A stellar week of poker, a record-breaking field and a brand new Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon champion!

The atmosphere here at PokerStars LIVE Macau have been electric over the last few days. Not just did this iteration of the Red Dragon prove to be the largest yet, however the event also earned itself the title of the most important freezeout tournament ever within the Asia-Pacific.

There were 1,075 who ponied up the HK$12,000 entry fee but if play concluded tonight a champion had emerged...

Congratulations to Malaysia's Ying Lin Chua!

Chua navigated his way through a tricky final table that included former Red Dragon champion Tom Alner and Hong Kong Stars team member Wayne Zhang to attain himself HK$1,904,000 (HK$1,804,000 after a three-handed deal + a HK$100,000 ACOP Main Event ticket) and the best-looking trophy in poker.

By the later stages of the general table Chua had begun to steamroll his opponents and came into heads up play against Zhang as a 10:1 chip favourite. Moving all in blind within the first actual hand Chua showed he wasn't afraid to gamble, and while he could have lost that hand, it'd be lower than 10 minutes later that Chua would seal his victory.

The final hand of the tournament saw Chua get the chips in with a dominant J♦9♠ to Zhang's J♥4♥ and hold because the board ran out 3♥J♣2♠K♣A♠. With the autumn of the river card, and an applause that swept around the tournament floor, we had our new Red Dragon champion.

Before that whirlwind heads up clash though, the overall table of nine would take over eight hours. It took 90 minutes of play to search out our first final casualty. The 9th place spot went to Yongqiang Huang who got his money in good with A♦9♦ against Liang Xu's K♥J♦ and looked almost a lock to double up after the 8♥6♦A♣ flop. Unfortunately for Huang a painful runner-runner would determine his fate because the K♣ turn and J♥ river arrived to offer Xu two pair.

Next to head was former Red Dragon champion Tom Alner. The Englishman moved all in over a gap raise from Yang Zhang before Wayne Zhang next to behave pushed all in excessive. The remainder of the table folded and with Yang Zhang flashing A♦Q♦ before mucking, Alner's chances looked bleak with A♥Q♣ against Wayne Zhang's Q♠Q♥. Alner did not improve when the community cards fell and he left us in 8th place.

Tom Alner shakes the hand of his eliminator

It wouldn't take long for our 7th place finisher to seek out the exit. Yang Zhang was eliminated only QUARTER-HOUR after Alner. Zhang got the last of his chips all in holding Q♥5♦ on a 9♦Q♣4♣ flop but was dominated by Chengbei Lei's Q♦T♦. With the K♣ turn and 6♠ river completing the board Zhang couldn't find any help and must be content with 7th place.

Fan Xie would exit within the 6th spot. With the flop reading 7♠4♠4♣ Xie got the last of it in holding 7♦6♠ but had run into the 5♠4♦ trips of Xu. Drawing thin to a seven or running cards they never came as Xie was eliminated and picked up HK$302,100.

All smiles for our 6th place finisher - Fan Xie

Then Chengbei Lei hit the rail. He moved all in preflop from under the gun with A♥4♥ and was called in two spots by Xu and Chua. Despite the dream flop of 5♦3♥6♥ Lei soon came upon Chua had flopped a straight with 4♠2♠ and Lei did not discover a heart for a win of a seven or deuce for a chop.

4th place went the best way of our start-of-day chip leader Liang Xu. He got his chips in preflop against Chua and was dominated holding A♣4♦ against Chua's A♠Q♣. While the 2♦7♥7♦ flop gave him some hope for a chop, the 8♦ turn and 5♦ couldn't save him as he was eliminated for HK$611,000.

4th place - Liang Xu

Japan's Takashi Ogura finished one wanting heads up play. He was all in and behind with K♥J♥ against our eventual champion's A♣2♦ and couldn't improve. Ogura took home HK$1,382,000 and his elimination saw the heads up match set where Chua held the 10:1 lead and would soon overcome Zhang.

MPC24 Red Dragon - Final Table Results1st: Ying Lin Chua (Malaysia) - $1,904,000*2nd: Wayne Zhang (China) - $1,307,000*3rd: Takashi Ogura (Japan) - $1,382,000*4th: Liang Xu (China) - $611,0005th: Chengbei Lei (China) - $413,0006th: Fan Xie (China) - $302,1007th: Yang Zhang (China) - $257,0008th: Tom Alner (UK) - $223,5009th: Yongqiang Huang (China) - $190,000

* denotes a three-handed dealall amounts in HK$

Click here for an entire list of payouts

Congratulations to Ying Lin Chua and a large thanks to the town of Dreams casino for hosting another sensational Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon event. In case you are still chasing some more exciting poker action, our coverage of the HK$80,000 High Roller begins from tomorrow at 2pm.

We hope to look then you here at the PokerStars Blog!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Macau]