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Filipino player Vamerdino Magsakay overcame a deficit at the final table to be crowned the Asian Poker Tour‘s newest Main Event champion. Magsakay entered the Final 8 running second from the bottom, held on to reach heads up against Nguyen Quang Huy, then bested him after a swinging battle. Congratulations to the champ! Magsakay captured his first ever Main Event title, the APT Main Event Trophy, APT Championship Ring, and a career high payout of VN₫ 1,986,320,000 (~US$ 84,685).
“I feel great. This was my first Main Event win. I was third place in the Philippines before and this time I won it so I am very happy. At Day 2, I had a set of nines and I folded (hand report). The player had a straight. If I didn’t fold, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
When asked who he felt was his strongest opponent, “Mr X was the toughest because he always hits something on the board. It was hard to play him because he was very lucky.”
Dates: July 14 to 19
Buy in: VN₫ 22,000,000 (~US$ 940)
Guarantee: VN₫ 5,000,000,000
Total entries: 487
Prize pool: VN₫ 9,447,800,000 (~US$ 402,800)
ITM: 49 places
Final table payouts
Main Event recap
The APT Summer Festival Hanoi – MAIN EVENT – got underway on July 14 and on its sixth day, the Final 8 players raced to seize the first APT major title at the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP).
Main Event -Final 8
It wasn’t just cards flying from the get-go but chips as well that within the first twenty minutes, Nguyen Doan Trung Hieu aka Pickle Rick was sent packing in 8th place. Hieu entered the day at bottom rank with 18 BB and dwindled down to 9 BB when he risked it all on 8♦ 8♣. Nguyen Quang Huy called with A♣ J♠ and shipped it when a jack found the board.
Nguyen Vu Cuong, Dang Thanh Luong, Dao Minh Phu
Leading up to the next bust, massive chip leader Dao Minh Phu dragged in pot after pot with players mostly folding to his flop and turn bets. This sent Phu’s stack swelling to over half the chips in play. Not the case for Dang Thanh Luong aka Victor EM who dropped to 6 BB after losing a big chunk to Huy with 6♣ 6♠ behind A♥ 6♥ flush on a board 8♥ 5♦ 3♥ 5♥ K♣. Huy shot up to second rank while Dang soon lost the rest to Dao in 7th place. The next all in called hand saw Vamerdino Magsakay double up through Tommy Nguyen with Ace-King dominating Ace-Jack. This sent Tommy Nguyen plunging to 7 BB which went to Nguyen Vu Cuong with 10♥ 10♠ staying ahead of Ace-King.
Dao Minh Phu
The following hour was rough on Phu losing three shoves. He first paid a double up to Ankit Jajodia when his K♥ 7♥ top pair was dusted by pocket A♦ A♠. The shoves were at the flop of a board that completed 7♣ 3♣ 4♥ A♣ Q♠. The second was to Magsakay with A♦ Q♣ top pair losing to 4♦ 4♠ set. The third cost him the chip lead when his K♣ J♣ straight was behind Huy’s Q♦ Q♥ full house on a board of Q♠ 10♠ A♥ A♠ 3♥. The shoves were seen on the turn. Phu recovered some of the lost chips when he jammed on a board A♠ 9♠ 8♦ 3♣. This was the first time he was at risk at the final table. He won the pot with Huy folding. The hour ended with Cuong falling in 5th place. He shoved with A♣ 4♥ and failed to improve against Huy’s A♠ 10♠.
Vamerdino Magsakay, Nguyen Vu Cuong
At four-handed Phu’s troubles returned. He was caught bluffing by Magsakay then later pushed his 30 BB stack from utg with K♣ 3♠ that was snap-called by sb Huy with A♣ 10♥. Though not needed, a Ten landed on the river to end Phu’s run abruptly in 4th place.
Ankit Jajodia
The win gave Huy a towering lead against Jajodia and Magsakay. Out of the 11.9 million chips in play, Huy had 10M. The shortest stacked Jajodia quickly doubled up through Huy but on his next showdown, he was eliminated by Magsakay in a battle of the blinds. Magsakay’s 5♥ 2♥ improved to trips Fives on the flop against Jajodia’s 10♦ 8♠ top pair 5♦ 8♣ 5♣. The bets led to shoves, the turn 7♠ and river 7♥ didn’t help Jajodia to exit in 3rd place.
Heads up – Vamerdino Magsakay, Nguyen Quang Huy
Heads up kicked off with both players very deep. Huy ahead 91 BB to Magsakay’s 59 BB. As it progressed, Magsakay grinded to even then overtook, at one point building a 2.5:1 advantage. The counts switched again in a hand that left Magsakay in disbelief. On a flop 5♣ K♣ K♦, Magsakay bet his K♥ 4♥ trips and Huy called with 8♦ 8♥. On the turn Q♠, Magsakay laid out an even larger bet, costing Huy a third of his stack, he tank-called. On the river 8♣ Huy completed his two-outer full house and shoved, Magsakay check-called.
Ahead 3:1 again, Huy still could not close it out. Magsakay once again grinded, taking him two hours before evening up. He surged ahead with 9♦ 5♠ two pair calling Huy’s river bluff bet. From there, he kept a tight grip on the lead and in just twenty minutes, the final hand came down. It was all in preflop with Huy 8♣ 8♠ outdrawn by Magsakay’s A♥ 7♥ on a board that ran J♦ 3♦ A♠ 7♣ 6♠.