SPC IX

With only five players remaining, former Main Event champion Liew Teck Wee was next to fall. His spirited run came to a grinding halt when, holding Ah9h with his chips all in preflop, he found himself up against Eric Soh’s 8h9h. His stranglehold on the hand was reversed in an instant when the flop delivered 8d 2c 9d, leaving him drawing to either an ace or running hearts. A 7c on the turn put paid to the flush, and the Ace Teck Wee needed failed to materialise on the river.                                                                             

With the big stack Cheng Cher Whey picking up multiple small pots in 4-handed play, the pressure was on the remaining players to chip up to compete. Reigning POTY Mark Wong, who recently doubled after his A8 had outflopped Eric Soh’s AK, soon found his tournament life at risk once again when his steal attempt from the SB with K2 was snapped off by Joey Soh, who’d awoken with AK in the BB. On this occasion, there was to be no reprieve for the plucky Mark, as the dealer tabled J 4 9 9 T, sending him to the rails for 4th place finish.

With both Joey and Cheng outchipping him by some distance 3-handed, Eric found an opportunity to resteal from Joey’s button open, especially with Cheng calling from the SB. A sinking feeling must have overcome Eric when Joey immediately re-shoved to isolate him. His worst fears were confirmed when Joey turned over QQ for a plus-sized lead over his KT, the bricked board eliminating Eric for an excellent 3rd place finish.

Now heads-up, the Chengster and Joey then put on arguably the best heads-up contest the SPC has seen. Cheng held a 2:1 advantage at the start of play and must have smelled the finish line when he made it 3:1. Joey however, began to get some measure of his opponent, and through a succession of well thought-out moves, clawed his way back to almost even. The momentum was shifting and a couple of medium-sized pots saw Joey take the chip lead, at one point to a ratio of 3.5:1. Just when the tables looked like they had effectively turned, Cheng began to bite back. Calling upon his years of experience, Cheng managed to swing the contest back to par, while eking out a slender lead.

With the railbirds riveted, both players took a board of K Q 4 after Cheng had called Joey’s preflop raise. Joey laid out a continuation bet, and Cheng moved all-in. Joey made the call with minimal hesitation, and to Cheng’s alarm, tabled AA, leaving Cheng’s JT in a terrible position. The turn 4 meant an Ace on the river was no good, leaving him drawing to the remaining four 9s in the deck. As fate would have it, the river brought a 9, and the unlucky Joey was despatched in 2nd place. Congratulations to Joey for a superb tournament, and to the new HR champion Cheng Cher Whey, whose well-deserved first SPC title has been a long time coming.        

The Natural8 Main Event

With the 2019 Natural8 Player-of-the-Year Challenge now approaching the half-way mark, 284 runners unsheathed their swords for the Main Event battle of SPC IX. Just about 140 entries piled onto each flight, with all players looking to nab the lion’s share of the $98,000 prize pool. 36 runners would make the money, and a champion’s purse of $18,200 was on offer; in addition to many precious POTY points.  

75 players made their way back to the tables on Sunday for Day 2, many worse for wear from the previous night’s free flow, and in some cases, from attempting ‘to teach the casino a lesson’; endeavours which almost never end joyfully.

Leading the charge on Day 2 were Teo Zi Sheng and Robin Khoo, both boasting six-figure chip-stacks. There were closely pursued by Liew Ming Xuan, consistent ITMer Calvin Tan, and Charles Lesmana, who had taken down the Main Event title last September. Also still in the hunt were recent Pokerstars Platinum Pass winner Ignatius Ee, the deadly Chainani brothers, Vijayarengan Visvalingam, Deric Lee, Lew Yin How, and Norbert Koh.