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The Asian Poker Tour Vietnam Hanoi – MAIN EVENT – drew 471 entries and after six days of intense action, India’s Shardul Parthasarathi clinched it to capture his first ever live tournament victory. Parthasarathi entered the Final 8 wedged in the middle, landed a double up during the opening round, and never looked back. With his overwhelming stack, he knocked out four players, defeating fellow countryman Ashish Gupta at heads up. Parthasarathi won the APT Main Event Trophy, APT Championship Ring, and the enormous VN₫ 1,929,250,000 (~US$ 83,220) first prize. You can watch the final table action via APT YouTube and APT Twitch or you can read on for the recap.
Dates: June 9 to 14
Buy in: VN₫ 22,000,000 (~US$ 949)
Guarantee: VN₫ 5,000,000,000 (~US$ 215,685)
Entries: 471
Prize pool: VN₫ 9,137,400,000 (~US$ 394,159)
ITM: 48 places
Final 8 payouts (in Vietnamese Dong)
| 1st | Shardul Parthasarathi | India | 1,929,250,000 |
| 2nd | Ashish Munot | India | 1,286,190,000 |
| 3rd | Nguyen Van Trung | Vietnam | 894,140,000 |
| 4th | Pham Van Tien | Vietnam | 645,820,000 |
| 5th | Pham Tien Dung | Vietnam | 482,970,000 |
| 6th | Feng Yu | China | 372,750,000 |
| 7th | Ngoc Anh Cao | Vietnam | 296,000,000 |
| 8th | Tien Thanh Nguyen aka Terry | Vietnam | 241,160,000 |
Winner’s path to the Final 8
Shardul Parthasarathi’s journey to the crown had a rough start. He bagged up one of the shortest stacks of Day 1C, just slightly higher than starting stack. At the end of Day 2, he was one of the runts again, finishing 3rd from the bottom with just 9.5 BB. Day 3 is when it all changed for the APT newcomer. Parthasarathi doubled up during the opening level with A♦ K♦ beating Norbert Koh’s A♠ Q♠. He continued to chip up and landed a second full boost from Koh with a straight dusting the flush draw. This gave him enough ammo to earn his first knockout.
As the field downsized to just two tables, and 13 remaining, Parthasarathi scored a double up off Nguyen Hai Phong with pocket Kings standing firm against Ace-Queen. He nearly busted in 10th place when his shove A♣ J♣ was called by the bigger stacked Terry Nguyen with J♦ J♠. The ace turned up to survive, and reached the final table at the fall of Nguyen Hai Phong (10th) and Koh (9th).
You can read up on the Day 2 and Day 3 action via Live Updates.
Race to victory
Parthasarathi was among the three players, wedged in the middle, that carried in a healthy 1.4 Million (35 BB) into the final 8 table. Up top was Vietnam’s Pham Tien Dung. The first big pot was between China’s Feng Yu and Parthasarathi. On a king high board, Parthasarathi with pocket Aces was able to get away from Yu’s hidden set of Nines but still lost over a third of his stack.
Ngoc Anh Cao
Leading up to the first bust, Pham Van Tien doubled up his very short 6 BB stack through Ngoc Anh Cao, then Parthasarathi got fully paid by the leader for his set of Sevens over missed flush. At this point, Cao took control of the table by first scoring a massive double up with A♦ A♥ over the leader Pham’s A♣ K♣ on a board that completed J♦ 8♣ J♣ 7♥ 4♥. Cao fueled more in by cleaning out short stacked Terry Nguyen in 8th place.
With his monstrous stack, Cao got involved in most of the pots leading to his crash in 7th place. He first lost a big chunk with J♦ J♣ set paying Parthasarathi’s K♦ Q♦ nut flush on a board A♦ 2♣ 4♦ 9♦ J♠. More drained out with Pham Van Tien raking it in. Cao’s last chips went to Nguyen Van Trung pushing A♣ 6♠ only to run into A♠ A♦.
Pham Tien Dung
Down to six players, Parthasarathi began his reign. He eliminated Yu with pocket Sevens over pocket Fours then grinded to amass over 60% of the chips which he used to intimidate the rest. From the small blind, Parthasarathi pushed with 7♦ 3♣, Pham Tien Dung risked it with A♦ 8♦, a three card landed on the turn to deny Pham the double up. After Nguyen Van Trung eliminated Pham Van Tien in 4th place, Parthasarathi put the remaining two to the test by pushing and raising at every orbit. Down to 5 BB, Trung took a stand with 9♥ 8♥ that failed against the leader’s K♣ 6♣.
Heads up kicked off with Parthasarathi backed by 89% of the chips in play and Ashish Munot down to just 11 BB. Munot managed to bring up his stack but not enough to dent the massive fortress. Twenty minutes in, the final hand was tabled. Parthasarathi pushed with 9♣ 8♦, Munot called with Q♥ 7♠, the board ran J♠ K♣ 7♣ 6♦ 5♦ for a victorious straight.
Congratulations to the champion! Parthasarathi now leads the APT Player of the Series race.