APPT Korea 2019: Japan’s Keiji Takahashi Wins ₩4M High Roller For ₩143.89M (₹87.68 Lakhs), Yasheel Doddanavar Finishes 7th (₹14.84 Lakhs)

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  • Namita Ghosh April 15, 2019
  • 3 Minutes Read

The 2019 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea that played out Casino Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea is now done and dusted. The series came to close yesterday with the ₩1.8 Million Main Event and the ₩4 Million (₹2.43 Lakhs) High Roller, both playing down to a winner.

Even as the Main Event resumed action, the High Roller saw 72 survivors from Day 1 return to the felts. Joining them were an additional 66 entries that helped create a total field of 181 entries making this the largest APPT High Roller to take place on Korean soil.

An action-packed run through the day saw Keiji Takahashi claiming the trophy and ₩143,890,000 (~₹87.68 Lakhs) in prize money! Takahashi came into the final day ahead of the 71 other opponents with 509,500, and though he stumbled a few times and was noticeably short during the bubble round, he managed to cover the distance and emerged victorious.

Team India’s singular representative at the event was Yasheel Doddanavar who added another final table finish to his tally. Doddanavar and Meherad Munsaf were seen in action early at the series, but while the latter failed to bank a score, Doddanavar had opened his scorecard at the series with a third-place finish in the ₩1M Short Deck Re-Entry (₩7,578,000 – ₹4.58 Lakhs).

In the High Roller, Doddanavar entered Day 2 holding the third biggest stack of 255,000. Before the money bubble, Doddanavar clashed with the Super High Roller champion Michael Soyza and ran down the latter`s pocket eights with his pocket jacks. Doddanavar fought his way into the final table where his run ended in seventh place, getting him ₩24,295,000 (~₹14.84 Lakhs) in prize money.

Yasheel Doddanavar
Yasheel Doddanavar

Day 1 of the High Roller registered 155 entries (include 36 re-entries) and even as 72 made it through, registration remained open till the end of Level 12 on Day 2. The field reached 181-strong, generating a prize pool of ₩649,609,000 (~₹3,96 Crores). The top 27 places were assured a payday with a min-cash worth ₩6,495,000 (~₹3.95 Lakhs).

Soyza, who started Day 2 second in chips with 264,000 was one of the top favorites to win the title, but it was not to be. After losing a big pot to Doddanavar, Soyza couldn’t pick up, and soon the Malaysian superstar moved all in with ace-nine against Tianyuan Tang’s pocket queens. Two nines on the flop gave Soyza a set but the third card on the flop was a queen, and the turn brought a queen as well, sending Soyza to the rail empty-handed.

Michael Soyza
Michael Soyza

Natalie Teh, Ken Okada, Nan Hong, Danny Tang, Yuri Ishida, Dong Guo, Short-Deck champion Phachara Wongwichit, Alex Lee, Daniel Lee, Pete Chen and Robert Glasspool, all fell out short of the money line.

When the play was just two eliminations away from the money bubble, online sensation Randy Lew was left very short-stacked. Lew did manage to double up in the hand-for-hand play that was initiated on the bubble round but hit the rail shortly after that.

The money bubble burst with Dong Chen, and Huijie Zhou, both hitting the rail simultaneously on separate tables.

Chuanshu Chen (10th for ₩12,345,000), Kazuhiko Yotsushika (13th for ₩10,720,000), Wayne Heung (15th for ₩9,745,000), Kenny Shih (18th for ₩7,795,000) and Wai Kiat Lee (22nd for ₩7,145,000) were the notables who made it in the money but fell shy of the final table.

Leading the charge coming into the final table was Jian Yang (2,860,000), with Yan Li (2,345,000) the only other player who bagged over 2 Million in chips.

