APT Vietnam 2018: Nikita Luther Leads 52 Day 1B Survivors in Main Event, Feng Zhao Wins NLH Single Day Event
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- PG News October 8, 2018
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6 Mins Read
The 2018 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam continues to attract big numbers and seasoned faces at Pro Poker Club located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. With action picking up pace, participation numbers soared at the second starting flight i.e. Day 1B of the APT Vietnam Main Event where 140 entries registered to compete on Sunday. A full day’s play later, 52 players bagged chips for Day 2. They will be joined by the 38 players who progressed from Day 1A flight, even as Day 1C is scheduled to kick off today.
Team India put up another strong showing on Sunday with four Indians advancing to Day 2. Headlining the Indian campaign was the country’s first female WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther (cover image). Luther’s performance brought thrilling moments and she rose to the top of the leaderboard with the biggest stack of 422,300 among the survivors. With her stack, Luther not only leads the Day 1B survivors, she is also the overall chip leader among the 90 players who have advanced to Day 2 from Day 1A and Day 1B combined!
Another Indian who cruised into the top 10 on the leaderboard was Shashank Jain (213,600). Romit Advani (154,800) and Raghav Bansal (152,800) were the other Indian challengers who made the cut for Day 2.
In side events, Feng Zhao from Singapore took down the NLH Single Day Event. Zhao defeated Thailand’s Thanisorn Saelor in heads-up play to claim the title and the top prize of VND 135,630,000.
Main Event – Day 1B
The second day of the VND 6 Billion GTD Main Event that features a buy-in of VND 22,000,000 saw a healthy turnout of 140 entries, with India’s Nikita Luther (422,300) leading the 52 survivors who made it through to Day 2.
Shashank Jain (213,600), Romit Advani (154,800) and Raghav Bansal (152,800) were the other Indians who managed to find a bag for Day 2. Jain is the second Indian who features in the top 10 chip counts.
With Day 1B flight over, 90 players have made Day 2 from the two starting flights, with Luther holding the reins of the overall chip lead, a fact that she shared with her fans and followers on Twitter.
Bagged overall chip lead of Day 1A and Day 1B here at the Main Event of APT Vietnam. Long way to go though; 1 day at a time! #APTVietnam #TeamAdda52Pro pic.twitter.com/DCyk2sdpRj
— Nikita Luther (@nikitaluther) October 7, 2018
One of the final hands saw Luther dominating Josh McCully. With 
on the board and 13,000 in the middle, McCully bet 16,800 and Luther retaliated by raising enough to put the short-stacked McCully all in. McCully tanked till he timed out and was forced to muck.
Following Luther in stacks from the day’s flight were 2016 APT Finale Macau Main Event winnerSoo Jo Kim (365,700), Quang Nguyen (301,100), Luong Anh Tuan (272,500) and Japanese pro Aso Seitaro (257,400).
Indian pro Raghav Bansal (152,800) kept a low profile for most of the day only to emerge during the later stages. Bansal forced Seitaro to fold, with his all in move on the 
board where Seitaro who held 
gave up and Bansal returned the gesture showing 
for complete air. Bansal went on to win the next hand as well, where he relegated his opponent to the rail with 
that improved to a set on the board 
against his opponent’s 
.
Another notable player who made it to Day 2 was Henrik Tollefson (30,400). Tollefson is however one of the shorter stacks and will have to really pull up his socks to survive through Day 2.
Joining Luther, Jain, Advani and Bansal on Day 2 will be seven other Indians from the Day 1A flight, namely Apoorva Goel (194,500), Abhishek Panda (192,900), Abhinav Iyer (162,500), Vivek Rughani (140,700), Kanishka Samant (87,500), Manoj Pentakota (69,200) and Kunal Patni (54,200).
Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1B
1. Nikita Luther – 422,300
2. SJ Kim – 365,700
3. Quang Nguyen – 301,100
4. Luong Anh Tuan – 272,500
5. Seitaro Aso – 257,400
6. Charles Ambrogi – 247,000
7. Hai Chout – 245,300
8. Tan Eu Shen – 240,400
9. Oliver Helm – 225,600
10. Shashank Jain – 213,600
NLH Single Day Event
While the Main Event headlined the action on Sunday, many runners entered the NLH Single Day Event that was running alongside Day 1B of the Main Event. Topping a 113-strong entry field that included 92 players and 21 re-entries was Singapore’s Feng Zhao, who claimed the lion’s share of the VND 548,050,000 prize pool to pocket a payday of VND 135,630,000.
With blinds increasing every 20 minutes, the field quickly narrowed down to the bubble round with 20 players competing to sneak into the money. Julien Tran orchestrated the elimination of a player on the bubble with his 
forming a better hand over the opponent’s 
on the board 
. And with this elimination, the 19 remaining players were all assured a min-cash of VND 6,990,000.
Only eight players were to make it to the final table and among the notables who fell out before the final table commenced were Tan Le (10th for VND 13,090,000), Natalie The (11th for VND 11,190,000), Tran Van Cuong (12th for VND 11,190,000), Hung Sheng Li (15th for VND 9,570,000), Andreas Rauh (16th for VND 8,180,000), Tadashi Ogawa (VND 8,180,000) and Ken Heung Chun Kong (19th for VND 6,990,000).
Final Table Recap
The first elimination on the final table saw Munray make his way out in eighth place and he was followed shortly by Nguyen Duy Anh, who fell in seventh place.
Tzu ChiehLo was next to exit in sixth place and Go Mori ended his tournament run in fifth place.
Next up, Erik Billgren held 
versus Julien Tran’s
and it looked like Tran would take down the pot but Bilgren spiked a runner-runner flush on the rundown 
to win the hand. Tran went short-stacked and was eliminated a few hands later, in fourth place.
Erik Bilgren lost subsequently to Zhao in a hand to leave for the rail in third place.
Zhao entered the heads-up play against Thanisorn Saelor with a 3:1 chip lead and the battle lasted only three hands before Zhao picked up the title. The first hand saw Zhao’s 
bested by Saelor’s . In the second hand, both players moved all in and the pot was eventually split. The finale was reached when Saelor moved all in with 
and Zhao made the call with 
. Zhao’s picked up two pairs on the board 
to take down the pot and the title, while Saelor had to settle for a runner-up finish.
Final Table Results (VND)
1. Feng Zhao – VND 135,630,000
2. Thanisorn Saelor – VND 90,440,000
3. Erik Billgren – VND 63,140,000
4. Julien Tran – VND 45,960,000
5. Go Mori – VND 34,740,000
6. Tzu Chieh Lo – VND 27,150,000
7. Nguyen Duy Anh – VND 21,870,000
8. Munray – VND 18,090,000
While the Main Event will continue to grab the headlines on Monday with a Day 1C to kick off, there are several side events slated to run alongside, including another NLH Single Day Event and the NLH Deep Stack Hyper Turbo Event.
Keep following all the latest updates from APT Vietnam 2018 right here on PokerGuru!
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Nikita Luther
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