Thursday, 28th March 2024 23:38
Home / Uncategorized / ACOP Platinum Series IX: Celina Lin and KC Wong set records, Alex Kim wins

This past week saw the ‘PokerStars LIVE Macau’ poker room complete ACOP Platinum Series IX from June 9-14. The six-day series had six Official Asia Player of the Year (APOY) events which, in total, drew 557 players and awarded nearly HK$2 million in prize money.

While the standard narrative in poker and sports is to focus on the winners of the biggest events, this week’s champions were perhaps overshadowed by Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin and Hong Kong’s KC Wong.

Lin inched her way towards another milestone after placing 5th in the HK$3,000 NLH event. That feat marks her 29th final table to extend her all-time lead for final tables in APOY events. Lin needs just one more final table to be the first to reach 30. Her nearest competitor is Raiden Kan who has 27.

Celina_Lin_15june15.jpgCelina Lin
KC Wong set a single-season record after making his 10th, 11th and 12th final table during the Platinum Series. Three players had previously reached 10 final tables – all in 2011 – but that four year mark has been surpassed just mid-way through the 2015 season. Wong now sits at No. 2 on the APOY leaderboard and has 24 APOY final tables in his career.

Reigning Asia Player of the Year Pete Chen is having a fabulous follow-up season. Chen, a PokerStars sponsored player, won Event 5 in a gritty performance. He overcame an 11-to-1 chip deficit in heads up play to win the HK$10,000 NLH event which moves him into the Top Ten on the leaderboard.

2015 Asia Player of the Year rankings can be found here.

KC_Wong.jpgKC Wong
The HK$5,500 Main Event was won by Korean Alex Kim who defeated the 181-player field on his way to the title and HK$204,100 top prize. Kim, who resides in Macau, had dominated most of the Day 2 and the final table. He appeared to be on his way to an easy victory when the tournament was down to just Kim – with an overwhelming chip lead – and Macau resident Gary Lam.

However, heads up play would stretch to more than 2 hours where, at one point, Lam even managed to take the chip lead. Eventually, Kim would regain that lead and win the tournament with just King high after a pre-flop all-in with K8 vs. JT where neither player improved after five streets.

In total, 21 players cashed for a share of the HK$816,400 prize pool.

FINAL TABLE RESULTS

1. Alex Kim (Korea) — HK$204,100
2. Gary Lam (Macau) — HK$134,700
3. Sam Cheong (Macau) — HK$85,700
4. Xiang Zhou (China) — HK$69,400
5. Minghua Zhou (China) — HK$55,100
6. Alex Ward (UK) — HK$44,900
7. Edward Gildar (Hong Kong) — HK$36,700
8. Ning Wang (China) — HK$28,600
9. KC Wong (Hong Kong) — HK$20,400

For complete results visit the ACOP Platinum Series homepage.

ACOP_Platinum_Series_IX_winner_Alex_Kim.JPGAlex Kim

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