10.50pm: Day 2 Over; Hong Bags Up the Lead
What a day! Seven levels of poker action have come to an end on Day 2 of the 2012 MPCC Main Event and it is Ryan Hong who bagged up the chip lead. Hong managed to accumulate a staggering 430,300 in chips, which easily sees him as the chip leader heading into Day 3. To put the size of Hong's stack into perspective, at this point it looks like the next closest player is Rui Chen with a stack of 264,200. Some of the other players who have stacks of over 200,000 include Wenlong Jin, Sparrow Cheung and Lisi Wei. Also surviving the night and joining the 45 players who will return tomorrow includes the reigning Asia Player of the Year Shaq Lin. We will have a full wrap of all the action, along with official end-of-day chip counts and a Day 3 seating draw posted as soon possible!
10.40pm: Pause That Clock
The tournament clock has been paused and the call for three more hands has been made. Right now Ryan Hong is still the chip leader. We will be back soon to let you know how it all finishes up on Day 2 of the 2012 MPCC Main Event!
10.30: Sparrow Can't Be Stopped
Recently (just a few posts below actually) we reported that Sparrow Cheung was down to stack of just 30,000. Well, the times have certainly changed for Cheung, with a towering and very healthy 220,000 in chips sitting on the felt in front of him. The latest hand for Cheung saw him all in preflop for around 100,000 holding [ah][as] against Edmund Lee's [ad][kd]. Cheung was already in great shape to double up, but the [8c][jc][8h][ac][5c] was simply the icing on Cheung's cake. When you're on a heater, you're on a heater! With that, Lee, who began the day as the chip leader, now has a stack of just 75,000.
10.20pm: New Leader Emerges
A new chip leader has just emerged over on Table 1, with Ryan Hong sitting behind a stack of around 320,000. Hong was seated at the Day 1b chip leader Yanqin Huang's table for much of the night and with Huang no longer in his seat, we went to investigating whether or not Hong was the player to eliminate Huang. This is what we found out.
Apparently Huang opened from late position holding pocket fours and Hong called out of the big blind, holding ace-seven. A flop showing king-six-deuce fell on the flop and Hong led with his air. Huang then raised it up and Hong re-raised again. Huang opted to flat and then both players checked an ace on the turn. A queen fell on the river and this time when Hong checked, Huang jammed all in. Hong made the call and with that, Huang was eliminated as the rest of the table watched on in awe at what had just happened.
Hailing from Australia, Hong has just shy of US$100,000 in live tournament winning s on his poker resume and will be looking to add to that here in the 2012 MPCC Main Event.
10.05pm: Tough Few Minutes for Sparrow
Sparrow Cheung has had a tough few minutes, first losing a huge pot to sit with around 30,000 after getting beaten by what he described as a "two outer." He then managed to triple up holding [7d][7c] against the [as][jd] of Kenny Wong and the [ad][kc] of one other opponent. Cheung was in the cut off in the hand in question and Wong must have isolated from the button. The player with ace-king was in the big blind and got all his chips in. When the board ran out [td][th][2c][5d][3h], Cheung took the big triple up to once again be healthy, while Kenny Wong lost a huge chunk of his chips to now sit with around 65,000.
9.55pm: And the Crowd Goes Wild
Hirotoshi Nakabo could do nothing but walk away from the table with his held high, known he got unlucky. Unfortunately he had to walk through a crowd of screaming railbirds, all excited they got to witness such a bad beat. Nakabo's last hand of the night saw him all in preflop for around 20,000 in chips. He held [as][kd] and was in great shape against an opponent's [5d][4d]. Nakabo was in even better shape when a [5s][ks][3h] flop was dealt on the felt. The [ah] turn gave Nakabo two-pair, but it also gave him unlikely sweat. We are sure by now you could guess what hit on the river to make the crowd go wild. That's right, a [2h] to give Nakabo's opponent the straight. And with that, after a roller coaster day, Nakabo was sent straight to the rail.
9.45pm: Just One More Level
The remaining players have just 60 minutes remaining before the night is over. Right now there are several players with large stacks of around 200,000, so the chip leader could be anyone! We are currently 19 players off the money and don't expect to burst the bubble tonight.
