Poker action continues in the South East Asian country Vietnam where Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh City is currently playing host to the biggest tournament in the country till date, the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam Main Event.

The excitement is almost palpable as India’s Dhaval Mudgal (cover image), incidentally one of PokerGuru’s first batch of Young Guns, is eyeing the biggest win of his career and is the sole Indian challenger to make it to the final day in the Main Event. The singer, musician, and Poker Sports League Season 2 winning team Goan Nuts captain, Mudgal needs no introduction. Will he add the tag WPT champion to his resume? We will have to wait a few more hours to find out!

In the city known for its French colonial landmarks, Mudgal is making his own exploits and started the final day as the second chip lead among 15 survivors with a stack of 2,355,000, trailing only Yik Yin Ray Chiu (2,430,000).

Day 2 of the Main Event saw 178 players, who had all advanced through one of the three starting flights, returning back with Austria’s WSOP bracelet winner Tran Hanh leading the way.

Team India was well represented with 18 players starting the day, including Alok Birewar (263,000), followed by Zarvan Tumboli (177,000), Bobbe Suri (139,000), Sajal Gupta (138,000), Amanpreet Singh (109,500), Nitin Jain (109,000), Raghav Bansal (99,500), Vidwath Shetty (99,000), Kanishk Upreti (92,000), Aman Dhamija (88,000), Vinod Megalmani (86,000), Dhaval Mudgal (86,000), Nishant Sharma (85,000), Goonjan Mall (74,500), Romit Advani (60,000), Vivek Rughani (53,500), Abhinav Iyer (45,000) and Chiraag Patel (41,500).

With 679 entries ponying up the VND 22,000,000 buy-in, a record-breaking prize pool of VND 13,172,600,000 ($564,750) was collected at the event making it the largest prize pool for a poker event the country has ever seen. With the top 85 places getting paid and VND 2,427,580,000 (~US$104,000 or ₹76.02 Lakhs) up top for the winner, it surely was an intense day of poker at the felts.

Day 2 Recap

One of the first Indians to get going was Vinod Megalmani who managed to double up through Tran Duc Phuong. Megalmani was all in with against Tran Duc Phuong’sweaker . No surprises on the board and Megalmani scooped the pot.

MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli was busy from the get-go and even eliminated one player early on in the day. Tumboli opened with , a player jammed, Luen Hei Kwok called, and Tumboli called. On the flop , Tumboli bet and Kwok called to see the turn . Both players checked through to the river . Tumboli fired another bet, Luen tanked, then gave up his cards. Tumboli showed the winning hand to win both the main and side pots and eliminated his opponent.

Aman Dhamija wasn’t able to get much going and was busted by Victor Chong. Dhamija moved all in for 54,000 with and Chong called with . Chong rivered a one card flush eliminating Dhamija.

Vinh Tran was eliminated on the money bubble by Jason Nguyen when the former’s couldn’t beat the latter’s .

Raghav Bansal was seen in thick of action once the bubble burst when he knocked out Pete Chen. The latter moved all-in and Bansal called with pocket sevens. Bansal turned a full house to win the stack that took his stack up to 880,000.

Goonjan Mall was another Indian challenger who made his presence felt and almost eliminated Ominami Shiuichi. Mall opened for 20,000 from middle position, Johannes Hoeld called and Shiuichi 3-bet to 60,000. Mall called while Hoeld folded to see the flop . Shiuichi jammed with and Mall check-called with for middle pair and a gutshot straight draw. Mall improved to a three-of-a-kind on the turn and won the pot with the river completing the board. Shiuichi came down to 26,000 and busted the very next hand.

Soon thereafter, Mall opened, Norbert Koh called and another player joined to make it 3-way to the flop . Mall bet 45,000 and only Koh called. The turn got checked around and the river also got no action. Mall tabled for rivered two pairs and took down the pot.

Romit Advani made one of the deepest runs from the Indian contingent and was seen busting one of his fellow countrymen close to the money. With less than 10 spots away from getting paid, Nitin Jain’s lost to Advani’s and that was the end for Jain.

Advani lost some to Dylan Wilkerson later when Advani called a raise of 45,000 to see the flop which got checked around. On the turn, Wilkerson bet 135,000 and that was enough to get him the pot. Advani recovered some from Dhaval Mudgal soon thereafter. Mudgal opened and Advani called to see the flop open . Mudgal continued for 50,000 and Advani called to see the turn card open . Both checked down to the river .Advani bet 120,000 and Mudgal check-folded.

However, Advani’s dream run came to an end in brutal fashion and he became the last elimination of the day. Advani’s lost to Apu Weo’s as the board brought all clubs and the latter won with the nut flush over the former’s set. Advani busted in 16^th place for VND 133,970,000 (~4.19 Lakhs).

Alok Birewar, who had started the day with the biggest stack among the Indian challenger, failed to make it through the day. Birewar was all in with Ax Kx against Yik Yin “Ray” Chiu’s 9x 8x and busted as a nine spiked on the board.

The sole survivor from Team India of the day, Dhaval Mudgal juggernauted his way to the final day and even busted Dylan Wilkerson. Mudgal opened for 55,000, Wilkerson shoved for 405,000 with Qx Jx and Mudgal called with pocket sixes. The board blanked out and Mudgal won the pot.

Mudgal then lost some chips when his pocket jacks couldn’t hold against a player’s Ace King when the latter found a king on the turn. At the end of Day’s play, Mudgal bagged 2,355,000 in chips, the second biggest stack among the 15 survivors who will come back today to play down to a champion!

Chip Counts at the End of Day 2

1. Yik Yin Ray Chiu – 2,430,000

2. Dhaval Mudgal – 2,355,000

3. Hai Chuot – 2,245,000

4. Tran Huu Khoi – 1,680,000

5. Nguyen Hanh Phong – 1,590,000

6. Tai Hsing Hsiung – 1,470,000

7. Trần Cao Tâm – 1,335,000

8. Johannes Felix Hoeld – 1,180,000

9. Ben Andrews – 1,150,000

10. Norbert Koh – 1,135,000

11. Dao Duc Phuong – 1,025,000

12. Takao Shimizu – 805,000

13. Le Ngoc Chanh – 790,000

14. Apu Weo – 620,000

15. Low Kar Ooi – 560,000

Image courtesy: somuchpoker.com

*Cash prizes won by Indian players will be updated once the information is made available.

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

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3. WPT Vietnam 2018: Sapra Finishes Runner-Up in Welcome Event For ₹5.06 Lakhs, Rubin Labroo Headlines 5 Indians on Day 2 of Ho Chi Minh Cup