The MPC 26 that has been running from February 3-19, 2017 in Macau- the City of Dreams features the Red Dragon Main event, which has a buy-in of HK$15,000. The Red Dragon Main event is the largest freezeout in Asia due to its massive participation. It has a whopping prize pool of HK$15,923,520. Yesterday, the event concluded with Hong Kong’s Alan Lau emerging as the eventual winner.
The Hong Kong pro Alan Lau topped a record field of 1,216 players in the MPC 26 Red Dragon Main Event bagging the top prize of HK$3,265,000. Lau, the 2015 Asia Player of the Year, defeated Taiwan’s Chien Fa Chouin in heads-up battle to claim the Red Dragon main event title.
When the two chip leads from the final table entered the heads up game, Chou had around 4 million in chips, while Lau was far ahead of him with around 20 million in chips. Lau continued to lead and eventually won the title just after few hands only.
The final hand saw Chou move all-in for around 4 million and Lau made the call. Chien Fa Chou held Kh-8d, while had Kh-Js. The board came Qs-2d-7s-9s-Kd, giving Lau the title. This was his biggest cash, almost the double of his previous one which amounted to $244,571.
India’s Apoorva Goel Finished 3rd for Rs. 1 Crore
The only player who made to the final table from India was Apoorva Goel from Delhi. He started the final 6th in chips. He had a good start, coming up and down in chips. He got involved in various hands with Lau, but it seems, Poker Gods were not much kind on him. He was eliminated in 3rd place by no other than the eventual winner Lau. Goel went all in from the big blind with Ad-2h and was called by Lau with As-Qs. Unfortunately Goel couldn’t improve. He got HK$1,163,000 for his efforts. Also, he became the first Indian to reach final table of the Red Dradon Main event at the MPC 26.
A Look at Final Table Payouts:
Alan Lau (Hong Kong) — HK$3,265,000
Chien Fa Chou (Taiwan) — HK$1,954,000
Apoorva Goel (India) — HK$1,163,000
Yang Zhang (China) — HK$840,000
Edwin Gerard (USA) — HK$570,000
Liang Xu (China) — HK$411,500
Bobby Zhang (Australia) — HK$348,000
Chou Zhen (China) — HK$300,500
Jun Liu (China) — HK$253,720