HomeAPT Vietnam 2018 wrapped up another starting day with 140 entries turning up at Pro Poker Club for the VND 6 Billion Guaranteed – MAIN EVENT. By the end of the scheduled nine rounds, only 52 remained with India’s 2018 WSOP bracelet winner Nikita Luther amassing the largest stack of 422,300.
Nikita Luther
One of the final hands Luther won was against Josh McCully. On a board of 5♣ 8♠ 8♥ Q♣ 6♣, and a pot of around 13k in the middle, McCully bet 16.8k, Luther raised enough to put the short-stacked McCully all in. McCully tanked until the clock was called. He timed out and was forced to muck.
Earning the second largest stack of the day was APT Finale Macau 2016 Main Event winner, Soo Jo Kim with 365,700.
Soo Jo Kim
And rounding out the top three was Vietnam’s own Quang Nguyen with 301,100.
Quang Nguyen
Several Japanese players made it through this heat with Aso Seitaro leading his crew with 257,400.
Aso Seitaro
However for fellow compatriot Takao Shimizu, he got hit with a sick bad beat to send him packing just before the close of day. Shimizu had K♦ K♥ and was up against I-Cheng Lin‘s 2♣ 2♠. The board completed to an eye-popping 2♥ 10♦ 8♦ K♣ 2♣ for quads over full house.
Takao Shimizu being consoled by Tetsuya Enoki
Staging a late-game run was Indian pro Raghav Bansal ending the day with 152,800. Bansal pushed out big-stacked Seitaro off a pot, shoving on a board 6♦ 3♦ 4♠ 8♠. Seitaro folded and showed 4♦ 7♦ and Bansal returned the gesture showing Q♥ 10♦. Bansal won the next hand by railing a player with 2♦ 2♥ improving to a set against A♦ Q♣ top pair on a board that ran 9♦ 2♣ A♥ J♥ K♠.
Also through to the next round is Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen though with a short stack of 30,400. Tollefsen is a two-time APT Main Event champion.
Henrik Tollefsen
Day 1B survivors have a break before moving on to Day 2 on Tuesday, October 9, 2018.
Day 1B Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Nikita Luther | India | 422,300 |
| 2 | SJ Kim | Korea | 365,700 |
| 3 | Quang Nguyen | Vietnam | 301,100 |
| 4 | Luong Anh Tuan | Vietnam | 272,500 |
| 5 | Seitaro Aso | Japan | 257,400 |
| 6 | Charles (Joe) Ambrogi | USA | 247,000 |
| 7 | Hai Chout | Vietnam | 245,300 |
| 8 | Tan Eu Shen | Malaysia | 240,400 |
| 9 | Oliver Helm | New Zealand | 225,600 |
| 10 | Shashank Jain | India | 213,600 |
| 11 | I-Cheng Lin | Taiwan | 203,100 |
| 12 | Michele Limongi | Italy | 199,900 |
| 13 | Tetsuya Enoki | Japan | 198,900 |
| 14 | Nam Nguyen | Vietnam | 185,200 |
| 15 | Ying Lin Chua | Malaysia | 178,700 |
| 16 | Benedict Koh | Singapore | 164,600 |
| 17 | Romit Advani | India | 154,800 |
| 18 | Raghav Bansal | India | 152,800 |
| 19 | Hieu Ngo | Vietnam | 151,300 |
| 20 | Ruth Graham | USA | 143,000 |
| 21 | Dang Toan Nguyen | Netherlands | 136,400 |
| 22 | Thananat Therdtakoonrat | Thailand | 129,700 |
| 23 | Fungi (Nguyen Phuong) | Switzerland | 126,400 |
| 24 | Wu Kui Song | China | 125,800 |
| 25 | Markus Garberg | Norway | 125,600 |
| 26 | Eric Ting-Yi Tsai | Taiwan | 124,900 |
| 27 | Nguyen Nam Duong | Vietnam | 120,900 |
| 28 | Mike Stecker | USA | 120,200 |
| 29 | Nguyen Thinh | Vietnam | 105,300 |
| 30 | Andre Peters | Germany | 102,000 |
| 31 | Aigars P | Latvia | 90,300 |
| 32 | Orjan Skommo | Norway | 90,000 |
| 33 | Baek Woon Cheol | Korea | 80,200 |
| 34 | Shi Geho Yoshioka | Japan | 80,000 |
| 35 | Peter Yo Jen | Taiwan | 79,300 |
| 36 | Norbert Koh | Singapore | 73,400 |
| 37 | Kiell Oe Dyb | Norway | 70,600 |
| 38 | Choo Kai Jan | Taiwan | 63,500 |
| 39 | Cho Ngoc Anh | Vietnam | 61,100 |
| 40 | Dylan Wilkerson | USA | 61,000 |
| 41 | Eugene Co | Philippines | 60,000 |
| 42 | Aysee Nguyen | Vietnam | 56,400 |
| 43 | Vu Manh Phong | Vietnam | 55,200 |
| 44 | Son Putin | Vietnam | 50,000 |
| 45 | Hieu Duong | Vietnam | 42,000 |
| 46 | Henry Tollefsen | Norway | 30,400 |
| 47 | Wei Chong Yin | Taiwan | 29,900 |
| 48 | Josh McCully | Australia | 21,800 |
| 49 | Daniel Smith | New Zealand | 20,900 |
| 50 | Chen Wei Hsun | Taiwan | 19,700 |
| 51 | Yohn Paredes | Peru | 16,100 |
| 52 | Eummi Kwon | Korea | 11,800 |
MAIN EVENT action continues with Day 1C kicking off on Monday, October 8, 2018. Buy-in is VND 22,000,000. This is the last starting day of the event. For first-timers, this event is equipped with one of the best structures in the region. You can review it here: Main Event structure
Schedule below:
Day 1A: Saturday, October 6 – 38 out of 95 entries advanced to Day 2
Day 1B: Sunday, October 7 – 52 out of 140 entries advanced to Day 2
Day 1C: Monday, October 8 @1pm
*The three starting days play a total of 9 levels. Each level runs for 60 minutes. Registration closes in Day 2 at the start of Level 10.
