HomeThe first trophy of the Asian Poker Tour‘s 2020 calendar season has been claimed! Taking it home was Czech Republic’s Van Tiep Nguyen for first-ever live career victory. Congratulations to the champion! Nguyen became the first player to get his hands around the newly designed APT trophy along with the top prize worth VND 264,590,000 (~US$ 11,400). This puts him at the top of the APT Player of the Series leaderboard.
The Kick-off event ran a course of three days attracting 107 entries (91 uniques, 16 re-entries) and at VND 11,000,000 each, players battled for a piece of the VND 1,037,900,000 (~US$ 44,700) prize pool. With APT and Pro celebrating their two year partnership, Flight A players enjoyed a VND 500,000 fee discount lowering their buy-in to VND 10,500,000.
Payouts
Prize pool: VND 1,037,900,000 – Buy-in: VND 11,000,000 – Entries: 107 – ITM: 18
1st Van Tiep Nguyen – Czech Republic – VND 264,590,000
2nd Wanchana Valaikanok – Thailand – VND 176,390,000
3rd Michal Polchlopek – Poland – VND 122,620,000
4th Ho Yin Shek – Hong Kong SAR – VND 88,570,000
5th Phu Danh Nguyen – Vietnam – VND 66,230,000
6th Yik Yin Ray Chiu – Hong Kong SAR – VND 51,120,000
7th Jonathan Looi – Malaysia – VND 40,590,000
8th Chatchai Kuprujiwong – Thailand – VND 33,070,000
9th Frank Lillis – Ireland – VND 27,560,000
10th Zhe Wen Hu – China – VND 22,970,000
11th Hoang Da Thien – Vietnam – VND 19,140,000
12th Li Da – China – VND 19,140,000
13th Vikas Sahni – India – VND 19,140,000
14th Kjell Ove Dyb – Norway – VND 15,950,000
15th Im Sangguk – Korea – VND 15,950,000
16th Jin Pyeonggyu – Korea – VND 15,950,000
17th Vijaykumar Ramasamy – Malaysia – VND 15,950,000
18th Cuong Nguyen – USA – VND 15,950,000
Event recap
Picking up the action just before the bubble burst, Yik Yin Ray Chiu slid into the leader’s seat after winning a flip with A♥ K♥ against 6♦ 6♣ when an ace showed up on the turn. This brought about the bubble round which didn’t take long to pop. Flight A chip leader Chatchai Kuprujiwong (in blue below) railed a player (in green) with A♥ 4♣ dominating Q♥ 2♥ throughout.
Once the money was secured, the race to a final 8 seat began. At 14 left, Kjell Ove Dyb paid out a costly double up to Ho Yin Shek when his top pair lost to a set of fours. This sent Dyb down to 3 bbs which he put all in on the next hand. Shockingly, three other players also shoved for a rare four-way showdown. Jonathan Looi shipped it with K♦ K♠ further improving to a full house while two players were knocked out.
To form the final 8 roundup, chip leader Van Tiep Nguyen out-flipped Frank Lillis with A♥ 4♦ finding an ace on the turn to crack Q♣ Q♠. The players were then moved to the RFID table. You can watch the action via our media channels APT Twitch and APT YouTube or you can also continue reading the recap below.
Quickly falling out of contention was short stacked Kuprujiwong (seat 6) followed by the crippled Looi (seat 3). A cooler brought the hatchet down hard on Chiu (seat 5) with Michal Polchlopek (seat 7) sending the boot. Chiu A♣ A♠ opened from utg, utg+1 Polchlopek K♠ K♥ three-bet, Chiu called. The flop J♦ 10♥ K♣ Chiu checked, Polchlopek shoved, and Chiu called for his tournament life while saying “it couldn’t have been the worst flop for me”. It sure wasn’t. And with the turn 7♦ and river 2♠ of no help either, Polchlopek shipped it to rise to chip leader while Chiu shook out in 6th place.
The five-handed round saw a swinging Danh Nguyen (seat 4) until all his chips were finally gobbled up by Polchlopek. Shek (seat 1) breathed second life when his Q♣ 10♠ gamble improved to a straight against Wanchana Valaikanok’s (seat 2) A♦ K♥ top pair. Shek increased further on a second double up when sb Van Tiep (seat 8) bluff shoved 9-6 offsuit only to get called by bb Shek with A-10. The night ended with Shek taking a nasty beat. On a flop 9♥ 6♥ 8♠, sb Shek bet, bb Wanchana shoved 9♠ 7♦ top pair draw, Shek snap-called with 9♣ 6♣ two pair. The turn J♣ kept Shek ahead but the river 7♣ sent him crashing in 4th place. At this point, the final three players opted to resume the game on the following day.
Final three players
Returning for the last stretch to the title, Wanchana had the edge however on the third hand, he plunged to bottom rank after paying a double up to Van Tiep. From sb, Van Tiep raised and bb Wanchana defended. When the cards felted J♠ 7♣ 2♣ 10♠ 7♠, Van Tiep triple-barreled with a shove on the river. Wanchana called throughout with 10♦ 9♠ second pair while Van Tiep had 9♣ 8♣ straight.
Twenty hands later, Wanchana caught a lucky break to avoid the rail. Van Tiep shoved with A♦ K♦ and Wanchana risked it with Q♣ 10♦. A queen graced the board and held. Wanchana shipped another lucky double and this time it crippled Polchlopek. From sb Wanchana shoved with K♦ 7♣, bb Polchlopek called with A♣ 7♥, a king dropped on the river. Two hands after, Wanchana ended Polchlopek in 3rd place.
Wanchana Valaikanok
Heads up began with Van Tiep holding a sizable lead which he never relinquished. The final hand Van Tiep raised, Wanchana three-bet, Van Tiep four-bet shoved A♠ 10♣, Wanchana tank-called K♠ 10♥. No hits on the board for either player and the first APT Kick-off Vietnam 2020 champion emerged.
