HomeFrom what started as 499 entries is now down to the Final 8 players!
Good morning everyone and welcome to another day of poker festivities at the APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Championships here at Pro Poker Club. Today is going to be an incredibly exciting day with a new APT champion due to be crowned.
The past five days saw 370 players pony up the VND 22,000,000 entry fee, the largest Main Event buy-in seen in Vietnam. With an additional 129 re-entering, the 499 total entries produced a smashing VND 9,680,600,000 prize pool. This is officially the largest prize pool in Vietnam live tournament poker history with the APT breaking its own record set back in January.
With 84 places paid, small cuts of the pot have already been claimed however today is what the race is all about. For the eventual winner comes the APT Main Event Trophy, the APT Championship Ring, and the enormous VND 1,636,720,000 first prize. Who will emerge victorious? We shall find out later today. For now, let’s meet the Final 8 players of the Main Event.
Main Event Final 8 players
Seat 1: Minh Le – Vietnam – 1,150,000
Seat 2: Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – 1,665,000
Seat 3: Le Duc Anh – Vietnam – 320,000
Seat 4: Dang Xuan Canh – Vietnam – 2,490,000
Seat 5: Lien Kang Feng – Taiwan – 1,195,000
Seat 6: Hai Chuot – Vietnam – 1,675,000
Seat 7: Tran Duc Phuong – Vietnam – 1,145,000
Seat 8: Tzu Chieh Lo – Taiwan – 2,810,000 (chip leader)
Yesterday’s race to the Final 8 saw the last 53 Main Event runners on the felt. After nearly 12 hours, the grueling day came to a close with Nguyen Hoanh Trang knocked out in 9th place. On the opposite end was Tzu Chieh Lo, sitting atop the Final 8 players with the mightiest stack of 2,810,000.
Tzu Chieh Lo
Lo’s rise to the leader’s seat wasn’t a story of knockouts and monstrous pots, instead, his was a series of successful grinds. He earned a few sizable pots during the unofficial final table of ten players including a big one for his straight holding Q♥ 10♠ on a board of 7♥ K♦ 9♥ 6♥ J♦.
Closing Day 3 in second command was Dang Xuan Canh with 2,490,000. Dang had a roller coaster day, with a plethora of extreme spikes to put him in danger of elimination several times.
Dang Xuan Canh
To reach the final 8, Dang railed several key players. He eliminated the day’s entering chip leader, Nguyen Van Dung in 15th place, Nguyen Thanh Nha in 11th place, then later denied the last remaining APT Main Event champion in the lineup, Choong Kian Weng, knocking him out in 10th place.
Our third-ranked finalist is Hai Chuot who shipped in one of the biggest pots of the day after railing Oeystein Nordii in 12th place. On a board of 5♦ 9♠ Q♦ 2♠, Nordii shoved with A♦ J♦ draw and Chuot tank-called with 10♦ 10♥. The river 3♠ completed the board. It is also worth mentioning that Chuot nearly dropped out with three tables still running but his J-J landed a runner-runner quads to double up through Q-Q. Chuot closed Day 3 in third rank with 1,675,000.
Vu Duc Trung
For Vu Duc Trung, he was one of the contributors to Lo’s late-game rise. This put a sizable dent on his stack however he managed to recover with a double up through Weng before Weng dropped out. To finish in fourth rank, Trung railed Trang in 9th place to bag up 1,665,000.
Lien Kang Feng
The bottom half consists of players all below average stacks. Leading the lower rung is Lien Kang Feng. Lien steamrolled one of the final two tables. He chunked down Johannes Felix Hoeld without a showdown, booted Devesh Thapar in 13th place, and then exposed Minh Le’s bluff to bring in a sizabe stack to the final ten. He sits with 1,195,000.
Minh Le
Next down the line is Minh Le with 1,150,000.
Tran Duc Phuong
Tran Duc Phuong in 7th rank with 1,145,000. Tran delivered one of the most crushing defeats at the table. He shaved down Son Putin’s very big stack with A♦ A♣ over K♦ K♥ to briefly claim the chip lead. Son couldn’t recover while Tran went on to secure a Final 8 seat.
Le Duc Anh
And to complete the Final 8 is Le Duc Anh with 320,000.
All of these players are hunting down their first major APT title. Among the contenders are five players vying for the CoinPoker Last Man Standing prize of one Main Event seat to the upcoming APT Korea Championships in Incheon.
Players will be happy to know that there will be a rollback to blinds 25000-50000 ante 5000. Average stack is 1,556,900 with 12,455,500 total chips in play. Action begins at 130PM.
You can also watch the Final 8 race in your own home as we stream it live (30-minute delay) on APT Twitch and APT YouTube. If you are in the area, then head to Pro Poker Club to watch the action live and play some poker while there.
You can read up on the thrilling Day 3 action in the Live Updates.