HomeAnother successful Asian Poker Tour series has come and gone in Vietnam with the APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Championships all wrapped up. The festival ran from July 11 to July 22 featuring two major events and 12 side events. The 499-entry Main Event attendance obliterated the 6BN guarantee generating VND 9,680,600,000, making it the richest live tournament poker prize pool the country has ever seen.
Over the course of the 12 days, the series drew in 2100 entries with 27 countries represented, and a grand prize pool of nearly VND 31 Billion. The APT sends its gratitude to everyone that attended. Thank you for supporting our event here at partner and host venue Pro Poker Club. Congratulations to all the winners! We look forward to seeing you at our next stop – APT Korea Championships 2018 in Incheon.
Below are the festival’s biggest winners and final side event winners.
Dang Xuan Canh – Main Event
Dang Xuan Canh, Main Event champion
Vietnam took command of the Main Event with six of the Final 8 players all from the host country. With the odds stacked to their favor, Dang Xuan Canh closed it out for a huge score of VND 1,636,720,000. This event had a smashing 499 entries for a record-breaking prize pool of VND 9,680,600,000, the largest ever seen in Vietnam’s live tournament history. Dang also won the CoinPoker Last Man Standing promo and was awarded a seat to the APT Korea Championships – Main Event – in Incheon next month.
Cao Ngoc Anh: Championships Event and APT Player of the Series
Cao Ngoc Anh, Championships Event winner
The second featured tournament was also claimed by a local player with Cao Ngoc Anh topping the 213 field of the Championships Event. Cao captured the VND 1,304,030,000 first prize to add to his other four cashes. Due to his stellar performance, Cao accrued the highest number of series points and won the APT Player of the Series race.
Huynh Tan Dung – CoinPoker High Rollers 1
Huynh Tan Dung, CoinPoker High Roller 1 winner
The CoinPoker High Rollers 1 event offered the largest entry fee of the series with a buy-in of VND 107,500,000. There were a total of 28 entries that ponied up for a prize pool of VND 2,716,000,000. Winning the race was Huynh Tan Dung aka Pegasus, claiming a first title for Vietnam and a hefty payout of VND 1,148,140,000.
Huynh nearly landed a second title with a 2nd place finish at the Deep Stack Turbo 1 event won by Yoichi Uesugi. In total, Huynh had three cashes, picking up a small return at the Main Event for 59th place.
Gavin Flynn – Monster Stack and CoinPoker High Rollers 1
Gavin Flynn – Monster Stack champion
Ireland’s Gavin Flynn was the only player to win two events at the series. Flynn topped the 123 field of the opener Monster Stack event then one week later, he ploughed through the 136-entry CoinPoker High Rollers 2 event to overcome one of the largest fields produced by the tour for this particular event. He earned a total of VND 1,128,680,000.
Final Side Event winners
Dong Hyun Kim: NLH Single Day Ante BB 1
Dong Hyun Kim, NLH Ante BB 1 winner
Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim became the first player to win an APT Ante BB tournament. As the newest event in the roster, it pulled 97 entries to the felt, a good start for its debut. With a buy-in of VND 5.5M, the prize pool amounted to VND 470,450,000 of which 17 were paid. Kim earned the lion’s share VND 119,760,000 for his victory. You can watch the Final 8 action in APT Twitch and APT YouTube.
Norbert Koh: Deep Stack Turbo 2
Norbert Koh, Deep Stack Turbo 2 winner
After two runner up finishes – Head Hunter and CoinPoker High Rollers 2 – Singapore’s Norbert Koh was able to close out the Deep Stack Turbo 2 to capture a title at the series. He topped the 64 entry field and pocketed the VND 53,010,000 first prize. His consistent deep runs earned him a combined total of VND 984,720,000.
Richard Balkan: NLH Single Day ANTE BB 2
Richard Balkan bested a field of 74 entries at the second edition of the Ante BB event. He defeated Huynh Van Tan at heads up to win the VND 97,880,000 first place purse and the event trophy. Prize pool for this event was VND 470,450,000
Francis Garson: Deep Stack Hyper Turbo
Francis Garson, Deep Stack Turbo 2 winner
Closing out the festival by snagging the last trophy on the awards table was Francis Garson for his victory at the Deep Stack Hyper Turbo. There were 43 entries for this event for a prize pool of VND 125,130,000. Garson won the lion’s share VND 38,840,000 first prize.
We have video uploads of nearly all the final table action at the series. You can watch those in APT Twitch and APT YouTube. You can also view the festival results in our Event Results page.
Once again, thank you for participating in the APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Championsihps, we had a great time and we hope to see all of you at our next stop – APT Korea Championships in Incheon from August 8 to August 19, 2018.
