Wai Tung Lo Wins ACOP Warm-Up For $154K

Hong Kong player Wai Tung Lo has won the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker Warm-Up, after defeating a field of 277 players over two days to lift the title, and collect the HK$1,197,350 (US$154,453) top prize.
A number of big name pros entered the HK$ 25,000 (US$3,225) buy-in tournament, including Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Liv Boeree, Randy Lew, Raymond Wu, Vivian Im, Naoya Kihara, and Celina Lin. Unfortunately, none of the Team Pro players would make one of the 31 paid money spots
By the time the final table of nine had been reached, there was an eclectic mix of players from eight different countries still in contention, including Canada, UK, Norway, Australia, Russia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong. Three-handed play would then see Wai Tung Lo, UK pro Louis Salter, and Canadian pro Ami Barer duke it out for the title, and following Ami Barer’s exit at 4 a.m in 3rd (US$75,700), Wai Tung Lo and Salter agreed to split the prize money equally, and play for the trophy and title, instead.
Shortly after, 25-year-old Wai Tung Lo won the final hand to capture his first tournament title, and boost his live tournament earnings to $168,240.
Final Table Results:
1 Wai Tung Lo     $154,385
2 Louis Salter     $154,385
3 Ami Barer     $75,700
4 K. Nishikawa     $59,763
5 Markus Garberg $47,810
6 Edison Nguyen  $39,842
7 M. Mazunin     $31,883
8 Kitty Kuo      $23,931
9 Dong Guo       $19,947
ACOP 2014 HK$100,000 Main Event
The HK$100,000 (US$13,000) Main Event gets underway later today with the 5 day tournament offering a HK$15 million guaranteed prize pool. Last year, the event was won by Korea’s Sunny Jung, who overcame a field of 203 players to eventually claim the HK$4,352,000 (US$560,000) first-place prize.