Tan Wah Meng crushes the competition at the Head Hunter event

The second victor of the APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Championships emerged today at Pro Poker Club with Singapore’s Tan Wah Meng on a killing spree at the Head Hunter event, railing every player in his path to capture the title and the VND 148,100,000 first prize. (View story in Vietnamese)

( Tan Wah Meng, Head Hunter champion

The hunt began yesterday with 101 total entries for a prize pool of VND 581,760,000. Alike all its past editions, this event was action packed from the start with players hunting down as many bounty rewards as they could get worth VND 2M each. The final table was formed with ten players remaining and Singapore’s Norbert Koh in the lead.

Head Hunter Final Table

Final table action was a bit of a roller coaster with Koh swinging wildly and chips moving in all directions. After the fall of three players, Koh doubled up Australian Anthony Abram who pushed his short stack holding 2 3 that landed a straight on a board A 4 5 A 2 to survive Koh’s J J.

Abram’s boost didn’t get him far though, Koh sent him packing in 7th place with A-K in full control over A-8. Day 1 closed with six players remaining. Koh in the lead and eventual winner Tan in second rank.

Returning on the final day, Tan quickly booted Tran Khanh Vinh on the first hand and Tran Thi Xuan Mai on the third hand with A 3 flush over J 9 flush with three hearts on the board.  The carnage continued with Tan booting out China’s Suen Kam Sang (4th) to bring the field down to three.

Final 3

The three-handed round saw a series of double ups for both Truong Mong Hoang and Koh until Truong met her end in 3rd place. Heads up began with Tan in a commanding lead with 4:1 in chips.

Norbert Koh (L) – Tan Weh Meng (r)

Koh jumped out with a quick double up on the first hand but that was it. The rest of the match was fairly even until hand #18 with Koh all in holding A 10 and Tan calling with K 9. The board ran 2 9 5 J 2.

Final table payouts
Prizepool: VND 581,760,000 – Buyin: VND 8.8M – ITM: 17 places
1st Tan Wah Meng – Singapore – VND 148,100,000
2nd Norbert Koh – Singapore – VND 98,720,000
3rd Truong Mong Hoang – Vietnam – VND 68,930,000
4th Suen Kam Sang – China – VND 50,180,000
5th Tran Thi Xuan Mai – Vietnam – VND 37,920,000
6th Tran Khanh Vinh – Vietnam – VND 29,640,000
7th Anthony Abram – Australia – VND 23,870,000
8th Park Gen Hu – Korea – VND 19,750,000
9th Nguyen Hai Trieu – Vietnam – VND 16,730,000
10th Tran Than Hai – Vietnam – VND 14,300,000