HomeDay 1A of the APT Vietnam Main Event ended with 22 players qualifying into Day 2. Chip leader was Hong Kong player David Steicke with 97,800. Hendrik Appel from South Aftrica is running second-in-chips with 92,900. See you all tomorrow for Day 1B!
Just before the final hand of the evening, Robert Birss and Yi Tong Yang faced off in a pot that ran to the end with a board showing 2♦ 9♠ 7♠ A♠ 2♠. Yang placed a fairly big bet in front of him to which Birss reacted with an open show of his hand 7♣ 7♦, (debatable of whether he intended to fold or not), however he had not stated his action and the dealer had not mucked his cards. A player then noticed that Birss had a full house and the Tournament Director Lloyd Fontillas was called to rule on whether the hand was an automatic fold or if it was still live.
Fontillas ruled that the hand was still live and that Birss still had yet to act. Birss called and won the hand against Yang’s K♦ K♠ nut flush. Additionally, Birss received an 8-hand penalty for showing his cards prior to stating his intended action.
The two big stacks Casey Kastle and David Steicke battled it out with a lot of quiet intensity at the felt. Kastle kicked it off with a raise to 1200 from mid position and was called by the player to his immediate left, Hendrik Appel, and Steicke on the button. At the flop of 3♥ 6♦ 9♠, Kastle led out for 2900, Appel folded, then Steicke raised it to make it a hefty 8200. Kastle called. At the turn of 2♦, both players silently checked to each other. Then on the river of J♠, Kastle laid out 15000 which was good enough to claim the pot as Steicke folded.
Although we weren’t at the table when this hand happened, the players involved we’re more than happy to share what went down. It began with Tien Pham raising it up from utg position, called by Robert Birss, then three-bet by the next player. Action then folded around the table back to Pham and Birss who both called.
Here’s where things get crazy. The flop landed 3-9-10. Unclear at this point on how the betting transpired however it led to Pham and Birss getting aggressive and eventually both were all in while the other player in the hand folded. At the showdown, Pham had pocket threes for a set while Birss had 8-9 clubs for mid-pair. Clearly looking to scoop this pot, Pham watched as the turn landed and 8 giving Birss two pair, then with a river of 9, Birss stunningly stole the pot with a higher full house than Pham. Crazy hand, runner-runner full house. That’s poker for ya!
Incidentally, we were told that the player who folded had pocket jacks.
With a board showing 8♦ 2♥ J♥, James Anderson called a post-flop bet of 2625 by a player in early position but then faced a raise to 8200 by Jerwin Pasco. The initial bettor folded and Anderson moved all in. Pasco snap-called, saying after the hand that he was already pot committed. At the showdown, Anderson had A♣ 8♣ mid pair which was slightly ahead of Pasco’s A♥ 3♥ nut flush draw. With the turn of 9♥, that sealed the deal and Anderson was drawing dead to Pasco’s nut flush.
Pre-flop raise wars are pretty intense and when they end without a showdown, it is always a mystery what was behind those hole cards. In one such hand, Marc Joseph limped in then Tien Pham raised to 1000, followed by Yi Tong Yang with a 2500 three-bet from the hijack seat. Action wasn’t over yet with Danish player Bastian Blumenroether on the big blind four-betting to make it 6100 to go. With that bet, everyone quickly folded and Blumenroether won the hand.
Sunny Zhang got some good action and a sizable pot at the table that began with his raise to 1000 and was called by three players. At the flop of 8♣ A♦ 2♦, Zhang continued with a 2500 bet and was called by one player, Tien Pham. On the turn of J♣, both checked to see a free river of Q♣ land on the board. Zhang bet 5300 and after a few minutes of tanking, Pham folded giving Zhang a nice pile to add to his stack.
Coming into the seventh hour as the chip leader, David Steicke continued to increase his lead by taking down a few more pots which then led to the demise of Lester Edoc. In a hand between the two, a pot of 3900 was already in the middle of the felt when the board ran 10♣ 7♠ 2♣. Edoc led out for 1600 and Steicke flat-called. On the turn of A♥, Edoc continued and slid out a yellow chip worth 5000. Steicke pondered a bit then doubled it up to 10000 sending Edoc into a bit of pondering as well. Edoc decided to relinquish his hand.
A few hands later, Steicke raised it up to 900 from the utg+1 seat and found a caller in Casey Kastle sitting in the cutoff seat. When action reached Edoc on the big blind, he three-bet to 4500 sending the action back to Steicke. Steicke was not going anywhere and he four-bet to 8200 which caused a fold in Kastle. Edoc wasted no time and pushed all his chips in the middle. Steicke quick-called. Here’s how it went down:
Edoc: A♦ K♥
Steicke: K♠ K♦
With the board running blanks for Edoc, 3♠ Q♣ 4♦ 5♦ 10♠, Edoc was eliminated and Steicke’s stack grew to around 88000.
We are currently on a dinner break. We will be right back.
Chip Leaders:
David Steicke 71,000
Casey Kastle 69,000