HomeHO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – In what eventually played out as the most unique ending to an APT event, Tran Tuan Anh emerges as the champion of the APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh 2022 Main Event at the Saigon Poker Club here.
It is within the rules of the APT to facilitate deals to ensure these proceedings are done fairly and it is also within the rules that in order for players to play for the trophy, players must agree to hold back funds to compete for after a deal has been reached. Otherwise, the event will stop and the chip-leader will be awarded with the title.
At one point of the final three-handed battle—when everyone was already guaranteed at least VND1.25B (US$53,947.00) the players asked tournament officials for an Independent Chip Model (ICM) chop.
But interestingly, instead of giving the victory to the chip-leader—who at that point was Tran—they unanimously agreed to set aside a mere VND50M (US$2,150.00) each from their guaranteed ICM spots to run a one hand “flip” for VND150M (US$6,450.00) =and the Main Event trophy.
As fate would have it, Tran was dealt the best hand among the three with KcQd while Ha Van Thien (who was second in chips when the stoppage happened) received Td4s and India’s Amit Kaushik got Qc5s.
The flop immediately had Tran ahead: AdKh7d and when the turn showed 3s, the only battle than remained was for second place and that went to Ha when 4d came on the river.
In the end, their respective chip ranks matched the result of the flip and Tran became the third local to win the Main Event in his home soil following Dang Xuan Canh (Ho Chi Minh 2018) and Hue Dang (Phu Quoc 2022).
The final payouts were:
Tran Tuan Anh (VIE) – VND2,127,900,000.00 (US$91,500.00)
Ha Van Tien (VIE) – VND1,947,700,000.00 (US$83,751.00)
Amit Kaushik (IND) – VND1,691,700,000.00 (US$72,743.00)
