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MPC 27: Paawan Bansal wins Event #5 for HK$75,000

graphic_2The 27th edition of the Macau Poker Cup (MPC) is currently underway at the PokerStars LIVE poker room in the City of Dreams Macau. This 17 day poker fest which is taking place from 25 August – 10 September includes 29 Official Asia Player of the Year (APOY) events and is headlined by the legendary Red Dragon Main Event – a HK $15,000 buy-in tournament which features a massive HK $10,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. MPC 27 is also hosting a wide variety of exciting tournaments including the Baby Dragon, Megastack, HK $50,000 NLH Single Day High Roller and High Roller events.

Here is a short recap of the first six events of the series:-

Event 1: HK $2,000 Kick-off (HK $300,000 GTD)

Hong Kong’s Ka Shing Wong wins the very first event of the series outlasting 314 entries that made a prizepool of HK $548,244. Wong defeated USA’s Kenny Chun Kang Shih in heads-up battle where both the players made a deal in the final round. Wong collected HK $108,000 for his first place finish while Shih took home HK $100,000. Indian player Neeraj Kumar cashed in the event at 18th place for HK $5,000.

Event 2: HK $10,000 NLH ($800,000 GTD)

81 players participated in this event which was eventually taken down by Malaysia’s Kian Weng Choong for HK $216,000. Choong outlasted Hong Kong’s Laurent Huai Eng Ly in the last round who took home HK $144,000 for his second place finish.

Event 3: HK $3,000 NLH

In this event, Taiwan’s Tzh Hung Chuang eliminated Indian player Nathan Rao at second place. Chuang collected HK $60,834 for his first place finish and Rao received HK $40,500 for his runner-up place. The event drew 86 entries making a prizepool of HK $225,234.

Speaking with Rao, he said, “Overall it was a tremendous experience, that included a complete spectrum of emotions. I decided to just pick good spots and pick up as many pots as I could in the initial levels so I could last out later on. I managed to hold on, and never in my wildest dreams did I expect to final table back to back. This was undoubtedly my deepest run as well as biggest cash and I hope to have an equally good run the next time around.”

Event 4: HK $500 Flipout

220 participants came together for this event to make a prizepool of HK $96,030 and the Indian contingent certainly made their mark on this one. It was Israel’s Ben Gur to knock down Indian player Akshay Nasa who plays under the moniker ‘sherlock52’ on Indian poker sites. Gur took home HK $23,000 for his win while Nasa collected HK $15,046 for his impressive finish. Two other Indian players cashed in this event and it was again Neeraj Kumar coming at 13th place for HK $1,400 and Nishant ‘DoJingBULLETS’ Sharma at 22nd place for HK $1,000. This is Sharma’s second international trip to play poker at Macau.

Event 5: HK $6,000 NLH

Team India made its first title score in this event with former PokerBaazi pro Paawan Bansal emerging victorious by outlasting 65 players in this No Limit Hold’em tournament. These entries made a prizepool of HK $340,470. When it was down to three-way action, all players made a deal to alter the prize payouts from 1st-3rd place. The eventual winner Bansal collected HK $75,000 for his first place finish and also a Spadie trophy. He defeated Fan Jia in heads-up battle who took home HK $101,000. Another Indian player Ronal Jatin Vyas made it to the final table but got eliminated at 6th place for HK $23,770.

Event 6: HK $2,500 Knockout

90 players came together for this event making a prizepool of HK $151,425. Hong Kong player Yiu Heung shipped this event for HK $40,900 defeating fellow player Wing Cheong Chong in heads-up battle. Chong collected HK $27,300 for his finish. Nathan Rao once again making a final table at this Macau Poker Cup but again unfortunately was unable to go the distance. Rao got eliminated in 4th place for HK $15,100.

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