Macau High-Rollers take top 3 spots in second straight tournament

At the end of August the poker world saw the first mass migration of money out of the poker economy in quite some time, as a quartet of Macau high-rollers bested the pros at the $250k Macau High Stakes Challenge at the WinStar Casino. The amount these four players have taken out of the poker economy is actually more (yes MORE) than Andy Beal could have walked away with in his infamous battle with “The Corporation”.

The Top four finishers in the tournament were all wealthy Asians, pocketing almost $16.5 million in prize-money amongst them. While it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, the triumph of the Macau high-rollers gave the poker world a glimpse into what a bad-run by poker pros in these ultra-high-stakes tournaments could mean to the poker economy as a whole. Now it has happened again, as Macau high-rollers captured the Top 4 spots (which were the number of people who made the money in the tournament) at a recent £100k High-Roller tournament in London; taking another $3 million out of the poker economy.

While the poker world has been feasting on these players for the past few years –with Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett, and Antonio Esfandiari reaping the biggest rewards—variance, and these players’ ever-increasing skill in poker have turned things on their heads in the past two events.

If the Macau high-rollers continue to excel at this rate it could very well bankrupt the ultra-high-stakes poker economy, effectively eliminating the chance for these tournaments to continue into the future. The chance that even the most successful poker pros will continue to throw-down six-figure buy-ins to participate in what are turning into high-variance, decreasing ROI, events is highly unlikely.

Here is a look at the payouts from the recent Aspinalls £100,000 Super High Roller Final held in London:

1. Paul Phua –  £1,000,000
2. Richard Yong – £570,000
3. Winfred Yu – £330,000
4. Terje Augdal – £200,000

Here is a look at the payouts from the Macau High-Stakes Challenge held in late August:

1. Stanley Choi – HK$50,149,000 ($6,466,011)
2. Zhu Guan Fai – HK$33,737,000 ($4,349,913)
3. Nicholas Wong – HK$25,530,000 ($3,291,736)
4. Tang Zheng – HK$17,324,000 ($2,233,687)
5. John Juanda – HK$12,765,000 ($1,645,868)
6. Lap Key Chan – HK$9,574,000 ($1,234,433)
7. Sam Trickett – HK$7,750,000 ($999,254)
8. Phil Ivey – HK$6,383,000 ($822,999)
9. Alan Sass – HK$5,471,000 ($705,409)
10. Philipp Gruissem – HK$4,559,000 ($587,819)
11. Di Van Hoang Dang – HK$4,559,000 ($587,819)
12. J.P. Kelly – HK$4,559,000 ($587,819)

The next high-stakes tournament will take place this week as the WSOP Europe hosts their first high-roller tournament; although the tournament features a more reasonably priced €25,000 buy-in with reentries allowed.