Zhenru Xie Wins Macau Poker Cup 21 Red Dragon For $215k

Although Chinese players often make up more than half the tournament fields in Macau, there hasn’t been a Chinese Red Dragon winner since 2012 when Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin lifted the trophy. That was until now, after Zhenru Xie overcame a field of 808 players at the MPC21 Red Dragon Main Event to claim the title, and collect the HK$1,667,000 (USD $215,073) first place prize. Commenting after his impressive victory, Xie, said:
“I’m very happy to have won. I never thought I would win! I have played a lot in the UK, but this is my first tournament in Macau. My wife wanted to play, so I just came along to join her!”
The MPC21 Red Dragon Main Event was the third-largest ever held and created a prize pool worth HK$7,837,600 with the top 108 finishers then getting paid. By the time the final table of nine had been reached, four of the remaining nine competitors were from China but
when just four players remained China’s Zhenru Xie found himself competing for the title against players from Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
Matthew Ryan (9-9) subsequently eliminated Pete Chen (A-K) in 4th, and after Zhenru Xie (J-9) did likewise to Japan’s Takuya Yamashita (A-8) in 3rd the heads-up phase of the competition got underway with Xie holding a 6.995 million to 4.98 million lead over his Australian opponent.
Following a back and forth, Ryan then proceeded to lose a massive pot having shoved all-in holding K-8 on a 8-3-3-A board, only to be called by Xie with A-3. With no help on the river, Ryan was subsequently left with just 900k in chips and a little later he shoved preflop with J-4 and was called by Xie with 7-2. With the dealer putting out a 9-8-7-A-5 board, Mathew Ryan found himself consigned to a runner-up finish, while Zhenru Xie was crowned the champ.
Final Table Results:
1 Zhenru Xie      China    HK$1,667,000
2 Mathew Ryan Australia HK$1,100,000
3 T. Yamashita   Japan    HK$658,000
4 Pete Chen        Taipei    HK$491,000
5 Hu Liu             China    HK$350,000
6 Chen Wang     China    HK$290,000
7 John Hoang     Vietnam HK$232,000
8 Enming Zhang  China    HK$175,000
9 Wai Chan        Malaysia HK$135,600