APT Vietnam 2018: India`s Nikita Luther & Vivek Rughani Lead 85 Runners on Day 3 of Main Event

Team India`s trailblazing run at the 2018 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam Main Event continued with six Indian challengers making it to Day 3 of the event with 85 players remaining. Leading the charge is once again the Delhi-lad and India`s only female poker player to win a WSOP bracelet – Nikita Luther.

Luther began Day 2 chip leading the 194 runners, that had an impressive 24 Indians in the mix. She firmly held on to the lead and will be carrying a stack of 954,000 coming into Day 3. Joining her will be Vivek Rughani, another Indian who enjoyed his fair share of stardom at Las Vegas this summer. Rughani finished 88th in the largest poker tournament in the world i.e. WSOP Main Event and he is once again primed for another deep run here, as he holds the third largest stack with 737,000 in chips. Joining them will be other Indian pros – Kanishka Samant, Shashank Jain, Sajal Gupta and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli.

Indian Chip Counts For Day 3

With the top 83 places assured payouts, the money bubble is expected to burst relatively early in the day today. Day 3 is expected to play down to the final eight players, who will return for the finale on October 11. With the APT trophy and VND 1,638,200,000 reseved for the winner, the race to the finish line promises to be intense.

Main Event – Day 2

Out of the total 471 entries that registered for the Main Event, only 194 returned for Day 2.

Nikita Luther had entered the Main Event via Day 1B, accumulating a massive stack of 422,300 that catapulted her as the overall chip leader at the start of Day 2.

In one of earliest hands of the day, Luther found herself involved in a pot against Vi Van Phuc. The flop opened to and both players checked to see the turn . Phuc continued to check as Luther bet 3,000. Phuc called and the river was dealt. Phuc bet for 6,000 and won the pot as Luther folded.

Luther played dominantly throughout Day 2 and yet again closed the day as the chip leader with a staggering 954,000 in the bag, which she also announced on her Twitter page.

Maintaining Chip Lead Going into Day 3 of the main event here at APT Vietnam. Let’s do this! #TeamAdda52Pro pic.twitter.com/YrB6OW9Enm

— Nikita Luther (@nikitaluther) October 9, 2018

The other top stack – Vivek Rughani had carried a stack of 140,700 from Day 1A. On Day 2, he won the biggest pot of the day against Nguyen Hanh Phong and Soo Jo Kim. Action opened with a raise from Phong, followed by a 3-bet from Rughani and 4-bet from Kim. Phong folded, as Rughani moved all-in and Kim called. Rughani tabled against Kim’s . Rughani picked up a king on the board and improved to three-of-a-kind kings, which resulted in Kim’s elimination as Rughani’s stack swelled to over 900,000.

By level 15 Rughani had taken over the chip lead. He managed to win a huge pot through Nguyen Nam Duong and further increased his count. However, towards the end of the day, he lost a few pots to fellow countryman Shashank Jain and Tommy Luong and ended play with 737,000 in chips. He has the third biggest stack, just behind Luther and Tran Thai Ha (832,000).

The other Indian contenders who will be joining Luther and Rughani on Day 3 are Kanishka Samant (396,000), Shashank Jain (353,000), Sajal Gupta (211,000) and Zarvan Tumboli (166,000).

Amanpreet Singh’s elimination during Level 16 was the last hand of the day. Singh moved all in with but failed to improve against Tran Thai Ha’s with the board running .

While Luther, Ha and Rughani were the top three stacks of the day, other notable stacks include Wu Kui Song (450,000), Alex Nguyen (440,000), Jarod Minghini (397,000) and Daniel Tang (393,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 2

1. Nikita Luther – 954,000

2. Tran Thai Ha – 832,000

3. Vivek Rughani – 737,000

4. Duy Ho – 655,000

5. Phua Tzai Wei – 649,000

6. Natalie Teh Sien Po – 621,000

7. Simon Burns – 573,000

8. Phan Dinh Nam – 571,000

9. Nguyen Hanh Phong – 475,000

10. Eric Ting Yi Tsai – 450,000

Keep following all the latest updates from APT Vietnam 2018 right here on PokerGuru!

Related Articles:

1. APT Vietnam 2018: Nikita Luther Chip Leads 194 Survivors on Day 2 of Main Event, Nishant Sharma Headlines 13 Indians Who Made it Through Day 1C

2. APT Vietnam 2018: Nikita Luther Leads 52 Day 1B Survivors in Main Event, Feng Zhao Wins NLH Single Day Event

3. APT Vietnam 2018: Gupta & Singh Pick Up Scores in Monster Stack, Goel & Panda Lead 5 Indians After Day 1A of Main Event