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Home / Uncategorized / MPC21: Final table player profiles

Seat 1: Takuya Yamashita, 26 – Tokyo, Japan – 1,220,000 in chips

The lone Japanese player in the final nine, Takuya Yamashita will start the final table with the fifth largest chip stack. Yamashita was all in and at risk on the second last hand of Day 3, but managed to double and is now in contention for the Red Dragon title.

Yamashita is a 26-year old consultant from Tokyo who enjoys football and playing texas holdem poker, which he has proven to do quite well. This will be Yamashita’s largest tournament result no matter where he finishes at the final table.

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Takuya Yamashita

Seat 2: Wai Leong Chan, 28, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – 445,000 in chips

Malaysia’s lone representative at the final table is Wai Leong Chan. The 28-year professional poker player from Petaling Jaya has been playing poker for five years, predominantly online. Chan mostly plays pot limit Omaha cash games.

Chan was the chip leader at the end of Day 2, though will begin the final table with the short stack. It wasn’t always looking like that would be the case, but Chan lost a massive pot to final table chip leader Hu Liu at the end of Day 3. By making the final table Chan has already posted his largest tournament result.

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Wai Leong Chan

Seat 3: Emning Zhang, 29 – Beijing, China – 735,000 in chips

Emning Zhang finished Day 1B of the Red Dragon as the chip leader and now finds himself at the final table. It’s not too often a Day 1 chip leader wins a tournament, but Zhang will be looking to buck that trend on Wednesday.

Zhang is a 29-year old Marking Director from Beijing and has been playing poker for two years. In his sparetime, Zhang enjoys going to the movies and playing badminton. Zhang has enjoyed every part of the tournament and hopes he will keep enjoying it at the final table.

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Emning Zhang

Seat 4: Zhenru Xie, 35 – China – 1,275,000 in chips

Zhenru Xie is another of the massive Chinese contingent here at the Red Dragon. Xie is a 35-year old CEO who says he has been playing poker for “a few years” but can’t exactly remember how he first got started in the game.

Xie says that he normally prefers playing Pot Limit Omaha, but his No Limit Holdem game has taken him this far here at MPC21 in what is his biggest ever tournament result.
When asked if he had any hobbies outside of poker, Xie responded with “only poker”. He’s clearly he’s a man passionate about the game, and that alone should carry him a long way.

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Zhenru Xie

Seat 5: Chen Wang, 26 – Tianjing, China – 1,140,000 in chips

Chen Wang has only played poker for two years but this is already his second significant final table in two trips to PokerStars LIVE Macau. He made the 2014 APPT Macau High Roller final table and finished in third place. The 26-year old is making his first Main Event final table.

Wang says he is willing to play any game at any limit; and, that kind of fearlessness could make him the dark horse – or, in this case, the dark dragon slayer?

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Chen Wang

Seat 6: Peter Chen, 26 – Taipei, Chinese Taipei – 1,250,000 in chips

Peter Chen’s is one of Asia’s young guns of poker. The Taiwanese poker pro has only been playing the game for five years and says he has no other hobbies outside of poker. This kind of singular focus has produced some solid results in the 2014 season where he’s now made five final tables in Official Asia Player of the Year (APOY) events including the APPT Macau Main Event where finished in fifth place.

His success thus far in the Red Dragon event assures he’ll hold the No. 1 spot on the APOY rankings for at least another 24 hours. But a deep run on Wednesday could stretch that lead significantly.

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Peter Chen

Seat 7: John Q. Hoang – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – 980,000 in chips

John Hoang is no stranger to final tables in big events with more than US$2.2 million in career tournament earnings. Hoang’s decorated resume includes three WSOP final tables. The Vietnamese poker pro is a versatile player who also plays in some of the biggest cash games in Macau.

Arguably the most experienced amongst the final nine, Hoang has told us that he’s particularly enjoyed the level of action from his tournament competition.

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John Q. Hoang

Seat 8: Liu Hu, Shanghai, China – 3,155,000 in chips

Liu Hu is a 28-year old businessman hailing from Shanghai in China. He has been playing poker for five years but this is very first tournament in Macau, and he’s making the most of his time here. After looking on the brink of defeat late on Day 3 when all in with pocket jacks against pocket queens, Hu flopped a set and then turned quads to double up and stay alive.

In his words that “strengthened his confidence” and he was able to then use that confidence to bully his table around with some aggressive play to amass a commanding chip lead entering the final table.

Hu says that he has enjoyed the professional level of service here at PokerStars LIVE Macau, and with a taste of success, we’re sure this won’t be the last time we see Hu.

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Liu Hu

Seat 9: Mathew Ryan, 40 – Melbourne, Australia – 1,765,000 in chips

Mathew Ryan is a 40-year old Accountant from Melbourne, Australia. Although originally from ‘down under’, Ryan has been based in China for the last ten years. Ryan has been playing poker for three years, mostly in pub poker events back in Melbourne.

When only two tables remained on Day 3, Ryan dealt the fatal blow to several players, most notably cracking Juicy Li’s pocket kings with ace-jack and cracking Katsuya Muranaka’s pocket queens with ace-jack. Outside of poker Ryan enjoys drinking wine. The aspect of this tournament that Ryan has enjoyed the most has been the PokerStars LIVE Macau staff such as APPT President Danny McDonagh.

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Mathew Ryan

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