Sometimes It’s the Front Door That You Hit
After a couple of limped family pots that got no further than the flop and a single bet, everyone but Danny Tang called for 60,000 to see a flop of [AsJdTs]. First to act Paul Phua, having flopped bottom two pair with [JhTh], checked. Ivan Leow bet 125,000 with the underpair [7d7s], Wai Leong Chan on the button called with [Kd9d], as did Phua.
Chan spiked the perfect [Qh] on the turn, prompting James Dempsey on the comms to say, “Sometimes it’s the front door that you hit,” but no one called the 350,000 he bet when it checked to him.
| Player | Chips | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Thai Ha | 5,490,000 |
5,490,000
 |
| Wai Leong Chan | 5,110,000 |
5,110,000
|
| Paul Phua | 4,000,000 |
4,000,000
|
| Ivan Leow | 2,075,000 |
2,075,000
|
| Danny Tang | 1,625,000 |
1,625,000
|
Van Blarcum Flops Nuts, Drawing Dead by the Turn: Out 6th for $91,500
Paul Phua limped for 60,000 with [9d9h], called by Aaron Van Blarcum with [QsTs]. Cutoff Thai Ha upped it to 275,000 with [Ad7h], called by both limpers.
A heck of a flop followed: [Js8h9c] – the nut straight for Van Blarcum and middle set for Phua (whose stack has kept creeping up in the last ten minutes). Phua led out for 500,000 and Van Blarcum shipped in his whole 1,305,000. Ha folded faster than the naked eye could see, and Phua made the call to see he was in a virtual flip.
The [Jc] turn brought an instant boat for Phua, and his hand improved to the mighty quads on the [9s] river.
| Player | Chips | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Phua | 4,500,000 |
2,700,000 |
| Aaron Van Blarcum | Busted |
-1,710,000  |
Phua Doubles Through Chan
It folded to Wai Leong Chan in the cutoff, who set new short stack Paul Phua all in with [AsJh] for 820,000. After a short pause, Phua announced, “Call!” and turned over a dominated [KcJs]. He’d improved to a full house after the [JcQdKsJd6h] run-out, however, and Chan took his first hit on the final table.
| Player | Chips | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Wai Leong Chan | 4,700,000 |
-1,685,000 |
| Paul Phua | 1,800,000 |
940,000 |
Ha Uses Timebank to Decide to Bluff, then Leow Flops a Flush
Thai Ha picked up over a million chip pot with a re-bluff river jam on Paul Phua (holding [JsTh] on a [Kh8dAh9d6c] board when Phua had led out with [QcTc], prompting a quick fold).
Soon thereafter, a four-way limped pot saw Ivan Leow flop a flush with [Th8h], the board checked to the turn where it stood [Kh9hQhKc]. Danny Tang turned trips with [KdJd] and called a 100,000 lead on the turn, then 290,000 on the [As] river.
| Player | Chips | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Thai Ha | 5,600,000 |
895,000 |
| Ivan Leow | 2,100,000 |
625,000 |
| Danny Tang | 2,000,000 |
-380,000 |
| Paul Phua | 860,000 |
-1,140,000 |
Leow Gets an Early Double
Returning as the short stack, Ivan Leow has doubled through Paul Phua, who opened with [KdJs] then called his shove for 675,000. Leow hand his king dominated with [KhQd] and held over the [8dAc6dTh7s] run-out.
| Player | Chips | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Phua | 2,000,000 |
-395,000 |
| Ivan Leow | 1,475,000 |
750,000 |
First Sizeable Pot to Phua
“No walks,” said Paul Phua, making up the 50,000 in the cutoff with [8h9c]. Wai Leong Chan checked his option with [Ts8c]. Both players flopped gutshots on the [7c7hJh] flop; Chan check-called a bet of 65,000 from Phua. The turn brought Phua’s straight in with the [9s] and this time Chan check-folded when his opponent fired 200,000.
Event #3 $25,000 Short Deck Final Table Set to Commence
Although the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Super High Roller Series Sochi is only three days old, Wai Leong Chan enters his second Short Deck final table as chip leader today, over a million chips clear of nearest rival Thai Ha (Aaron Van Blarcum was also at Event #1‘s final table, finishing 3rd for $168,000). Paul Phua, third in chips, has made back to back finals here in Sochi, with a $58,000 cash yesterday for his eighth place finish in the $25,000 “normal deck” event. Ivan Leow, meanwhile, finished runner-up to Sam Trickett in this event, already banking $290,000 so far this week.
Nearly half a million dollars lies up top alone for the winner of this event, from a total prize pool of $1,525,000 generated by the 61-runner total field.
| Place | Prize |
| 1 | $457,500 |
| 2 | $305,000 |
| 3 | $213,500 |
| 4 | $152,500 |
| 5 | $122,000 |
| 6 | $91,500 |
Official Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Button Antes |
| 1 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | 2,395,000 | 48 |
| 2 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 725,000 | 15 |
| 3 | Aaron Van Blarcum | United States | 1,710,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Thai Ha | Vietnam | 4,705,000 | 94 |
| 5 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | 2,380,000 | 48 |
| 6 | Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | 6,385,000 | 128 |
Live coverage will follow the cards up PokerGO live stream that begins at 2pm local time (7am EDT).
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