It took around 90 minutes to see our first final table casualty here this afternoon. Xixiang Luo started as one of our shorter stacks and found the exit when his opponent Thomas Ward woke up with the best preflop hand possible.

Ward: A♠ A♥
Luo: 10♠ 9♠

Luo would need help after his all-in jam was called and he got a little on the J♥ 9♥ 3♣ flop. The 8♠ turn also gave him an open-ended straight draw but ultimately the 6♠ river bricked off to eliminate Luo. He would have to be content with seventh place and a HK$964,000 (~$124,000) payday.

7th place – Xixiang LuoFollowing Luo to the rail was the other player at the table with the same last name. Qi Luo was knocked out in sixth place after a sick river in a hand with Zhou Zhou. The action began with Zhou opening to 90,000 before Luo moved all in over the top for around 500,000. Zhou gave it some thought before committing the chips to put Luo at risk.

Zhou: A♣ Q♦
Luo: A♦ K♣

Luo was in great shape to score a double up and stay alive until a cold river rolled off on the 3♦ 2♥ 2♦ 8♥ Q♥ runout. Luo would exit five from the title to collect HK$1,205,000 (~$155,000).

6th place – Qi LuoAnd our most recent elimination was perhaps our most entertaining player on this final table, Connor Drinan. Much as he had been all week, Drinan was again enjoying a bottle of red wine, before finishing this Main Event in fifth place.

Drinan had a rough day at the table as far as cards were concerned and was down to 10 big blinds during the hand that responsible for his exit. He pushed all in with J♦ 10♣ and was called by Zhou Zhou who held A♣ 9♦ .

Drinan was live until the 6♦ A♠ 6♥ flop left him in dire straits. The 2♠ turn meant he was drawing dead and the inconsequential 5♣ river rolled off to seal his demise. For this fifth place finish Drinan pockets HK$1,519,000 (~$196,000).

5th place – Connor DrinanSo after these eliminations only four remain in the hunt for the ACOP Main Event title. It’s Thomas Ward leading the way at the moment with 2,760,000 in chips and the blinds at 25,000/50,000 (5,000). Join us here on the PokerStars Blog for the home stretch!

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