HomeTAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – As the old adage goes: It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive. That couldn’t be more true for Israeli national and now Taipei resident Ori Kossonogi as he navigated from entering the final day of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Taiwan 2022 Mystery Bounty (Event #1) being fourth in chips to eventually besting a field of 251 entries to claiming the title at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club) here.
Kossonogi was one of two non-locals who advanced to the 61-strong finale and began grinding his way to the chip lead right before the tournament clock was paused at the ITM Bubble which he eventually breached by sidelining local bet Ying Chang Chen. He remained chip-leader until the Final 8 and never looked back.
Ori Kossonogi (ISR) was at the middle of the action in the Mystery Bounty Final 8
Taiwanese tournament veteran Tsai Shan Guang was his opponent in Heads-Up and after a lengthy duel, the end came when both players went All-in Preflop (AIPF) with Tsai tabling A♦ 2♥ while Kossonogi brandished Q♣ Q♠.
It was Kossonogi (ISR) versus Tsai (TWN) for the Mystery Bounty championship
The board went: K♥ 10♠ 3♠ 4♦ K♣ to give the Israeli his third APT title.
Kossonogi had been crowned champion in the 2019 Monster Stack event and the 2020 NLH all held here in Taiwan.
Kossonogi won his first APT title in the 2019 Taiwan Monster Stack
In addition to the title and the NT$288,000.00 (US$9,079.00) top prize, he also managed to garner seven bounties including one of the three big ones worth NT$109,000.00 (US$3,436.00). In all, Kossonogi got NT$189,500.00 (US$5,973.00) from just the bounties and came away with a total haul of NT$477,500.00 (US$15,049.00). Definitely not bad for less than 48 hours of work.
Kossonogi managed to scoop seven bounties en route to the victory
Tsai picked up NT$192,000.00 (US$6,052.00) for finishing second while Xiang Yi Hong captured third for NT$133,500.00 (US$4,208.00).
Incidentally, the other two NT$109,000.00 (US$3,436.00) went to Tsai and eventual eighth placer Siu Syuan Pu.
8th placer Siu Syuan Pu (TWN) got one of the three Big Bounties of NT$109,000.00
Meanwhile, six players made it to Day 2 of the N$86K (US$2,711.00) Super High-Rollers (Event #2) led by Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Lee. Registration for this event will still be open until the end of the first level of its resumption today (29th September) at 2:00PM (UCT+8). The second day of (Event #3) the NLH competition also reconvenes an hour earlier.
Day 1A of the Main Event also commences with a special NT500.00 (US$16.00) off the buy-in for those who avail of this session. The regular buy-in of NT$16,500.00 (US$520.00) will apply for the remainder of the competition.
Two single-day events also make today particularly busy with (Event #4) the NLH and (Event #5) the NT$27k (US$851.00) High-Rollers as well as another satellite for Day 1B of the Main Event happening at 6:00PM.