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

It was an action-packed day at the 2018 Asia Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam with three events running alongside each other. While the CoinPoker Super High Rollers and Monster Stack came to a close, the first flight of the Main Event marked the start of the VND 6 Billion Guaranteed star attraction.

Team India saw two challengers, namely Sahil Agarwal and Raghav Bansal on the final table of the CoinPoker Super High Rollers, unfortunately, both players busted short of the money. Malaysia`s Victor Chong went on to win his maiden live tournament title, along with a payday of VND 1,204,870,000.

Another two Indians made it to the final table at the Monster Stack event – Sajal Gupta and Amanpreet Singh. While Gupta finished fourth for VND 137,390,000 (₹4,37,630), Singh placed sixth for VND 81,160,000 (₹2,58,520). Duong Vi Khoa took down the title for VND 328,523,769, after striking a three-way deal with Tony Ngeow Chung Fai and Nguyen Phuong.

The featured event of the series i.e. Main Event kicked off with Day 1A pulling in 95 runners. 38 players survived through to Day 2, led by Tzai Wei Phua (341,400). A large Indian contingent turned up for the event with five challengers making it to Day 2, namely Apoorva Goel (194,500), Abhisek Panda (192,900), Abhinav Iyer (162,500), Vivek Rughani (140,700), Kanishka Samant (87,500), Manoj Pentakota (69,200) and Kunal Patni (54,200).

CoinPoker Super High Rollers

The CoinPoker Super High Rollers was the largest buy-in event at the series with a buy-in of VND 107,500,000. The event registered 33 entries (26 unique and 7 re-entries), creating a prize pool of VND 3,201,000,000.

Day 1 chip leader Victor Chong dominated the field on Day 2 and entered the eight-handed final table as one of the top stacks. India’s Sahil Agarwal and Raghav Bansal also reached the final table but hit the rail just short of the money.

Final Table Recap

The first to go was Raghav Bansal who lost all of his stack to Chong in two hands. In the first hand, Bansal’s ace-five lost out to Chong’s pocket jacks which improved to a set, and in the second and final hand, Chong’s king-queen bested Bansal’s pocket sevens when a king opened on the turn. Bansal’s eighth place elimination brought on the money bubble.

Play continued for a while, and Sahil Agarwal even managed to double through Wu Kui Song but couldn’t survive the money bubble. Soon enough, Agarwal’s ran into Chong’s . The board ran . Both players flopped pairs, but Chong’s pair of tens was higher than Agarwal’s pair of eights, and the latter exited in seventh place, on the money bubble.

Following the eliminations of Wu Kui Song (6^th place), Pete Yen Han Chen (5^th place), Chun Tsun Ming (4^th place) and Huu Dung Nguyen (3^rd place), the heads-up play commenced.

Chong entered the heads up round with a huge chip advantage of 9.085 Million against USA’s Dylan Wilkerson, who started with 4.115 Million. The confrontation only lasted for 17 hands. On the final hand, Wilkerson’s were up against Chong’s . The runout missed both players, and Chong’s pocket sixes won him the title and the top prize of VND 1,204,870,000.

Final Table Results (VND)

1. Victor Chong – VND 1,204,870,000

2. Dylan Wilkerson – VND 741,450,000

3. Huu Dung Nguyen – VND 485,280,000

4. Chun Tsun Ming – VND 336,250,000

5. Pete Yen Han Chen – VND 245,430,000

6. Wu Kui Song – VND 187,710,000

Monster Stack

Attracting 194 entries and generating a prize pool of VND 1,881,800,000, only the top 33 places were assured a payday in the Monster Stack event. The money bubble ultimately burst when Japan’s Tomomitsu Ono eliminated a short-stacked player.

The eight-player final table saw Team India’s Sajal Gupta in the chip lead for the majority of the proceedings, but he wasn’t the only Indian challenger in the firing line for the title. Amanpreet Singh was the other Indian challenger who entered the final table as the chip leader, but eventually busted in sixth place.

Following Gupta’s fourth place finish, the remaining three players – Duong Vi Khoa, Tony Ngeow Chung Fai and Nguyen Phuong struck a three-way deal.

After Phuong’s third place exit, Fai and Khoa battled for the title. On the final hand, Fai’s were no match for Khoa’s , with the board running . Khoa took home the trophy and first-place prize money of VND 328,523,769.

Final Table Results (VND)

1. Duong Vi Khoa – VND 328,523,769*

2. Tony Ngeow Chung Fai – VND 291,243,157*

3. Nguyen Phuong – VND 265,853,093*

4. Sajal Gupta – VND 137,390,000

5. Tran Van Quan – VND 103,840,000

6. Amanpreet Singh – VND 81,160,000

7. Kazuma Inotsume – VND 65,370,000

8. Anthony Hope – VND 54,070,000

*denotes three-way deal

Main Event – Day 1A

The first starting flight of the VND 6 Billion Guaranteed Main Event got off to a successful start as 95 entrants joined the action. After a full day of play, 38 participants made the cut for Day 2 with Singapore’s Tzai Wei Phua emerging as the chip leader with 341,400 in chips.

The list of Day 2 qualifiers featured five Indians including Apoorva Goel (194,500), Abhisek Panda (192,900), Young Gun Abhinav Iyer (162,500), Vivek Rughani (140,700), Kanishka Samant (87,500), Manoj Pentakota (69,200) and Kunal Patni (54,200).

Other notables who made Day 2 were Ken Okada (162,100), Tu Le (160,900), Hung Sheng Lin (152,400) and Steffer Endres (141,600).

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1A

1. Phua Tzai Wei – 341,400

2. Kwok Luen Hei – 289,000

3. Gao Wenling – 247,200

4. Min Dan – 211,000

5. Qian Nguyen – 203,400

6. Apoorva Goel – 194,500

7. Abhisek Panda – 192,900

8. Duy Ho – 187,000

9. Teoh Ming Hong – 164,700

10. Abhinav Iyer – 162,500

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

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3. APT Vietnam: India’s Devesh Thapar Makes Day 3 of Main Event Championship With 3rd Biggest Stack