The record-breaking Macau Poker Cup (MPC) HK$8,000 Baby Dragon event drew a huge field of 793 runners and took the total prizepool to a whopping HK$5,528,312. Outlasting this huge field was China’s Jiwei Deng who defeated his fellow countryman Xiangling He in the heads-up to claim the title and HK$942,000 in prize money. A total of 99 players made it to the money stage in this tourney.
A total of 124 survivors returned for Day 2. The eliminations were quick and the money bubble bursted within 90-minutes in the form of China’s Wang Huiwas who got unlucky and went out in 100th place. In this event, several notables were seen in action to battle it out for the title, including the Asia Player of the Year frontrunner Alan Lau, Team PokerStars Pros Celina Lin, Randy Lew, Dhaval Mudgal, Nishant Sharma, the Day 1 chip leader James Lee and many other notables.
In this event too, Indian players came out with significant performances. Four out of the five Day 2 contenders made it to the in the money stage. Atul Nandi Nagpal finished 34th for HK$24,500, Anujkumar Kodam took 41st for an impressive HK$22,000, Nishant Sharma finished 57th for a cool HK$18,800 and the well-known player Dhaval Mudgal who took home HK$17,700 for his 72nd place finish.
Final Table Story
The action on final table was quick. Mike Kuan Hsiang Huang was the first player to leave the final table and soon he was followed by the winner of the inaugural Baby Dragon tournament Zhang who couldn’t survive further and exited in 8th place. Up next, Jun Li and Fang Xing went out in 7th and 6th places. Finally, after Qicheng Du’s elimination, the heads-up match took place between Jiwei Deng and Xiangling He. The final hand of the tournament saw both players hitting flush on the river, but Jiwei Deng won the coveted title and US$120,400 in prize money.
Talking about his grand win, he said, “I’m a frequent visitor here, of course I am happy, but still had to work hard!”
Final Table Payouts (HKD):
- Jiwei Deng – HK$942,000
- Xiangling He – HK$941,000
- Qicheng Du – HK$443,000
- Danny Wee Zhi Tang – HK$321,812
- Chun Hung Chen – HK$216,000
- Fang Xing – HK$166,000
- Jun Li – HK$127,500
- Bobby Zhang – HK$110,700
- Mike Kuan Hsiang Huang – HK$94,100