HomeThe APT Vietnam Main Event saw a total of 72 entries for Day 1B, and at the end of tournament play, 38 survived the night with Kwan Kit Kwok from Hong Kong sitting on top with 107,825 chips. Riding in his coattails is South African player Marc Joseph, winner of the APT Vietnam Welcome event, with 105,750 chips. Kwok and Joseph were the only two players in both Day 1 flights to cross the six-digit chip mark. (Ironically, the top two qualifiers from Day 1A were also from Hong Kong and South Africa.)
Kwan Kit Kwok and Marc Joseph
The day began with Kwok staking an early run, clearly dominating his table and collecting many small pots. His early work paid off when he won a hefty pot against Samad Razavi late in the first level. Kwok scooped nearly 10,000 worth of chips without a showdown. From that moment forward, we kept a close eye on him as he continued to increase his stack. In the fourth hour, he bagged a 7,000 pot, plus Alex Stapfer’s remaining chips to bring his stack well over 70,000. At this point, he became the overwhelming chip leader.
A couple of hours later, Kwok claimed a massive one, a pot of around 27,000 when his A♦ J♦ landed a backdoor nut flush against A♠ K♠ top two pair on a board of A♣ 6♦ 10♠ 3♦ K♦. For details on some of Kwok’s hands, head to the Live Reporting section.
Right behind Kwok is Joseph whose stack fluctuated quite a bit throughout the day but never below 40,000. He eventually landed two big pots late in the game with the first one against Anthony Joseph Hope. Hope held pocket queens against his A-K, and in classic fashion, he won the coin toss when both of his cards mirrored on the board. Shortly after, he seized a pot of around 18,000 to claim the overall second-in-command position.
Congratulations to all the qualifiers!
We will return tomorrow for Day 2 action with a combined 60 players gunning for a berth at the final table. Full list of chip counts can be viewed in the Live Reporting section.