Canadian poker pro Elliot Smith beat a 536-strong field in the debut PokerStars Championship Macau Main Event at City of Dreams to win HK$2,877,500.
The PokerStars Championship series has three more confirmed stops between now and August. Next up is the glamorous PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo on the French Riviera from April 25 to May 5.
Smith is the third champion of this year's PokerStars Championship, joining American pros Christian Harder (PokerStars Championship Bahamas winner) and Kenneth Smaron (PokerStars Championship Panama winner) on the throne. "I'm very excited, it's an accomplishment not many people get to achieve," the champ said, adding: "I'm super, super happy."
The 29-year-old from British Colombia struck an even chop with Chinese pro Terry Tang before the heads-up began, leaving HK$300,000 for the winner. The final battle lasted over ten hours (and more than 260 hands), with the chip lead swinging back and forth. Remarkably, there was no all-in and call situation prior to the final showdown, when all chips went into the pot pre-flop. Smith was racing with AKs against Tang's sixes. Tang hit a set on the flop but Smith triumped with a flush on the river.
With HK$130,000,000 in prize money across 52 tournaments, PokerStars Championship Macau was the largest poker festival ever held in Asia.
PokerStars Championship Macau 2017 Main Event final table results:
1st - Elliot Smith, Canada, HK$2,877,500 *
2nd - Terry Tianyuan Tang, China, $2,577,500 *
3rd - Daniel Laidlaw, Australia, HK$1,724,000
4th - Avraham Oziel, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, HK$1,280,000
5th - Aymon Hata, UK, HK$950,000
6th - Pete Chen, Taiwan, HK$705,000
7th - Yan Li, China, PokerStars player, HK$521,000
8th - Xuan Tan, China, HK$386,000
The top 103 players shared a piece of the HK$20,796,800 prize pool. Notables who cashed included Fabrice Soulier (ninth for HK$386,000), David Peters (37th for HK$101,000), Sergio Aido (48th for HK$79,300), Morten Mortensen (82nd for HK$62,500), Chen-An Lin (85th for HK$62,500) and Manig Loeser (87th for HK$62,500).
PokerStars Championship has three more confirmed stops between now and August. Next up is PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo on the French Riviera. This gorgeous venue has hosted dozens of memorable moments in a rich history of PokerStars events including 13 EPT Grand Finals. 2017 continues the EPT tradition with the world’s best poker players heading for their annual trip to one of the world’s most glamorous destinations from April 25-May 5, 2017.
PokerStars Championship Sochi runs May 20-31 at the spanking new and ultra-glamorous Sochi Casino and Resort while PokerStars Championship Barcelona is at Casino Barcelona from August 15-27.
£ GBP
$ USD
€ EUR
