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The pace of activity has picked up considerably at the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam that is now well underway at the Pro Poker Club. November 8 saw two events go down the history books with Joakim Anderson (High Rollers 1 for VND 497,610,000 – ₹15.29 Lakhs) and Michael Shang (Head Hunter for VND 162,830,000 – ₹5 Lakhs), both clinching side event titles. However, the featured tournament of the day was without a doubt the VND 8 Billion GTD Main Event that played out its second starting flight Day 1B on Friday.
As expected, the turnout on Day 1B of the Main Event increased substantially, with 116 entries (98 unique and 18 re-entries). After nine levels of play, only 49 of them could survive the day’s onslaught.
Bagging the overnight chip lead was Korea’s Jeonggyu Cho (149,500). Though in pole position, Cho is by no means safe with Vietnam’s Nguyen Quang Minh (148,700) and India’s Dhaval Mudgal (143,500), both breathing down his neck.
A seasoned pro who has time and again proved his mettle on the felts, Mudgal has special memories in Vietnam as it was here that he had won his first major international title in the WPT Vietnam Main Event last year. Since then, Mudgal has been in unbeatable form, putting up almost half-a-dozen final table finishes in major tournaments. His most recent achievements include third-place finishes in both the 2019 IPC 35K Main Event and the BPT 50K Main Event.
Mudgal put much of that talent to work yesterday. He climbed up in contention during the latter part of the evening after taking down a massive pot by eliminating an opponent with his king-ten improving to a straight over the latter’s top pair.
Giving him company on the list of Day 1B survivors is another seasoned Indian pro, Sumit Sapra (33,800). Sapra has a litany of scores on his resume with deep runs in Asian stops like the PL, APPT, and WPT Vietnam.
Other notables who made it through to Day 2 were Le Ngoc Khanh (95,500), Janno Alvarez (85,000), Thanh Quyen (62,700), Edward Pastroll (53,900), Jaesh Balachandran (40,500), Daniel Cohen (26,100), David Erquiaga (22,500), Indian-origin Hari Varma (10,700), and Josh McCully (8,500).
With Mudgal and Sapra advancing to Day 2, the count of Indians who have secured a berth for Day 2 has gone up to eight. It will be safe to assume that more players from the team will be joining the action on Day 1C of the Main Event that kicks off at 1 PM (ICT) today.
Top 10 Chip Counts At the End of Day 1B
The two-day VND 52 Million buy-in High Rollers 1 clocked in 18 entries comprising of 10 unique players and eight re-entries. After a two-day run, the event crowned a champion in Sweden’s Joakim Anderson, who walked away VND 497,610,000 (~₹15.29 Lakhs) richer.
With a prize pool of VND 878,820,000 (~₹27.02 Lakhs), the event paid out the top three places.
The three finalists resumed play on Day 2, and after Iori Yogo’s elimination in third place, Vincent Li and Joakim Anderson went heads-up.
Around 30 minutes into the heads-up play, Anderson scored two back-to-back double-ups to gallop ahead. On the final hand of the tournament, Li moved all-in with against Anderson’s but failed to catch up.
Final Table Results (VND)
1.Joakim Anderson – VND 497,610,000
2. Vincent Li – VND 244,440,000
3. Iori Yogo – VND 130,950,000
Another popular APT Vietnam event – the Head Hunter played to the finish line on November 8. The event attracted 92 entries (73 unique and 19 re-entries), each of them dishing out the VND 9.9 Million buy-in that helped generate a VND 619,160,000 (~₹19.03 Lakhs) prize pool.
Day 1 ended with only eight players remaining, and after five hours of intense action on Day 2, it was US-based Michael Shang holding the APT trophy along with the winner`s cheque worth VND 162,830,000 (~₹5 Lakhs).
On the final day, Shang eliminated three players on his way to the heads-up clash with Chi Chung Ho. Starting with a commanding 4-to-1 chip advantage, Shang made short work of his opponent to lift the trophy. The last hand saw Shang raising with , and Ho retaliated by moving all-in with . Shang snapped it off and prevailed over the board to win his first-ever APT title.
Final Table Results (VND)
Content & Images Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour
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