APT Hanoi Billions 2023: Vishal Ojha Goes on a Monday Blitz, Finishes Second in Single Day High Roller (₹54.19 Lakhs) & Bags Sixth Highest Stack in History-Making Main Event Flight A

The fourth day at the APT Hanoi Billions 2023 marked the start of the highly-anticipated VN₫ 25 Billion GTD APT Hanoi Billions Main Event with Flight A unfolding. The festival continued its trend of record-breaking turnouts, with the Main Event surpassing its guarantee right on its first day, with the opening flight attracting an unprecedented 670 entries (521 unique), thus setting a new record for the largest APT Main Event flight in terms of total and unique entries. The addition of 213 Natural8 OnLive players escalated the total entries to 883 and the prize pool to a staggering VN₫ 27.60 Billion, setting it on the path to creating a new APT record.

Vietnam’s Do Quang Thang emerged as the day’s chip leader with a massive stack of 397,800, thanks to an early double elimination. China’s Zhiyuan Xu (381,600) and Russia’s Bednarskyi Maksym (368,900) completed the top three.

India was well-represented by 22 players advancing to Day 2. Jumping into the Main Event shortly after a second-place finish in the Single Day High Roller – 8 Max, Vishal Ojha kept his sails high by bagging the sixth-largest stack of 322,400.

Other notable Indian players advancing to Day 2 included Deepak Bothra (247,300), Jaideep Sajwan (206,900), Sanish Chhabra (181,900), Raja Sekhar Puttamsetty (174,800), Romit Advani (168,300), Nishant Sharma (161,200), Rishab Malik (147,700), Siddharth Mundada (119,300), Ayush Garg (105,400), USOP Da Nang 2023 Closer champion Chiraag Patel (103,900), Amit Kaushik (90,400), Zarvan Tumboli (77,000), Ashish Munot (75,200), Kanishka Samant (71,700), Meherzad Munsaf (71,000), Mohit Bohra (59,400), Sandeep Singh (53,900), Pocket52 Team Pro Raghav Bansal (51,700), Sreekanth Narayan (42,900), Young Gun Siddharth Karia (39,700), and Akshay Nasa (37,200).

Day 1B is set to start at 11 AM (local time), with PokerGuru providing live updates focusing on the Indian participants. Stay tuned for the exciting coverage!

Just hours before his Main Event feat, Vishal Ojha nearly claimed India’s first series title in Event #18: VN₫ 50 Million Single Day High Roller – 8 Max, finishing second for a whopping VN₫ 1.577 Billion (~₹54.19 Lakhs), the highest individual score by an Indian in this series. China’s Yuzhu Wang won the event, taking home the APT trophy and a staggering VN₫ 2.372 Billion cash prize.

In Event #16: VN₫ 7.50 Million Sunday Super Stack, Rising Star Aman Parakh also displayed remarkable skill, securing second place for VN₫ 437.52 Million (~₹15.04 Lakhs). Shailesh Patel made his presence felt by finishing fifth and earning VN₫ 191.50 Million (~₹6.58 Lakhs).

South Korea’s Junghyun Lee championed the event for a substantial VN₫ 697.193 Million prize.

Sanjay Khanna, a skilled online MTT player, recently achieved a significant milestone by winning the APT trophy at the Natural8 India x APT Hanoi Billions Exclusive Tournament. This innovative event, combining online and live play, was organized by Natural8 India on November 5 and attracted 99 entrants, creating a prize pool of ₹11.88 Lakhs. The online phase ended with eight finalists, each guaranteed at least ₹39,389 and a ₹60,000 travel and accommodation package for the live final table in Hanoi.

Khanna, beginning with the second-largest chip stack, demonstrated exceptional skill and strategy, ultimately triumphing against the commanding final table chip lead, Kabir Tandon, in a head-to-head showdown. His victory netted him ₹2.81 Lakhs and a free entry into record-breaking APT Hanoi Billions Main Event, worth ₹1.23 Lakhs.

Other prominent online poker players also reaped rewards. Tandon, Sandeep Singh, and Yash Khandelwal, all finishing in the top four, received entries to the APT Hanoi Billions Main Event and substantial cash prizes.

The exciting final table showdown began on December 4 at noon (local time), with the live-action broadcasted on Natural8 India’s YouTube channel, bringing a thrilling conclusion to this unique tournament.

You can watch the live stream here.

Several other Indian players achieved remarkable successes on Monday. Yagyavalk Bhatt stood out with his second series score in Event #33: VN₫ 6 Million Turbo – Deuces Wild. Bhatt finished fourth, earning VN₫ 36.15 Million (~₹1.24 Lakhs).

With records falling in almost every other event, the Turbo-Deuces Wild was no exception, drawing its largest-ever field of 67 entries (57 unique). Vietnam’s Bach Quang Truong won the title for VN₫ 102.286 Million.

Veteran pro Jasven Saigal also made a mark by finishing 13th in Event #28: VN₫ 10 Million NL Hold’em – Freezeout for VN₫ 34.01 Million (~₹1.17 Lakhs).

Former APT Main Event champion Hernan Villa clinched victory, bagging the top prize of VN₫ 441.29 Million.

Event #35: VN₫ 2 Million Hyper Turbo saw commendable performances from India’s Abishek Srivatsa and Prattyush Ladha, finishing 15th and 33rd and earning VN₫ 6.58 Million (~₹22,599) and VN₫ 3.29 Million (~₹11,299) respectively.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Khoa achieved his first live title in this event, splitting VN₫ 79.554 Million with fellow countryman Huy Thanh Phan in a heads-up deal.

Raghav Bhatt and Siddharth Arya Jolly also made notable finishes in Event #30: VN₫ 4 Million PL Omaha High – Lazy Rivers, placing fifth and 10th with VN₫ 20.97 Million (~₹72,043) and VN₫ 6.72 Million (~₹23,087) respectively.

China’s Yucheng Xiao clinched championed the event for VN₫ 46 Million after a heads-up deal with Zejun Liu, who bagged a better VN₫ 67.134 Million in second place.

The high-roller events in this series have consistently drawn impressive turnouts. Event #29: VN₫ 250 Million Superstar Challenge – 8 Max was no different, setting records for its largest and most lucrative field to date. Despite being the series’ highest buy-in event, it attracted a remarkable 89 entries (72 unique), creating a staggering VN₫ 20.719 Billion prize pool, far exceeding the VN₫ 4 Billion initially advertised.

Japan’s Nozomu Shimizu continued his remarkable run, displaying a commanding presence at the tables to secure the VN₫ 5.439 Billion first-place prize, marking his second high roller victory in consecutive days, following his win in the APT Super High Roller 8-Max on Sunday.

In other side events, USA’s Hal Rotholz triumphed in Event #27: VN₫ 5 Million Limit Triple Draw Mix, taking home VN₫ 54.91 Million. Australia’s Dale Townsend emerged victorious in Event #34: VN₫ 3 Million Turbo – NL Omaha Hi-Lo – 5 Card, securing VN₫ 43.984 Million.

Content & Images Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour

Keep following PokerGuru for all the latest updates from the APT Hanoi Billions 2023!