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The action has truly peaked at the second edition of World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam that is well underway at the Pro Poker Club in Ho Chih Minh City. Moving towards its second week, the 15-event series has crossed the halfway mark, building up anticipation for the Main Event that kicked off today.
Grabbing the spotlight was the Super High Roller that was scheduled to make a two-day run but needed an extra day. Topping the 61-strong field (includes 49 unique players and 12 re-entries) was Wayne Heung who took down the event for a hefty VND 2,002,310,000 (₹59.55 Lakhs) payday.
Indian challenger Kalyan Chakravarthy is making quite a reputation for himself for his deep High Roller finishes. Chakravarthy, who shipped the ₹100K High Roller at the 2018 WPT India for ₹37.53 Lakhs back in November was once again in the thick of action at the Super High Roller. Chakravarthy was fourth in chips amidst the final 19 survivors who made it to the final day but missed out on winning another WPT title with an eighth-place finish worth VND 200,230,000 (₹5.91 Lakhs) as consolation.
In the other side events, Event #6 – Short Deck Hold ‘em was won by Macaron Tran for VND 202,490,000 (₹6.02 Lakhs) while Event #7 – Deepstack Turbo was taken down by Hong Kong’s Pang Choyi Joey who reached a heads-up deal with Duy Ho to claim the winner’s cheque of VND 15,52,20,000 (₹4.61 Lakhs).
Also seen making a deep run in the Deepstack Turbo was India’s Praveen Kumar who sailed into the final table and earned an eighth-place payout of VND 2,06,80,000 (₹61,505).
Playing out today was the first starting flight of the WPT Vietnam VND 8 Billion GTD (₹2,38,79,508) Main Event that features a buy-in of 25M VND (₹74,623).
Meanwhile, the field in the PLO 2-Day event has now whittled down to the final nine players. Terry Gonzaga (575,000) leads the pack while Kok Wai Sim (215,000) and Chenxin Yu (151,000) round up the top three stacks heading into the final table.
Wayne Heung Wins Event #5 – Super High Rollers
With each player ponying up VND 100 Million, the Super High Rollers saw a prize pool collection of VND 5,561,980,000 (₹1,65,42,133) from 61 entries (includes 12 re-entries). The event attracted many seasoned pros including Marvin Rettenmaier, Danny Tang, Lim Yohwan, Kilian Loeffler and Kannapong Thanarattrakul to the field – and all of them made it to Day 2, but none among them managed to make it as far as rge final table. Since only the top eight spots were to earn payouts, many had to return empty-handed.
Team India’s Kalyan Chakravarthy was seen gunning with fervor in the event. Chakravarthy carried an impressive stack of 1,085,000 to the final day among the 18 other finalists and eventually finished in eighth place for VND 200,230,000 (₹5.91 Lakhs).
It took nearly three hours of play for the bubble to burst, and once the money was reached, the final table was redrawn.
Final Table Recap
Once the action began on the final table, it took an additional two hours before the event was down to its last six players. Indian challenger Kalyan Chakravarthy was the first player to bust in eighth place and following suit in seventh place was Fei Han.
At this point, Wai Kiat Lee earned a big double up with his over Heung’s on a runout.
Natalie Teh who was chip leading at one point lost her chances in sixth place, and hitting the rail next was Swen Joakim Andersson who bowed out in fifth place.
Four-handed, the play was halted just before midnight and the final four players bagged up for the final day. Heung was leading the way with 5,975,000 in chips.
Final Day Chip Counts
Final Day Recap
Vietnam’s Vi Duc Trung was the first to fall on the final day, in fourth place. After his elimination, the remaining three players discussed the possibility of a deal but couldn’t reach an agreement and play resumed.
Phachara Wongwichit who is a regular on the Asian circuit was sent packing out in third place, paving the way for the heads-up match between Lee Wai Kiat and Heung.
Heung held a big chip advantage and continued to pick pots widening the gap between him and Kia from two-to-one to five-to-one till the final hand was dealt where Lee moved all in with , and Heung called off with . The board ran and Heung won it all! Along with a WPT title, he took home the biggest payout of the series thus far.
Final Table Results (VND)
Event #6 – Short Deck Hold ‘em
The only short-deck tournament of the ongoing series, the sixth event, i.e., Short Deck Hold ‘em featured a buy-in of VND 7,700,000 (₹22900) and found 94 entries – 58 unique players and 36 re-entries converging on the felts. The top 12 finishers earned a share of the VND 638,260,000 (₹18,98,277) prize pool. Macaron Tran captured the title after a heated heads-up battle with Andy Li Xueyan.
Only the final 12 finishers could return with payouts with a min-cash worth VND 15,970,000. The final hand between Tran and Xueyan saw both players moving all in on the flop . Tran held versus Xueyan’s . The turn and the river completed the board bringing a full house and the title for Tran.
Final Table Results (VND)
Event #7 – Deepstack Turbo
The VND 5,500,000 (₹16,357) buy-in Deepstack Turbo attracted a total of 103 entries (includes 11 re-entries) and culminated with Hong Kong’s Pang Choyi Joey claiming the winner’s seat and VND 15,52,20,000 (₹4.61 Lakhs) in prize money following a heads-up deal with Duy Ho.
Indian challenger Praveen Kumar also final-tabled the event and earned an eighth-place finish worth VND 2,06,80,000 (₹61,505).
A prize pool of VND 599,460,000 was generated and the top 13 places earned at least VND 14,990,000. Liu Shiqiao (10th for VND 16,490,000) ended up as the final table bubble boy.
Joey entered the heads-up finale against Ho in the lead, but Ho surged ahead in a hand where his ace-three flopped bottom pair dominating over Joey’s ace-jack. Joey, however, took it all back and the lead in subsequent hands. In the final hand, Ho held against Joey’s . The board ran and Joey was declared the champion!
Final Table Results (VND)
Content & Images Courtesy: Danny McDonagh, World Poker Tour & So Much Poker
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