 

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Jian Yang – 2,860,000
  2. Yan Li – 2,345,000
  3. Yongwei Mo – 885,000
  4. Keiji Takahashi – 685,000
  5. Yasheel Doddanavar – 555,000
  6. Calvin Lee – 525,000
  7. Wayne Zhang – 360,000
  8. Yunye Lu – 335,000
  9. Shinryo Nonin – 295,000

Final Table Recap

Eventual runner-up Jian Yang, who was responsible for eliminating Chuanshu Chen in 10th place, scored the first knockout on the final table as well. Yunye Le jammed pocket eights into Yang’s pocket kings and was forced to exit in ninth place.

Shinryo Nonin then lost most of his stack to Doddanavar. Doddanavar moved all-in on the button for 300,000 with , and Nonin called from the big blind holding [h11. The flop saw Doddanavar flop bottom two-pair, but the on the turn gave Nonin a flush draw. The river was of little help to Nonin who was left with 125,000 after this hand. He was eliminated in eighth place in the very next hand holding against Takahashi’s that found another eight on the turn.

India’s Yasheel Doddanavar who was cruising comfortably on the final table soon hit a rough patch that saw him lose the majority of his stack over the next few hands. He first lost to Yang in a three-way pot, and then with ace-king trailing Calvin Lee’s pocket sixes. At this point, Doddanavar was down to only 20,000. Though he did chop a pot to more than double his short stack in the next hand against Yan Li, he ran out of luck shortly after that. On his final hand of the tournament, Doddanavar moved all in for his last 55,000 and found Calvin Lee announce a raise to 110,000 from the small blind. Li made it a three-way pot with a call from the big blind. Both Lee and Li checked down the board . Lee tabled for two-pair, Le had , and Doddanavar who had failed to connect with the board and was relegated to the rail in seventh place.

In the next hand, Wayne Zhang moved all in from the hijack for 300,000 and saw Yongwei Mo making an immediate call while the rest of the table folded. Zhang tabled against Mo’s . The flop kept Zhang’s hope’s alive but the turn and the river blanked out for him, and he was eliminated in sixth place.

A double knockout then saw both Yongwei Mo and Calvin Lee moving all in with their short stacks, but they lost out to Yang. Mo was the first to act and moved all in, prompting Lee to also move all-in with his short stack. Yang who had the other two players comfortably covered moved all in from the small blind. The cards were tabled, Lee revealing , Mo and Yang tabling the . Yang had the best of it through the board, and Lee was eliminated in fifth place, while Mo collected the fourth place payout.

A couple of hands later, Takahashi raised in position to 120,000 and APPT Korea ₩350K NL Hold’em winner Yan Li moved all in for 600,000, prompting Takahashi to make the call.

Yan Li

Keiji Takahashi

Things were looking dismal for Takahashi, but he added some outs on the flop . Though turn changed nothing, the river gave Takahashi trip tens and just like that Li was eliminated in third place.

The heads-up play began with Jian Yang holding 4,950,000 against Takahashi’s 4,100,000. The duo had near-even stacks to start, but Takahashi took down a massive pot to surge into the lead, and it was all over soon after that. In a limped pot with the flop open Yang bet 100,000 and Takahashi raised to 300,000. Yang moved all in, and Takahashi sprung out of his seat and double-checked the board carefully before announcing the call.

Jian Yang

Keiji Takahashi

The turn saw victory heading Takahashi’s way, and the river declared him the champion!

Keiji Takahashi
APPT Korea High Roller champion Keiji Takahashi with his rail

Final Table Results (KRW)

  1. Keiji Takahashi – ₩143,890,000
  2. Jian Yang – ₩97,114,000
  3. Yan Li – ₩66,845,000
  4. Yongwei Mo – ₩54,500,000
  5. Calvin Lee – ₩43,460,000
  6. Wayne Zhang – ₩33,390,000
  7. Yasheel Doddanavar – ₩24,295,000
  8. Shinryo Nonin – ₩17,605,000
  9. Yunye Lu – ₩14,550,000

 

Content & Images Courtesy: Asia Pacific Poker Tour & PokerNews

Keep following PokerGuru for the more exciting updates from the 2019 APPT Korea!

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