP title is enough of a reward to make up for the harsh grind.
We also must acknowledge Sunny Jung on finishing runner-up three hundred and sixty five days after having won this type of massive event. Jung receives HK$4,250,000 (~US$550,000) for this result, that is just a bit not up to when he defeated 203 players within the 2013 ACOP Main Event.
2014 ACOP Main Event - Final Table ResultsEntrants: 291Prize Pool: HK$27,092,100
1st: Gabriel Le Jossec (UK) - HK$6,300,000 (~US$812,000)2nd: Sunny Jung (Korea) - HK$4,250,000 S(~US$550,000)3rd: Zuo 'ST' Wang (China) - HK$2,565,000(~US$330,850) 4th: Ami Barer (Canada) - HK$$2,025,000 (~US$260,000) 5th: Vladimir Troyanovskiy (Russia) - HK$1,620,000 (~US$210,000) 6th: Konstantin Pogodin (Russia) - HK$1,350,000 (US$175,000)7th: Joseph Cheong (USA) - HK$1,080,000 (~US$140,000)8th: Raiden Kan (Hong Kong) - HK$813,100 (~US$100,000) 9th: Tore Lukashaugen (Norway) - HK$675,000 (~US$88,000)
It's not just the players that deserve kudos this week. APPT President Danny McDonagh, Fred Leung and all of the remainder of the PokerStars LIVE Macau team deserve some praise for running the most important ACOP in history.
The event increased greater than 40% on last year's number and there's no doubt it is going to grow even larger within the future.
The ACOP Main Event could be over, but there's still another event to be played out - the HK$250K High Roller. There have been 83 runners within the freezeout event, which created a prize pool almost as large because the Main Event. One of the most biggest names in poker are still alive heading into Day 2 and you'll be capable of catch full live reporting of the development here at the PokerStarsBlog from 3:15 p.m. local time on Sunday. Join us then!
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Macau]
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