In the Far East, it was a Frenchman from halfway around the world who emerged victorious. Adrien Allain, who hails from Rennes, France, won this year’s running of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau Main Event. Allain banked HK $3.035 million for his efforts.
Allain qualified for the APT Macau festivities by winning a $5 tournament on PKR. In the online world, he’s known as zlatan35 and his largest poker cash prior to Macau weighed in at $8,000. His HK $3.035 million payday equates to nearly USD $400,000 at current exchange ranges. In the final hand in Macau, Allain drew out with A-3 against Korean poker player Inwook Choi’s A-Q after spiking a three on the flop. Entering heads-up play, Choi was a 2:1 underdog. Here’s how the final table shook out:
1st Place: Adrien Allain (France) – HK$3,035,000
2nd Place: Inwook Choi (Korea) – HK$1,660,000
3rd Place: J.C. Tran (United States) – HK$910,510
4th Place: David Steicke (Hong Kong) – HK$708,300
5th Place: Chris Chau (Hong Kong) – HK$506,000
6th Place: Michael Woo (Hong Kong) – HK$404,800
7th Place: Christer Hallberg (Sweden) – HK$303,600
8th Place: Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) – HK$202,400
9th Place: Casey Kastle (Slovenia) – HK$131,500
J.C. Tran holds two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and was arguably the most successful player at the final table. After scoring his first piece of hardware in 2008, Tran won another bracelet this year by virtue of winning a $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event for $235,000. Tran won the 2006 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $670,000.
Tran, a member of the APT’s Poker Pack, commented in a press release distributed by tournament officials, “It has been a great 12-day festival for the Poker Pack. It is disappointing not to take down the Main Event, but congratulations to Allain. He played good poker and is a deserving champion. To take down such a major tournament for just $5 is quite something – there’s no doubt he has great potential.”
Day 1B of the APT Macau Main Event featured filming of the Chinese language poker film “Poker King.” Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan predicted that the movie would be bigger than “Rounders,” which helped spur the growth of No Limit Texas Hold’em in the United States. Yu, who finished in eighth place, came to the Macau event as part of the crew of “Poker King.”
Tran was eliminated from the tournament when Choi and Allain checked the action down on a board of A-J-10-9-8. Tran showed the Dead Man’s Hand, aces and eights, but was trumped by Allain’s A-Q for a straight. David Steicke was ousted from the final table after running his pocket nines into Choi’s pocket kings. The board ran out 3-3-A-3-K, giving Choi a better full house and sending Steicke packing.
WSOP November Nine member James Akenhead made the trek to Macau. Also appearing in the field were 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Chan, Liz Lieu, Season VI World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner David Chiu, new Team Ultimate Bet member Liv Boeree, Amnon Filippi, and reigning WPT Championship victor Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Matt Savage served as the APT Macau’s Tournament Director, a role he will reprise in October for the annual Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.
In addition to finishing third in the Main Event, Tran won the Poker Pack Headhunter tournament in Macau. Other highlights included Team Korea (featuring Steve Sung, David “Chino” Rheem, and Brandon Wong) winning the inaugural JBET Battle of the Nations. A “Poker King” charity tournament was also held, with Poker Pack member Quinn Do emerging victorious.