HomeIt was an action-packed poker playground at Day 2 of the APT Cambodia 2016 Main Event with stacks swinging up and down and all around the merry-go-round at the Queenco Hotel & Casino at Sihanoukville, Cambodia. At the onset, there were 29 players who returned to the poker arena, but when the cards were in the air, many hit the dust quick. By the end of regulation play, only eight players remained with Frenchman Stephane Carrier bagging up the largest stack of 266,500 chips.
Main Event Final Day Chip Leader, Carrier Stophane
Surviving the day was no easy task for the final eight players. The day began with players many busting out left and right that at every turn, there seemed to be a player falling to the wayside. Canada’s Jordan Lande delivered a double whammy, eliminating both Peru’s Yohn Paredes and Australia’s Justin Worth simultaneously. Frenchman Yoann Gimenez was given the boot by day 2’s entering chip leader, Englishman Dylan Gibson whose pocket aces overtook Gimenez’s flopped two pair when an ace showed up on the turn; Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa eliminated Frenchman Fabien Parisel; Vietnam’s Tien Quyet Pham burned out the only Russian in the field, Iksanov Ayrat; and Australia’s Daniel Tan built up a massive stack after claiming numerous pots including all of Norwegian Kai Paulsen’s chips.
The day continued with Vietnam’s Ancle on the move, earning a big pot against Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon with his straight besting two pair. Several hands later, Falcon met his demise at the hands of Stophane. Vietnam’s Le Ngoc Khanh also picked up momentum, grinding his way upward and then eliminating Tsuchikawa. Singaporean Eugene Lin Weiquan finished off Germany’s Bastian Blumenrother, while UK’s Samad Razavi avoided elimination when he cracked Lande’s A♥ A♦ with his J♥ J♣ hitting a set.
With all this action happening, sitting in the corner was Tan, quietly amassing more chips with hardly a showdown. On the other end of the spectrum was Razavi whose pocket jacks couldn’t make a repeat set performance instead doubled up Japan’s Takahashi Hirukawa who held pocket aces. Razavi would eventually land bullets of his own and in turn would earn a double up.
Then a big switch up took place. Khanh was all in with pocket tens against Tan with pocket jacks. The board ran Q♥ 8♥ A♣ K♦ J♣ giving Khanh a straight and a wild double up directly into the leader’s seat. Because Tan had a monstrous stack, he still held an above average stack despite the loss. Next to fall was Gibson, railed by Hirukawa with A♥ J♠ losing to A♦ Q♥, then Thailand’s Samuel Melbourne battled hard but fell to Ancle. Determined to get back into the leader’s seat, Tan put the brakes on Pham with his set of tens, and with ten players remaining, the tables merged with Tan as the chip leader.
The final ten action was the perfect setting for Carrier winning several preflop raise wars plus all of Englishman Gareth Jones chips to steal the chip lead from Tan. After Khanh eliminated Ancle, he too challenged for the leader’s spot. Japan’s Hishashi Ogi and Vietnam’s Kim Lay Ly were also making their presence felt, keeping the aggressors at bay. Before the day was over, both Carrier and Khanh would accumulate more chips from Tan to finish as the top two leaders of Day 2.
Final 8 Players
Stephane Carrier – France – 266,500
Le Ngoc Khanh – Vietnam – 202,500
HIsashi Ogi – Japan – 108,500
Kim Lay Ly – Vietnam – 100,000
Samad Razavi – UK – 85,500
Eugene Lin Weiquan – Singapore – 76,500
Daniel Tan – Australia – 69,000
Takahashi Hirukawa – Japan 54,500