The three-day ACOP HK$500,000 Super High Roller has just been completed with American poker pro of Serbian origin Andy Andrejevic topping the field of some of the world’s best high rollers to collect the first-place prize of HK$8,725,000 (US$1,112,000) and the tournament trophy.
Day 3 of the event saw six hopefuls returning to City of Dreams Macau to play the final table and determine the champion. And it took four levels of play for his name to be announced. Cards were thrown in the air at 2:30 pm local time and three players were eliminated within the first two hours of action.
Eight-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who started the day as the short stack, was the first to leave the ACOP Super High Roller. The prominent poker pro was busted in 6th place by Anton Astapau. His payout amounted to HK$1,696,200.
Astapau himself hit the rail next. He could not hold up against Andrejevic and left the final table to collect the amount of HK$1,939,000 for his efforts. The third elimination for the day came shortly before the end of Level 17.
Steve O’Dwyer, who won that same event this time last year, could not capture a back-to-back title as he was busted in 4th place by the soon-to-be-champion. His portion of the prize pool amounted to HK$2,666,000.
It took two hours of play before another player was seen leaving the final table. Bryn Kenney was then eliminated in 3rd place by Andrejevic to scoop a total of HK$3,635,000 for his performance in the event.
And it was John Juanda whom Andrejevic had to face heads-up. Juanda recently joined the elite group of players and poker personalities who represent the Poker Hall of Fame. However, the popular poker pro was short of luck during the ACOP Super High Roller and could not add yet another title to his impressive collection of achievements.
The heads-up match lasted only four hands. On what turned out to be the last one, Juanda went all in for his last 3.5 million chips and Andrejevic called. Juanda tabled [4c][4h] against his opponent’s [As][2d]. The board ran out [Kh][Ad][10s][Ks][3c], securing Andrejevic with the pot and the title. As for Juanda, he added HK$5,547,000 to his poker bankroll for finishing 2nd in the prestigious tournament.
