Michael Mariakis

Michael Mariakis is continuing to shine on the tables and now has an imposing stack of 80,000. In this hand, he called a raise from UTG player Martin Nilson to 1800 and went to a flop of 2♠ 5♥ A♠ along with another caller. Nilson moves all in for 9000 and Mariakis makes the call. The other player folds and Mariakis shows A♥ 2♥ for aces-up against his Swedish opponent’s K♠ Q♠ flush draw. A 3♦ turn changes nothing and the A♦ river seals the knockout for Mariakis with a full house.

Man Kit Yan

With the blinds and antes continuing to rise it’s getting close to crunch time for many of the short stacks. One of the first to man up and take the plunge by moving all-in pre-flop is Hong Kong’s Man Kit Yan, who shoves from the hijack for 15,000 in total holding J♠ 10♠. Sitting on the button, Joe Hale opts to make the call with Q♦ K♠.

The 5♥ 4♠ 8♦ flop keeps Hale firmly in the lead, as does the 7♠ turn, though it does give Yan a backdoor flush draw which he duly hits on the 2♠ river. Yan’s Red Dragon hopes are still alive and he’s now up to around 35,000 while Hale slips down to 30,000.

Percy Yung

We were wondering why the room seemed a little less brighter and then noticed that the lovely Percy Yung’s chair was empty. Apparently her Pocket Sevens ran into Pocket Kings preflop.

PokerStars Macau

Play pauses as players are granted a brief respite from the action for a short break.

Australia’s Clint Pemberton has seen his Red Dragon come to a premature end courtesy of Korea’s Gab Yong Kim. We grabbed Clint on his way past the press table to hear all the gory details:

Pemberton hit a set of Eights on a K? 8? 2♦ flop and bet every street only to see the turn and river run out 6♦, 5♦ respectively to give Kim – holding J♦ 8♦ – a runner, runner flush. The Korean is now up to near the 60,000 mark while Clint is heading back to his hotel room, presumably to throw the TV out of the window.

Vivian Im

The severely short-stacked and newly sponsored Team PokerStars Pro, Vivian Im, has been knocked out of the MPC. After a preflop bet of 1400 from Tommy Kai Wong in middle position and a call from the button, Im pushed her 2350 remaining stack from the small blind holding K♠ 9♣. Both her opponents called and the flop came 4♦ J♠ J♣. Wong moved all in, forcing the fold from the button player and his Q♠ Q♥ was looking good against Im’s hand. A brick on both the turn and river gave him the prized scalp of Im who graciously shook his hand on her way from the tournament floor.

Nathaniel Seet

After three early position limpers Singapore’s Nathaniel Seet completes from the small blind, the Big Blind checks his option and we go five-way to the flop. All five players check the 2♣ Q♠ 2♠ flop before Seet fires out a bet of 900 when the 7♦ hits the turn and finds a caller.

When the Q♣ falls on the river to double pair the board Seet doesn’t slow down and leads for 1,700. His opponent doesn’t waste much time before calling but can only tap the table and muck when Seet flips over A♥ Q♥ for the full house.