Thirty-nine-year-old Nanjing financier Qiuming Qin has taken down the biggest ever Macau Poker Cup Main Event, outlasting a mammoth field of 1,308 players to claim the HK$3,141,000 top prize.
Despite entering the final day’s play as one of the short stacks, Qiuming picked his moments well to eventually claw his way into the lead by the time heads-up play began against 35-year-old Hong Kong fitness model Terence Wu.
The final hand saw the chips go flying on an A39 flop with Wu’s A7 needing help against the A3 of Qin. When none arrived, Qiuming became the 27th champion and ninth Chinese champion of the Macau Poker Cup, also known as the Red Dragon Main Event.
“I’m very excited to win the largest-ever Red Dragon Main Event. It’s one thing I can now cross off my bucket list – winning a big tournament and a title,” he said afterwards.
“I‘ll use some of the prize money to celebrate with my family and close friends because they know how tough it is to win a big tournament and become a champion and I want to cherish this feeling. I value the trophy as much as the money.”
Malaysia’s Michael Soyza beat a field of 119 entrants in the High Roller event to collect a HK$2,037,000 payday.
Red Dragon results:
1st: Qiuming Qin (China) – HK$3,141,000
2nd: Terence Wu (Hong Kong) – HK$2,400,000
3rd: Tong Tan (Singapore) – HK$1,235,000
4th: Xilei Li (China) – HK$894,000
5th: Kian Weng Choong (Malaysia) – HK$603,000
6th: Calvin Tan (Singapore) – HK$433,000
7th: Mian Wei (China) – HK$364,000
8th: Mike Huang (Taiwan) – HK$313,000