8/31/09 - The weekend saw nine survivors from an original entry field of 429 in the 2009 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour main event commence battle in Macau.
The final table comprised Dermot Blain, Mike Kim, Daoxing ‘Boa Boa’ Chen, Darkhan Botabayev, Pontus Kers, Jicheng Su, Dbinder Singh, Brandon Demes and Stefan Hjorthall, with the last-named the first to be eliminated soon after the action started.
US pro Brandon Demes went out in eighth, busted by Dermor Blain who went on to send Canadian player Dbinder Singh to the rail in seventh.
Daoxing ‘Boa Boa’ Chen was responsible for the next elimination when he sent Jicheng Su home in sixth place, and Swedish pro Pontus Kers was the first to see six-figure money, taken out in fifth place for a cool $114 464 by Darkhan Botabayev. The Swede's ROI was particularly noteworthy - he had won entry to the tourney on a $20 re-buy satellite at PokerStars!
It looked as if the touney would go to a strongly performing Chen, until he had an expensive clash with Botabayev that set him back. Chen soon after had the satisfaction of eliminating Darkhan Botabayev in fourth place for a take-home of $166 497.
Three handed, it was Chen, Kim and Blain with Kim playing aggressively. However it was Blain who decided who would play in the heads up when he knocked Chen out of the event in a very creditable third place for $239 327.
Heads up it was Mike Kim vs. Dermot Blain, with the former holding a massive 8 to 1 lead. It looked like a foregone conclusion but Irishman Blain stood his ground and played a game of such disciplined and controlled aggression that he was able to wrest the game from his opponent. Kim went to the rail in second place for $484 999, leaving Blain to take the trophy and the main prize of $541 089.
