APPT Macau: Final table set after long Day 3

Daoxing Chen made no friends on the table as he frustrated his opponents with his slow playing style, but all that mattered was that he holds the chip lead going into the final table.

Days 1 and 2 of the PokerStars APPT Macau lasted for an average of about 8 hours each but it took almost 11 hours of play before the final table was decided on Day 3. Local favourite Daoxing Chen was the main culprit for the slow progress as he took an inordinate amount of time in almost every single decision.

Cheered on by the crowd, Chen will go into the final table as the favourite after ending Day 3 as the chip leader with 1.75 million chips. Michael Kim is a close second, while Darkhan Botabayev is third with 1.65 million and 1.45 million chips respectively. The rest of the field are all under a million chips with 11-20 big blinds each.

Slow and steady for Chen

It was hard to say if Chen really was taking his time to make careful
decisions, or deliberately slowing down play to frustrate his
opponents. In the end, tournament director had enough of Chen as he timed out of a few hands after a clock was called on him. Chen was put on the clock permanently and
was given just one minute to act on every hand.
 

Whatever Daoxing Chen was doing, it worked out well for him. Chen who was desperately short stacked at the start of the final two tables took down a few major pots to finish on top. Chen eliminated Dane Lomas, Tranh Linh, and Youngshin Im as he completed his miraculous recovery.

Change of pace spells trouble for Collins

The major pot for Chen came when he doubled up through Michael Collins after the tournament went down to 10 players. On a flop, Collins bet out and Chen for once called almost instantly. came on the turn, Collins bet again and Chen once again acted quickly to move all-in.

Chen's sudden change of pace rang the alarm bells in Collins head, but he called begrudgingly, knowing that he was most probably behind. Collins turned over and Chen , for the queen high flush. Chen dodged the fourth spade on the river and doubled up to 1.28 million as Collins went down to 630,000.

In the final hand of the night, Chen sealed top place as he won the race with against Dane Lomas' . Chen spiked his king on the flop, and the harmless on the turn and river meant Chen pipped Michael Kim for top spot at the very last minute.

The chip counts at the start of the final table are as follows:

APPT Macau Final Table Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Daoxing Chen	1,747,000
2nd	Michael Kim	1,653,000
3rd	Darkhan Botabayev	1,455,000
4th	Jicheng Su	778,000
5th	Dbinder Singh	696,000
6th	Brandon Demes	578,000
7th	Dermot Blain	507,000
8th	Pontus Kers	491,000
9th	Stefan Hjorthall	454,000