China’s Zhenru Xie is the latest Red Dragon champion after claiming the 21st Macau Poker Cup overnight. Zhenru outlasted a huge field of 808 players – the biggest ever at a summer edition of the MPC – to claim the prestigious Red Dragon trophy along with a Slyde “Titanium” watch and HK$1,667,000 in prize money.
But he had to navigate a crazy final table to get the job done with four players eliminated within the first hour and overnight chip leader Hu Liu’s ultra-aggressive style eventually seeing his stack dwindle as he was eliminated in fifth.
Heads-up play came down to Zhenru and Australia’s Matthew Ryan, with Zhenru holding a 3 to 2 chip lead and although Ryan battled back, the key hand came when Ryan shoved holding K-8 on a 338A board only for his opponent to snap-call with A-3.
Ironically, Zhenru wouldn’t have even played the Red Dragon were it not for his wife Fei Wang.
“I have played a lot in the UK but this is my first tournament in Macau,” he said. “My wife wanted to play so I just came along to join her.”
