Macau, China, December  2016 – The Asian Poker Tour Finale Macau 2016 was packed from wall-to-wall with a huge turnout of 169 players for the final flight of the APT Finale Macau Main Event held at the Crystal Palace in Casino Lisboa. With a deep structure and steady blinds that increased every sixty minutes, it meant ample playing time and lots of hands to choose from. After the scheduled eight rounds of competition, the room was still buzzing with 105 players surviving the day.

Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Saehoon Lee

Emerging as the chip leader was Korea’s Saehoon Lee with a large stack of 293,200 at bagging time. Lee claimed one of the last hands at his table with his A-9 higher kicker winning over A-4 on a board of 2-K-A-J-5 to seal his lead. Finishing up with the second largest stack was another Korean player, Lim Yo Hwan aka Boxer, with 214,100 in chips; and rounding out the top three was India’s Praveen Dwarkanath with 200,600 in chips.

Day 1B saw many notable pros scattered all over the room with a good number them still in the running. Reigning champion, China’s Dong Guo, was among those who made it through. We were able to catch one of Guo’s winning hands, ousting Japanese pro Kosei Ichinose right after registration closed. Guo’s J♦ 10♦ both paired up against Ichinose’s K♣ K♠. Also making the list were Singapore’s Alex Lee, Guam’s Toniyoung Degracia, Taiwan’s Pete Yen Han Chen, Japan’s Gerard Bringley, Yuri Ishida, Jack En-Ching Wu, and current leader of the APT Regional POY 2016 Korea, SJ Kim.