China's Xing Zhou wins inaugural ACOP title 2012 Asia Championship of Poker sets player and prize money record for the APPT by Fred Leung MACAU, CH

   
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Main Event Winner - CROP

Xing Zhou, ACOP Main Event winner

China's Xing Zhou wins inaugural ACOP title

2012 Asia Championship of Poker sets player and prize money record for the APPT

by Fred Leung

MACAU, CHINA, November 12, 2012 – PokerStars Macau set new records for players and prize pool on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) with the completion of the
2012 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) held at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex from October 26 to November 11.

Over the span of 17 days, the inaugural ACOP series drew a total of 2,757 players and awarded more than HKD $46.2M (US $5.9M) in prize money -- both of which mark new highs for the APPT.

The ACOP attracted some the of the games biggest names including Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, Oliver Speidel and ElkY along with 9 other Team PokerStars Pros.

"The total player numbers were beyond our wildest expectations." said APPT President Danny McDonagh. "To have two side events break 1 million US dollars on top of the main event is just fantastic."

McDonagh, who also serves as the PokerStars Director of Live Operations in the Asia-Pacific added, "This would be a great result for any of the 5 years I've been here. But the fact that this is Year 1 of a brand new poker series sets a very strong foundation for us to build upon moving forward."

Headlining the ACOP was China's Xing Zhou who won the Main Event after beating a 184-player field to become the first ever ACOP champion. Zhou wins HKD $3,547,500 (US $454,808) after a surprise decision to alter the original HKD $4,240,000 (USD $543,000) top prize despite holding a 3-to-2 chip lead against Hong Kong's Andy Chan -- his last remaining opponent.

"After more than 6 hours of heads up play I was exhausted." said Zhou through a translator. Playing only his second tournament ever the 29-year old businessman added, "I felt the two of us were equal in skill so I'd let god decide who should take home the trophy.

In total, the Main Event paid out the Top 22 players a share of the HKD $17,305,200 (US $2.22M) prize pool.

ACOP Main Event - Final Table Results

1. Xing Zhou (China) -- $3,547,500
2. Andy Ying Kit Chan (Hong Kong) -- $3,547,500
3. Michael Kanaan (Australia) -- $1,731,000
4. Jacques Zaicik (France) -- $1,384,000
5. Alan Sass (USA) -- $1,125,000
6. Tsugunari Toma (Japan) -- $952,000
7. Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia ) -- $779,000
8. Tom Alner (UK) -- $606,000
9. Henry Wang (Chinese Taipei) -- $432,700

For ACOP Main Event Official Results please CLICK HERE

For Final Table Player Bios please CLICK HERE

11665 Asia Championship Of Poker logo JPEG - CROP

The ACOP takes place from Oct. 26 to Nov. 11

Aussie Michael Kanaan started the day in pole position with 1.4M chips which was 50% more than his nearest rival.

However, that edge vanished after Kanaan mistimed an all-in that doubled up Xing Zhou into the chip lead.

That was clearly the turning point for Zhou as he began accumulating chips in a hurry.

Taiwan's Henry Wang suggested a deal on the final table but Zhou responded by pointing at his newly amassed stack of chips in disagreement.

Wang would be sent to the rail in 9th place. Tom Alner (8th) and WSOP-E bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen (7th) were next to fall -- both at the hands of Zhou.

Japan's Tsugunari Toma entered the day needing an outright win to overtake fellow countryman Yosuke Sekiya's No. 1 rank on the Asia Player of the Year leaderboard but fell short finishing 6th.

American Alan Sass and Frenchman Jacques Zaicik were eliminated in 5th and 4th place respectively.

After leading the field the previous 2 days, Kanaan would end his day in 3rd place after running his pocket 8s into Zhou's pocket kings.

Zhou entered heads up play with a 7-to-1 chip advantage over Hong Kong's Andy Chan and everything pointed towards a quick finish.

Chan then found a miracle after doubling up with AT against his Zhou's AJ that started a back-and-forth grind of more than 6 hours.

With the final table having lasted nearly 13 hours the players were visibly tired from the war of attrition. Despite Zhou's 3.3M advantage to Chan's 2.2M the two opponents agreed to split the prize money evenly and go all-in blind for the trophy until an official winner was decided.

"I've seen some crazy things in my 300-something tournaments I've covered but I've never seen anything like this where someone flips for the title and chops the prize 50-50 when they have an obvious chip lead." said PokerNews' Remko Rinkema while chatting to Joseph Cheong. Rinkema added, "This is exactly why people will come back and play in Macau!"

For complete Final Table Summary please visit PokerStarsBlog.com

For Official Side Event Results please CLICK HERE

For 2012 Asia Player of the Year - Final Standings please CLICK HERE

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Photos by Kenneth Lim Photography courtesy of PokerStars Macau.

Please send questions and media requests to macau@pokerstars.net

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