With only 17 players remaining in the main event, you'd have thought it would be time to blot out all distractions and re-double focus in a bid to make the final table. But for Vladimir Troyanovskiy, the biggest distraction is now dangled in front of his nose: the HKD $100,000 high roller event just began.
If there's one thing Vladimir Troyanovskiy likes, it's a high roller event. Indeed, the most reliable way for food to find its way onto the plates of the Trovanovskiy family over the past couple of years has been through this ordinarily high variance method. Troyanovskiy is a high roller beast, at least on the European Poker Tour and PCA. His high roller tournament record this year, in case you didn't know, looks something like this:
PCA:
Jan 5, 2013 -- $100,000 Super High Roller -- 7th, $257,580
Jan 12, 2013 -- $25,000 High Roller -- 2nd, $792,180
EPT Grand Final:
May 13, 2013 -- €100,000 Super High Roller -- 5th, €339,500 ($445,170 approx)
If you look at this another way, the first prize at APPT7 Macau is only slightly more -- HK $2,165,000 (US $279,000) -- than what Troyanovskiy has spent on buy-ins to those three tournaments. Similarly, the entire prize pool -- HK $8,656,280 (US $1,115,335) -- is less than he has won there. One can see why he is somewhat distracted.
Troyanovskiy actually came over to Macau this time to play the GuangDong Millions event, with a HK $1m buy in ($130,000 approx). That resulted in a rare whiff for the Russian master, but he opted to hang around and jumped in this main event with a relatively meagre buy in of HK $25,000 (about US $3,200). He is now guaranteed at least HK $86,000 (US $11,161), yet with 30 entries now in the high roller, there is a good wedge on offer over there as well.
During the last break in main event action, Troyanovskiy took a slightly lonely walk through the high roller tables, assessing the field. He will have seen Tony Gregg come and go -- he was one of the first eliminations -- but probably will also have noted the presence of Isaac Haxton, who has returned from a week in Hong Kong to chance his arm in Macau once more.
"Excited to continue my streak of cashing every tourney I play there," Haxton tweeted earlier.
Asia's own version of Troyanovskiy, Nick Wong, managed his time slightly better than the Russian player. Wong managed to make sure he was eliminated from the main event in 22nd place, allowing him to jump into the high roller. He is now sitting opposite Haxton.
And make no mistake, Wong has got form in these events. His results in high roller tournaments are as follows:
Nov 6, 2010 -- APC HK $50,000 6-Max High Roller -- 1st, HK $526,000 (US $68,000)
Nov 9, 2010 -- APC HK $150,000 High Roller -- 1st, HK $942,000 (US $121,525)
Nov 26, 2011 - APPT HK $95,000 High Roller -- 1st HK $1,526,800 (US $196,159)
Aug 31, 2012 -- Macau High Stakes Challenge US $258,000 -- 3rd US $3,291,506
Jun 4, 2013 -- HK $250,000 GuangDong Warm Up -- 1st HK $4,298,000 (US $553,633)
None of the above is a mis-print. Wong really does have four high roller titles and there also really was a US $250,000 buy in tournament here last year, in which Wong finished third.
Troyanovskiy might fancy that high roller event, but if he does get in (registration is still open for two hours), Wong will be waiting for him.
Video update:
Here's Kosei Ichinose, flying the flag for Japan here in Macau:
A reminder on how to follow our coverage from Macau. There is hand-by-hand coverage at the top of the main APPT Macau page, which includes chip counts and a list of eliminated players via the "Payouts" tab. Feature coverage will filter in beneath the panel. All the information about the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is on the APPT site, and PokerStars Macau also has its own home.