HomeDay 3 of the inaugural APT Vietnam Phu Quoc – MAIN EVENT – clocked in at nine hours before the field trimmed from 47 players to the Final 8. Vietnamese pro Cao Ngoc Anh knocked out Slovenia’s Mitja Kun to signal the end of day. You can read up on the day’s action via our Live Updates or read on for the recap down below.
Cao Ngoc Anh
Coming final day, Vietnam will be favored to win with five out of the final 8 players from the home country. Cao is most decorated having won an APT Vietnam HCMC Championships title back in 2018. As chip leader, he is in prime form to clinch it. If he does, he will join the shortlist of 7 players that have won two or more APT majors.
Here are the final 8. They will battle it out for the first ever APT Main Event title in Phu Quoc and of course for the VN₫ 1,220,590,000 (~US$ 53,390) top prize.
| Cao Ngoc Anh | Vietnam | 2,285,000 |
| Truong Vu Tran Khanh | Vietnam | 2,155,000 |
| Hue Dang | Vietnam | 1,295,000 |
| Nguyen Quang Huy | Vietnam | 1,110,000 |
| Benjamin Schoepfer | Thailand | 875,000 |
| Tan Tong | Singapore | 630,000 |
| Minh A. Nguyen | Vietnam | 560,000 |
| Jules Blondel | France | 500,000 |
Chips in play: 9,410,000
Average stack: 1,176,250
Final Day opening blinds: 15K – 30K (Level 26)
Game time: 1230pm on Sunday, April 17
Remaining payouts
1st VN₫ 1,220,590,000
2nd VN₫ 813,710,000
3rd VN₫ 565,660,000
4th VN₫ 408,590,000
5th VN₫ 305,570,000
6th VN₫ 233,840,0000
7th VN₫ 187270,000
8th VN₫ 152,680,000
Main Event – Day 3 recap
The Main Event drew 378 entries to smash the guarantee for a richer VN₫ 5,499,900,000 (~US$ 240,160) prize pool. Day 3 kicked off with 47 players returning which was just nine spots from the money. Local player Hue Dang carried in the biggest stack and maintained it throughout to reach the final table.
Hue Dang
Within the first two levels, Day 1A chip leader Joseph Talamayan was knocked out by Day 1C chip leader Truong Vu Tran Khanh. It was all in preflop with Talamayan’s inferior pair improving to a set. However, the runner runner burned his hopes as it gave Truong a higher full house. Truong went on to reach the final table but not before tabling a couple of more big hands. Before we get to that, the bubble burst on Malaysia’s Jason Lee with J♣ J♥ outdrawn by Pham Duy Tien‘s A♠ J♠ ace on the flop.
Truong Vu Tran Khanh
With the money intact, short stacks tumbled. Among the list of ugly beats and big takedowns was the fall of Minami Keita in 35th place. Keita’s A♦ Q♠ was beaten by Trieu Hai Nam‘s A♠ 9♥ straight on a board 8♥ 2♠ 10♠ Q♦ J♣. During the fifth hour, Dang shipped all of Tom Pham‘s stack with 9♣ 9♠ set over mid pair. This sent her stack soaring to become the first player to reach a million in chips.
Down to two tables, Dang emptied out Day 1B chip leader Pham Dat with pocket Queens besting pocket Jacks. At the other table, Cao was busy grinding down his tablemates when he gambled on a flush draw that missed to pay Jules Blondel a huge double up. The shoves were at the flop, Blondel had top two pair that held.
Florencio Campomanes
Leading up to the final table, Florencio Campomanes drove his stack north into seven digits but three costly hands sent him crashing down and eventually out in 14th place. Truong became the first player to reach 2 million when he railed Trieu Hai Nam with a set of Nines. To form the unofficial final table of nine, Hong Kong’s Yik Ray Chiu was outdrawn by Benjamin Schoepfer to drop below 10 BB. Truong took the rest with A♦ K♠ dominating Q♥ 10♠.
The race to the final 8 saw just a handful of hands. Truong stunned the table after going toe-to-toe with the aggressor Blondel then calling with just King-high that was surprisingly the winning hand. On the next showdown, it was all over. Cao K♦ K♠ set eliminated Kun A♦ K♠ top pair on a board 5♣ K♥ 10♦ 9♥ 4♣. This boosted Cao to 2,285,000 which was just enough to overtake Truong for the top spot.
Day 1 results
Day 1B results
Day 1C results
Day 2 recap
Main Event results