The nine players who will vie for the U.S. $453,851 first place payday in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour’s Macau tournament have been determined. The final table will play out on Saturday from the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino in Macau. The nine members of the final table hail from nine different countries, representing the truly global flair of the APPT, which is sponsored by the online poker room PokerStars.
Here is a look at the final table of nine players from across the globe:
Diwei “Bryan” Huang, 1,046,000 in chips: Huang hails from Singapore and took home $80,000 by winning one of the preliminary events held in Macau. He won a $1,000 buy-in tournament in 2006 on the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise, pocketing $77,875. Huang is the chip leader entering the final table and was one of 15 Singapore residents to enter the APPT Macau tournament.
Eddie Sabat, 1,001,000 in chips: A native of Lancaster, California, Sabat won the $5,000 buy-in Main Event of a World Series of Poker Circuit Event held at Harrah’s Rincon in February for over $70,000. Sabat qualified for the Macau tournament on PokerStars and is second in chips. He is the last man standing out of 106 Americans to enter.
Jeppe Drivsholm, 863,000 in chips: The Denmark resident is just 24 years-old and hails from the city of Aalborg. He made the final table of the Danish Championships in 2005 as well as a charity tournament in Macau this May. He’s third in chips and was one of 18 Danish players to enter.
Tian Chen, 768,000 in chips: The Beijing, China resident made a run when play was down to three tables, vaulting his chip stack from one of the smallest in the room to fourth in chips entering the final table. The APPT’s coverage site states that Chen has played in two to three home games per week for the last four years. There were 22 Chinese poker players who participated in the tournament.
Charles Chua, 617,000 in chips: Chua hails from Malaysia and finished sixth in an APPT Macau event last year. He’s well-known in the casinos of Melbourne, Australia. He’s fifth in chips entering final table play and is about 400,000 chips short of Huang’s stack. There were just three people from Malaysia who entered the 2008 APPT Macau tournament.
Mikael Rosen, 361,000 in chips: The Swede is thousands of miles away from home and has some work to do at the final table. Sweden was well-represented in Macau, with a total of 18 entrants.
Kuok Wai Will Cheong, 334,000 in chips: The hometown hero, Cheong is a casino employee from Macau. He has been playing poker for four years and begins action at the final table seventh in chips. Five locals entered the Macau tournament.
Javed Abrahams, 215,000 in chips: The last of three Europeans at the final table, Abrahams hails from London. He finished eighth in the World Poker Tour’s Bellagio Cup event in July and has recorded three European Poker Tour cashes over the past three years. There were 25 players from the United Kingdom who entered the APPT Macau.
So Myung Sim, 118,000 in chips: The Seoul, South Korea poker player is the short-stack at the final table, holding just 10% of the chip leader’s stack. He is well-known for playing Starcraft. Fifteen Koreans played in this tournament.
The final table payouts at the APPT Macau are as follows. All amounts given are in U.S. Dollars:
1st Place: $453,851.28
2nd Place: $291,761.54
3rd Place: $153,984.62
4th Place: $108,600.00
5th Place: $81,044.87
6th Place: $56,730.77
7th Place: $42,143.59
8th Place: $30,797.44
9th Place: $22,692.31
