APT Taipei 2023: APT Main Event Breaks All Records; India`s Deepak Bothra, Raja Sekhar Puttamsetty & Sumit Sapra Advance to Day 2 From the Last Two Flights

The APT Taipei 2023 continues to break records as excitement builds and the TWD $30 Million GTD APT Main Event nears its climax. The last two starting of the Main Event – Flights C & D – have concluded, establishing the TWD $50,000 buy-in APT Taipei Main Event as the largest in APT history on all counts.

PokerGuru host Saumya Paithankar is on the ground recording daily recaps and exclusive player bytes from APT Taipei 2023. Take a look at the Day 6 highlights:

Hosted at the brand new CTP Asia Poker Arena – Asia’s largest permanent poker room – Flight C drew 251 entries (208 unique), while Flight D saw 183 entries (152 unique). Combined with the 437 Flight A entries, 317 Flight B entries, and 194 Natural8 online qualifiers, the total participant count currently stands at 1,382.

The prize pool has reached an astounding TWD $60,324,300, setting a new record for the largest APT prize pool and surpassing the previous high of USD $1.5M set at APT Macau 2008. The final numbers are likely to be better as late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, i.e., noon (local time) on Thursday, May 4.

The record-breaking feats extended beyond the Main Event, with the TWD $5K Event #27 NLH – Super Hold’em (3 Hole Cards) – Turbo, TWD $5,000 Event #30 Women’s Event, and TWD $5,000 Event #31 Pot Limit Omaha High – Turbo – 8 Max all drawing unprecedented fields.

On Wednesday, May 3, the first of two starting flights, Flight C, kicked off at noon (local time). After ten 30-minute levels, the initial field of 251 entries was reduced to 131 contenders. Jerome Finck from France led the Flight C chip counts with 255,600, followed by South Koreans Hogeun Kim (198,800) and Dongkyu Kim (198,200).

Indian players Deepak Bothra (55,600) and Raja Sekhar Puttamsetty (53,200) also advanced to Day 2.

You can read the APT Main Event Flight C live coverage on the Asian Poker Tour website.

Flight D saw 104 players qualifying for Day 2, with Singapore’s Graeme Siow (235,200) taking the lead. Hong Kong’s Kai Hei Wong (213,200) and South Korea’s Jeong Yim (194,700) secured the following two largest stacks.

Like Flight B, Flight D had only one Indian qualifier, Sumit Sapra (48,400), who flew into Taiwan just yesterday.

You can read the APT Main Event Flight D live coverage on the Asian Poker Tour website.

Singapore’s Nicholas Heng secured his first APT title in the tour’s largest Super Hold’em event. The TWD $5K Event #27: NLH – Super Hold’em (3 Hole Cards) – Turbo, held early on Tuesday (May 2) morning, drew a record-breaking 181 participants (137 unique) and produced a TWD $790,065 prize pool.

After 28 levels, each lasting 15 minutes, Heng emerged as the winner, claiming the TWD $174,865 top prize. He defeated Hong Kong’s Kwong Ki Cheng, who took home TWD $118,100 as the runner-up, to secure his maiden APT title.

Spartan Poker Team Pro Zarvan Tumboli, who made his first in-the-money finish in the TWD $2 Million GTD APT Kickoff, added another score in the Super Hold’em (3 Hole Cards) – Turbo. He came close to making his first final table finish of the series but ultimately busted 14th for TWD $11,900.

China’s Lap Wei Hung clinched his first APT title in the TWD $15K Event #28: Turbo – 8 Max. With 201 players (168 unique) participating, the event generated a TWD $2,632,095 prize pool.

After 32 levels, each lasting 15 minutes, Hung emerged as the winner, defeating APT regular Vincent Li from Hong Kong heads-up, who was aiming for his sixth title. Hung secured his maiden APT title and a TWD $583,095 cash prize, while Li took home TWD $393,500 as the runner-up.

A day after qualifying through Flight B of the APT Main Event, Jasven Saigal bagged his first score of the series in the Turbo – 8 Max, placing 19th for TWD $31,600.

Taiwan’s Meng Ling Lin celebrated her first APT title win by conquering the largest Women’s Event in APT history. The TWD $5K Event #30: Women’s Event attracted a record-breaking 143 participants (93 unique), shattering the previous high of 46 players registered at the 2011 APT Manila and creating a TWD $624,195 prize pool.

After 28 levels, each lasting 25 minutes, Lin emerged victorious, defeating fellow Taiwanese player Jia-Chi Li in a heads-up battle. Lin secured the TWD $149,595 top prize – her second-best career score – and her maiden APT title. Li took home TWD $101,700 for her second-place finish.

South Korean Sung Joo Hyun won his first APT title in the TWD $150K Event #29: Single Day High Roller – 8 Max, which saw 107 players compete for a TWD $14,530,600 prize pool. Hyun defeated Main Event frontrunner and fellow countryman Namhyung Kim, earning TWD $3,712,600 and a golden lion trophy. This victory moved Hyun to #3 on South Korea’s All-Time Money List with over USD $1.96 Million in winnings. Kim placed second, taking home TWD $2,557,400.

Content & Images Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour

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