"Can we start later tomorrow, I'm tired," said Cyril Andre after Feng Wen Chen had been eliminated in 10th place to usher in the final table of the APPT8 Macau Main Event.
It was probably a sentiment shared by many of the final nine as the clock neared 2:00 a.m. local time. But that's poker. Sometimes it's a gruelling grind and so the nine remaining players now make their way out of PokerStars LIVE Macau to try and get some rest before the big day.
When they return they will fight it out for the HK$2,776,000 top prize and of course, all the glory that comes along with winning an Asia Pacific Poker Tour title.
Leading the way with 2,865,000 in chips is Scotland's Thomas Mcgarrity. He will be joined at the final table by two players from France in Jean Marie Peyron and Andre Cyril, Australian poker legend Billy Argyros, Taiwanese players Chen Yen Han and Carlos Chang, China's Jia Jun Liu and Hong Kong's Yat Wai Cheng and Sailesh Verma.
The mission on Day 3 was always to make the final table. To achieve this goal 42 players were going to have to hit the rail, disappointed they couldn't secure a place in the final nine.
The first player to feel the disappointment of a bad day was prominent poker player Steve Yea. The South Korean got his short stack in holding [ad][5h] and couldn't hold up against Jean Marie Peyron's [qd][9d]. That meant Yea had finished in 51st place, collecting HK$38,000 and with that, the elimination flood gates on Day 3 were open.
Some of those who finished in the money, yet couldn't manage to make it close to the final table include Amit Ajwani (48th - HK$43,000), Henrik Tollefsen (47th - HK$43,000), Steven Zhou (44th - HK$43,000), Emi Hibuse (37th - HK$49,000) and one of the all-time female tournament earners, JJ Liu (33rd - HK$49,000). Liu was eliminated when she ran her short stack into the monster [ks][8s] on a [7s][kc][3s][kd][2s] board.
When the tournament whittled down to just the final three tables of eight, there were plenty of exciting storylines emerging. One of those stories was Hao Tian and his chances to make it back-to-back APPT Macau final tables after finishing 7th in this very event last year. Unfortunately Tian's tournament ultimately came to an end in equal 16th place and so it clearly just wasn't meant to be.
Despite being disappointed he couldn't make the final table, Tian could find some solace in the fact that his result meant he is starting to storm the Asia Player of the Year leader board. Only Christian Haggart, who eventually finished in 12th place, will see his place on that leader board increase by more spots.
Following Haggart's elimination there were 11 players remaining and it would take quite some time to reach the final table bubble. Eventually Soo Jo Kim hit the rail in 11th place when his [as][7c] couldn't compete with Cyril Andre's [ac][9d] and with that, the final table bubble had arrived.
It wouldn't take long for ten to become nine, with the final hand of the day seeing Feng Wen Chen losing all his chips to Thomas Mcgarrity. Chen held [qs][jd] and looked pretty dead when Mcgarrity's [as][2d] flopped trips. Chen picked up some outs when he paired his queen on the turn, but the river was no help and he was sent home in 10th place, with a HK$130,000 consolation prize.
Feng Wen Chen was the final table bubble
Mcgarrity picked up enough chips here to see himself finish with the chip lead as he will now lead the final table. When the players return, the blinds will be wound back from 20,000/40,000 to 15,000/30,000. The final table looks like this:
Seat 1: Carlos Kuo Chang - 935,000
Seat 2: Thomas Mcgarrity - 2,865,000
Seat 3: Billy "The Croc" Argyros - 325,000
Seat 4: Sailesh Verma - 405,000
Seat 5: Jean Marie Peyron - 435,000
Seat 6: Jiajun Liu - 1,915,000
Seat 7: Chen Yen Han - 520,000
Seat 8: Yat Wai Cheng - 875,000
Seat 9: Cyril Andre- 1,545,000
Play is set to recommence at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and the PokerStarsBlog will once again be on the floor providing all the live coverage, highlighting all the action in the lead up to crowning our champion. Be sure to check out the APPT8 Macau page for more reports about how the final day played out. There will also be profiles on the final nine players, so be sure to check that out to learn more about our future champion, whoever that might end up being!