APT Vietnam: Manoj Pentakota (12th) & Rubin Labroo (37th) Finish ITM on Day 3 of the Main Event

Team India’s deep run in the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam VND 8 Billion (~₹2.35 Crores) GTD Main Event ended on July 8 with both Indian challengers, Manoj Pentakota and Rubin Labroo, hitting the rail on Day 3.

The star of the day was undoubtedly Pentakota, and he hogged the limelight for the majority of the day. Pentakota was soaring high after overtaking the field holding a massive chip lead for the most part, but during the penultimate level of the day, he lost a few sizeable pots to Quang Nguyen and became short-stacked. As fate would have it, Pentakota was eventually eliminated by Nguyen towards the business-end of the day just a few places shy of the eight-handed final table. Pentakota’s deep run ended in 12^th place fetching him VND 136,860,000 (~₹4.05 Lakhs) for his efforts.

The other Indian in the field, Labroo more notably had two third-place finishes coming into Day 3. He had placed third in the VND 11,000,000 (~₹32,442) buy-in Monster Stack #1 earlier this series and followed it up with another third-place finish this time on the virtual felts in the Sunday Special on PokerStars India last Sunday. His Main Event run came to an end in 37^th place winning him VND 45,840,000 (~₹1.35 Lakhs) in prize money.

The Main Event played down to the eight-handed final table on Monday and saw New Zealand’s Oliver Helm bagging the overnight chip lead with a stack of 3,120,000. Local pros Quang Nguyen (2,990,000) and Duong Nguyen (1,285,000) are carrying the next big stacks.

In side event action, Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Hung (High Rollers Single Day #1) and Korea’s Dohyeon Yun (NLHE #1) were crowned the latest winners.

The Main Event will be resuming final table action at 1.30 pm (ICT) today where it will play down all the way to a winner. Running alongside the Main Event will be the PLO Hi – Day 1 that begins at 1 pm (ICT), even as the Super High Rollers and the Short Deck are expected to find a champion. The other event on the tap today is the High Rollers Single Day #2 that is slated to kick off at 3pm (ICT).

VND 8 Billion GTD Main Event – Day 3 Recap

Day 3 of the VND 22,000,000 (~₹64,644) buy-in event began with 63 survivors from a starting field of 458 runners. Amid this vastly trimmed down field were two Indian pros, Manoj Pentakota, and Rubin Labroo.

Pentakota had begun his day with an above average stack of 103 big blinds (413,000), and he quickly ran it up to take over an overwhelming chip lead, and the live coverage page featured numerous updates of his exploits all through the day.

Pentakota picked up a massive pot off Tran Huy Hoang in Level 20 with his hitting a nut flush against Hoang’s straight on the rundown . Pentakota chipped up to 680,000.

Several hands later, Pentakota eliminated Aaron Li with his pocket kings flopping a set against Li`s jack-nine.

Pentakota seemed an unstoppable force as he soon eliminated two players in a single hand. The hand began with Pentakota making a raise of 16,000 from UTG+1, and Fan Chi Fu called on the button. Tran Huy Hoang moved all in from the small blind, and big blind Jimmy Yar moved all in. Pentakota made the call, and Fu opted to fold.

Manoj Pentakota

Tran Huy Hoang

Jimmy Yar

The board ran and both Hoang and Yar were eliminated. Pentakota raked in the monster pot to become the only player in the field sitting with over 1 Million in chips – he had 1.4 Million with him to be exact!

Like most things, Pentakota`s dream run too started fading and fast. The turning point came in Level 24 when Pentakota lost a monster of a hand to Quang Nguyen. The downward slide carried over in the next level as well with once again Nguyen digging into the remainder of Petakota`s stack. In the first hand, Nguyen raised for 55,000 holding and Pentakota shoved with . Nguyen called to see the rundown getting him a full house. Pentakota was left with only 57,000 in chips and was eliminated in the very next hand in 12^th place for VND 136,860,000 (~₹4.05 Lakhs).

Labroo, who had entered Day 3 with 51 big blinds (203,500), fell out in Level 20 after a failed attempt to bluff. With the board open and 120,000 already in the pot, Kajornnut Prirungrueng fired a bet of 30,000 and Labroo moved all in. Prirungrueng tanked-called and Labroo tabled only to get the bad news as Prirungrueng’s had rivered a flush. Labroo placed 37^th in the Main Event and collected his second cash of the series worth VND 45,840,000 (~₹1.35 Lakhs) in prize money.

The last elimination of the day was Kajornnut Prirunggrueng (9^th for VND 197,100,000) who fell at the hands of Terry Nguyen with the latter’s pocket aces busting his ace-ten.

Other notables eliminations on Day 3 were Kannapong Thanarattrakul (10th for VND 164,250,000), David Erquiaga (14^th for VND 114,060,000), Hishashi Ogi (27^th for VND 66,010,000), and Soo Jo Kim (34^th for VND 55,010,000).

The day concluded with the eight-handed final table in place. Leading the final eight players is New Zealand’s Oliver Helm who has 3,120,000, with two pros from the host country, Quang Nguyen (2,990,000) and Duong Nguyen (1,285,000) carrying the next big stacks.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Oliver Helm – 3,120,000
2. Quang Nguyen – 2,990,000
3. Duong Nguyen – 1,285,000
4. Terry Nguyen – 1,245,000
5. Zhou Jin Ping – 1,210,000
6. Tobias Napel – 745,000
7. Duy Khanh – 540,000
8. Nguyen Thanh – 315,000

High Rollers Single Day #1

With a buy-in of VND 43,000,000 (~₹1.26 Lakhs), the High Rollers Single Day #1 attracted 24 players making for a prize pool of VND 931,200,000 (~₹27.50 Lakhs). Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Hung denied his heads-up opponent, Japan’s Hiroshi Nishiyama the coveted APT title, winning the trophy along with VND 455,470,000 (~₹13.45 Lakhs) in prize money.

Final Table Results (VND)

1. Nguyen Manh Hung – VND 455,470,000
2. Hiroshi Nishiyama – VND 244,320,000
3. Tomokazu Hatanda – VND 141,980,000
4. Long Ip Seng –VND 89,430,000

NLHE #1

A total of 83 players paid up the VND 9,900,000 (~₹29,237) buy-in to enter No-Limit Hold ‘em #1. Only 14 players earned a payout of at least VND 14,240,000 (~₹42,054) from the VND 724,590,000 (~₹21.39 Lakhs) prize pool. Taking home the lion’s share was Korea’s Dohyeon Yun who defeated Lee Chee Keong heads-up to capture his first-ever APT title and a payday of VND 196,810,000 (~₹5.81 Lakhs).

Final Table Results (VND)

1. Dohyeon Yun – VND 196,810,000
2. Lee Chee Keong – VND 131,210,000
3. 3.Chu K Ong –VND 91,210,000
4. Pham Hung Cuong – VND 65,880,000
5. Kensho Tanaka – VND 49,270,000
6. Nguyen Thanh Ouyen – VND 38,030,000
7. Ka Ho Sun – VND 30,200,000
8. Kwok Yifeng – VND 24,600,000
9. Richard Marquez – VND 20,500,000

Content & Images Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour

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