Nathaniel Seet Leads APPT Macau Heading into Day 3

Singaporean Nathaniel Seet surprisingly leads the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau main event heading into Day 3 at the Casino Grand Lisboa after securing his place on top of the leaderboard on 774,500 chips.

Seet, who holds about five times the average stack heading into Day 3, is followed by South Korea’s Danny Park in a distant second place on 478,100 chips.

Although not well known, Seet does have some form on the APPT, having recorded an eighth place finish at the 2008 Auckland main event, a victory in the Manilla High Roller event – also three years ago – as well as a 10th place in the Cebu main event last year.

The top five is completed by China’s Wenfei Huang (436,300), German [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/pokerstars”]PokerStars qualifier[/geolink] Fabian Spiedelmann (389,500) and PokerStars player David Steicke (372,400), of Hong Kong.

Places six to 10 are filled by Slovakian David Hrdlicka on 333,600, Hong Kong’s Ligong Wei (312,600), American Lance Richard Lee Yuen (299,500), and PokerStars players Daniel Francis (298,900), of New Zealand, and Victorino Torres (296,600), from the USA.

A total of 303 players made it into Day 2 from a starting line-up of 575 for the $27,600+$2,400 buy-in main event, with all chasing a share of the $6million guaranteed prize pool for this season five tournament.

That total was cut down to 96 survivors for Day 3 as the bubble approached. The winner will collect $483,916 from a prize pool that will pay out on the top 70 places, with 70th earning $5,991.

Seet took down a massive pot midway through Day 2 to stride to the top of the leaderboard.

With more than 60,000 chips already in the pot and with the flop showing K♦ 2♠ 3♣, big blind Andrei Taranu, who had a big stack, was first to act and decided to go all-in in an effort to steal.

However, Seet surprised the Romanian by making the call to show K♥ K♠ to have trip kings.

Of course, Seet must have thought he was favourite to win the pot, but also had to be more than a little surprised to see Taranu reveal 5♦ 4♦. Yes, Taranu had an open-ended straight draw, but to stake your tournament life on such a hope seems strange.

Either way, the 10h arrived on the turn to change nothing, with the 2♣ on the river sending Taranu out against Seet’s full house.

Seet moved on to about 225,000 chips with that hand and continued to add chips throughout the rest of the day to secure his commanding lead at the close of play.

Team PokerStars Pro Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero, of Argentina, sits in 18th place on 257,400 chips, while PokerStars Team Online member Randy Lew, of Canada, is down in 52nd with 145,000.

But it wasn’t such a good day for eight-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) winner Phil Ivey as the American hit the rail early then might be expected.

The American star – back after a seven-month absence from the poker scene – was eliminated not long before close on the second day when the short-stacked Darren Judges three-bet when holding A♦ J♣.

Ivey, with just a few blinds remaining, called all-in with his K♣ 9♥ but failed to see his hand improve on a 6♦ 6♣ 5♦ 10♦ 8♦ board to beat his English opponent and was out of the room at speed.

China’s Sha Jun, who had ended Day 1b as chip leader on 169,400 and second overall, did not have a good day either, being eliminated early, while Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang, of Singapore, who had started the day in fourth place, also hit the rail.

Fellow Team PokerStars Pros Raymond Wu and Alex Kravchenko, as well as Jacky Wang, Phillip Willcocks, Ozzy Sheikh and Vivian Im, also crashed out, while PokerStars Team Online player Mickey Petersen hit the rail today, as well.

Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei’s Shih Chieh Su – who topped the leaderboard after the two opening days on 171,800 – only marginally increased his stack to 179,300 to drop back down to 39th place.

Other big-name players still in the hunt for the top prize include American Johnny Chan, who is a 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and two-time WSOP main event champ, in 23rd place on 244,400 and Hong Kong’s Terrence Chan, who sits in 44th spot on 166,000, while Australian duo Jeff Rossiter (292,500) and Andrew Scott (156,000) are in 12th and 47th respectively.

Additionally, Aussie Grant Levy (54th on 144,600), China’s Daoxing Chen (60th on 125,500), Dutch PokerStars player Roel Pijpers (74th on 83,100), PokerStars qualifier Jackson Zheng (79th on 75,000), of New Zealand, American Vincent Torres (88th on 62,700) and another Australian in Julian Powell (91st on 53,400) battled on to fight another day.

Top 10 Chip Counts After APPT Macau Main Event Day 2

1. Nathaniel Seet (Singapore) – 774,500

2. Danny Park (South Korea) – 478,100

3. Wenfei Huang (China) – 436,300

4. Fabian Spiedelmann (Germany) – 389,500

5. David Steicke (Hong Kong) – 372,400

6. David Hrdlicka (Slovakia) – 333,600

7. Ligong Wei (Hong Kong) – 312,600

8. Lance Richard Lee Yuen (USA) – 299,500

9. Daniel Francis (New Zealand) – 298,900

10. Victorino Torres (USA) – 296,600