Day 2: Tuesday, October 9 @1pm
Day 3: Wednesday, October 10 @1pm
Final 8: Thursday, October 11 @130pm
Main Event Bubble Protection continues to be in effect. For those new to this promo, it is a great insurance policy in the event you find yourself short stacked during the bubble round. If a protected player busts on the bubble, that player will receive their buy-in back in the form of APT tournament credits. To be eligible, all you need to do is follow these three simple steps:
- Pre-register
- Draw for your seat before the starting time
- Have your chips put into play on the first deal of Level 1
*Eliminated players wanting bubble protection on the next starting day will have to qualify again.
CoinPoker Main Event promos
APT sponsor, CoinPoker, will also be extending great promos to our Main Event players. Players can receive their full rake back by simply emailing CoinPoker with a copy of your receipt. You will be credited on your CoinPoker online account. There is also the”Last Man Standing” promo. The last player in the Main Event wearing the CoinPoker patch will receive a free seat to the APT Finale Philippines 2018 Main Event.
Side Event action
Feng Zhao wins the NLH Single Day event
Singapore’s Feng Zhao came out on top of the lone side event on tap, the NLH Single Day event. He defeated Thailand’s Thanisorn Saelor in a quick three-hand heads up match to ship in the VND 135,630,000.
Feng Zhao, NLH Single Day champion
The event stormed in with 113 runners – 92 players and 21 re-entries – for a prize pool of VND 548,050,000. With blinds increasing every 20 minutes, the field quickly tightened to the bubble round with 20 players vying for a piece of the pie. After several all ins, Julien Tran shut the door on a player with A♣ Q♣ forming the better spread over K♠ Q♠ on a blank board of 5♥ 8♣ 4♠ 8♠ 6♦.
Bubble round
Tran went on to reach the official Final 8.
The last race to the title proceeded in turbo speed with a player falling at every orbit. At four remaining, Erik Billgren spiked a lucky flush on the river to cripple down Tran. The hand was K♥ J♥ versus Q♦ Q♣ with the board running 8♥ 3♣ J♠ Q♥ 2♥. A few hands after, Tran exited in 4th place.
Julien Tran
Despite the stack boost, Billgren was downed in 3rd place by Zhao who went on to face Saelor for the title.
Heads up: Feng Zhao versus Thanisorn Saelor
Zhao had a 3:1 chip edge that when he lost the first hand K♦ 3♦ bested by A♦ 8♥, he was still up after paying the double up. The second hand between them was another all in ending in a split pot. The third hand was the final hand. Saelor shoved with K♦ 10♥ and Zhao called with A♣ 9♣. The community spread landed A♠ J♠ 4♥ K♠ 9♦ to award Zhao the victory.
Payouts
Prizepool: VND 548,050,000 – Buyin: VND 5,500,000 – Entries: 113 – ITM: 19 places
1st Feng Zhao – VND 135,630,000
2nd Thanisorn Saelor – VND 90,440,000
3rd Erik Billgren – VND 63,140,000
4th Julien Tran – VND 45,960,000
5th Go Mori – VND 34,740,000
6th Tzu Chieh Lo – VND 27,150,000
7th Nguyen Duy Anh – VND 21,870,000
8th Munray – VND 18,090,000
9th Mr Kajornnut – VND 15,320,000
10th Tan Le – VND 13,090,000
11th Natalie Teh – VND 11,190,000
12th Tran Van Cuong – VND 11,190,000
13th Janlauver Buch – VND 9,570,000
14th Phan Tuan Vinh – VND 9,570,000
15th Hung Sheng Lin – VND 9,570,000
16th Andreas Rauh – VND 8,180,000
17th Jonathan Lool Tek Wye – VND 8,180,000
18th Tadashi Ogawa – VND 8,180,000
19th Ken Heung Chun Kong – VND 6,990,000
Full APT Vietnam 2018 schedule