HomeNorwegian pro Kai Paulsen made his way coolly to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, sat down at the No Limit Hold ‘em 1 event of the Asian Poker Tour Cambodia 2016, and took control of the heads up round to claim the $3,840 first place purse and the event trophy.
No Limit Hold’em 1 Champion, Kai Danilo Paulsen
The NLH 1 event drew in 33 entries comprised of many players from yesterday’s APT events, including APT Player of Year 2016 front runners Japan’s Iori Yogo and UK’s Samad Razavi. Both of them would fall before reaching a profit unlike Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa who sported the biggest stack for most of the day.
Tsuchikawa continued to rake it in, eliminating Frenchman Demai Anouar and Denmark’s Kristian Faering as the first two casualties of the final table, however his killing spree was put to a big halt when he doubled up USA’s Michael Edward Maas and Australia’s Justin Worth. After two more players hit the rail, it was bubble time, which came and went with Paulsen delivering the punch.
With five players left, Maas began to make his move, eliminating Worth in 5th place and USA’s Ron Tate in 4th place, to amass a fortress of chips. After Paulsen ended Tsuchikawa’s run in 3rd place, it was heads up with Maas holding a 2.5:1 chip advantage against Paulsen. Looking like Maas was headed for a second trophy (Maas won the Ante Up for Charity event), the tides quickly shifted with Paulsen winning two pots, one of which was a big double up with his J♥ 10♣ straight on a board of 9♦ 9♦ 2♥ K♠ Q♠ against Maas’s A♠ 2♠. Shipping in two-thirds of the chips in play, Paulsen claimed two more sizable pots, then sailed on to victory with his K♣ 6♦ two pair on a board of J♥ 7♣ 9♥ K♦ 6♥ dusting Maas’s A♠ Q♠ and denying him a second trophy.
No Limit Hold ‘em 1
Entries: 33
Buy-in: $330
Prize Pool: $9,600
1st Kai Paulsen – Norway – $3840
2nd Michael Edward Maas – USA – $2,400
3rd Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan – $1,440
4th Ron Tate – USA – $1,060
5th Justin Worth – Australia – $860