Weizhou Zha Leads Day 1E of the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau
The fifth of the 2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau starting flights proved to be the most popular one yet and attracted 109 unique entries. With the format offering unlimited re-entries a further 14 extra bullets were fired to bring the total number of entries up to 123.
With 15 percent of the field locking up a Day 2 berth it took fourteen 40-minute levels to whittle this down the final eighteen with the battle for pole position a fierce, but thoroughly entertaining one
It was tough at the top with China��s Weizhou Zha and Mexico��s JC Alvarado duking it out for the top spot as the bubble approached. While it was Zha who edged in front as play concluded, bagging up a monstrous 270,200 in chips, it was Alvarado who closed out the day to finish hot on the Chinese player��s heels with a stack of 227,800. China��s Chen Bin (162,200) rounds out the top three.
Zha enjoyed a decent start to the day and climbed to the top of the table not long after registration closed, winning a race with ace-queen to beat an opponent��s pocket eights and become the first player to reach and breach the six-figure mark.
The Chinese player maintained his lead for the majority of the day, only losing it the once when JC Alvarado busted Linh Tran close to the bubble after the Vietnamese-Canadian moved all-in pre-flop with ace-eight suited and Alvarado woke up in the blinds with pocket queens.
However, it took Zha just minutes to edge back in front after attempting to pressure one of the shorter stacks. While Zha got all the chips in pre-flop with the dominated queen-five against his opponent��s ace-queen, the Chinese player had the chips to spare and caught his five to bring the field down to the bubble.
Not wanting to be outdone, Alvarado was the man to wrap up the day��s play calling the short-stacked shove of the unfortunate Lei Chen, who moved all-in pre-flop for a little over 10 big blinds holding ace-jack. The Mexican made the call from the blinds with queen-eight offsuit and immediately paired his eight before rivering two pair just to twist the knife and crush Chen��s Day 2 dreams.
Alvarado was one of the later entries, joining not long before the close of registration but really began to come into contention after winning a race with pocket fives against the ace-jack of Victor Chong.
Alvarado went on a rush so hot after this that it was a wonder he did not catch fire at the table and he was the only other player to finish play with over 200,000 in chips, though Chong also managed to make the cut with the rest of the Day 1E survivors stacking up as follows:
2017 Suncity Cup Finale Macau Day 1E Survivors and Day 2 Draw
| Position | Name | Country | Chip Count | 2A Table/Seat | 2B Table/Seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weizhou Zha | China | 270,200 | 2-4 | - |
| 2 | JC Alvarado | Mexico | 227,800 | 3-7 | - |
| 3 | Chen Bin | China | 162,200 | - | 6-9 |
| 4 | Cheng Dong | China | 158,900 | 9-6 | - |
| 5 | Tang Wei Cong | China | 152,400 | 3-9 | - |
| 6 | Chang Yu Chung | Taiwan | 144,500 | - | 6-6 |
| 7 | Keng Po Wong | Macau | 111,100 | - | 10-1 |
| 8 | Fredric Stephan | France | 95,600 | - | 4-6 |
| 9 | Hua Bin Hwang | China | 75,100 | - | 4-9 |
| 10 | Li Tsan Wa | Hong Kong | 71,900 | - | 6-5 |
| 11 | Vincent Yiu Chung Tong | China | 59,900 | - | 9-4 |
| 12 | Bin Rui Wang | China | 59,500 | 8-1 | - |
| 13 | Guoliang Wei | China | 58,800 | - | 8-5 |
| 14 | Victor Chong | Malaysia | 56,500 | 7-9 | - |
| 15 | Ip Ka Leung | China | 46,700 | - | 2-8 |
| 16 | Jianfeng Xu | China | 38,500 | 2-9 | - |
| 17 | Song Xiong | China | 35,600 | 7-8 | - |
| 18 | Sheng Yong Wang | China | 19,900 | 4-8 | - |
Notables who came up short included Australia��s Bobby Zhang who entered late and could not find any traction, Hong Kong��sJustin Chan who lost a race with pocket Queens against the ace-king of Kun Huang, and as previously mentioned Canada��s Linh Tran.
Day 2A begins at 1pm on Wednesday, 29 November, with Day 2B playing out at the same time on Thursday, 30 November and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to cover all the Main Event tournament thrills and spills. Day 1F kicks off at 1pm local time (GMT+8) on Monday, 27 November so join us then as we see who else has what it takes to secure a Day 2 seat.