Hao Chen has sustained the pride of Chinese players in Macau, after thrashing the largest ever poker field of Asia and winning the 2014 Macau Millions title. This victory has placed Chen into a four-way tie on the Asia Player of the Year (APOY) listing. Since the tie-breaker is the prize money, he has been officially ranked No. 4.
The Macau Millions was held from March 7-16, 2014 and had a guaranteed prize pool of HK $2,000,000. The Buy-in for the event was just HKD $2,200. All players had the option for same day re-entry or to register for another Day 1. The top 7% from each Macau Millions Day 1 field were allowed to move on to play on the Day 2. Players who qualified Day 2 more than once received HKD $11,000 for each additional qualification. As per the rules, only the largest chip stack was to be played.
Chen started out as one of the 1,804 entrants in the 2014 Macau Millions and managed his first day battle by qualifying in the top 7% of the field. He was one of the short stack holders who qualified among 582 entrants.
On day 2, within eight hours of play, 121 players were reduced to a final table of ten and Chen managed tolead the game with his 12.5 big blind stack. But still, he had to contend with former Red Dragon champion Kenny Leong at the final table.
“I was worried about the Red Dragon winner (Kenny Leong). My only strategy was to get rid of him. After I knocked him out I was confident I would win,” said Chen.
The final table was a speedy game that was all over in just three hours of play. The short stacks busted in the early stages of play, while Chen continued to accumulate more and more chips after eliminating Chul Woo Jung in 6th place. As the game proceeds, players dropped away. At last, Chen, Kenny Leong and Sheng Chang entered in a three-handed battle.
On a board cards were . Chang was ready to hit two pair with his while Chen hit the straight with his . The river showed up and Chen won the Macau Millions title!
Brief overview of 2014 Macau Millions Main Event –
Date: March 7-16, 2014
Buy-in: HK$2,200
Entries: 1,804
Prize pool: HK$3,499,760
Top 10 winners –
- Hao Chen (China) – HK$550,000
- Sheng Chang (China) – HK$400,000
- Kenneth leong (Hong Kong) – HK$270,000
- Chia Wei Tsui (Taiwan) – HK$190,000
- Ping Cheong Fung (Hong Kong) – HK$135,000
- Chul Woo Jung (Korea) – HK$105,000
- Lester Ian Pinto (Singapore) – HK$85,000
- Thomas Tung Wing Tsang (Hong Kong) – HK$70,000
- Hongbing Li (China) – HK$56,000
- Miklos Viczena (Hungary) – HK$43,760
