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The final starting flight of the 2019 World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam Main Event, i.e., Day 1C, is now in the books. Following three days of intense poker action, a record-breaking field of 686 entries (Day 1A – 136, Day 1B – 221 and Day 1C – 85) was recorded at the event, collecting VND 15,105,034,000 (₹4.46 Crores) in the prize pool, making it largest field in Vietnam till date!
The Indian presence at the event has been phenomenal right from the opening flight. A total of 16 Indians has qualified for Day 2, with Yasheel Doddanavar (333,000), Eka Vedantham (323,500) and Sumit Sapra (310,500) among the top 10 stacks slated to start Day 2.
While Doddanavar and Vedantham advanced through Day 1A, Sapra fought his way to the top of the leaderboard on Day 1C, along with four other Indian challengers – Shashank Jain (232,000), Sahil Mahboobani (148,500), Deepak Raina (45,500) and Dishant Soni (41,000).
Indian Chip Counts At the Start of Day 2
Player Name | Starting Flight | Chip Count |
---|---|---|
Yasheel Doddanavar | Day 1A | 333,000 |
Eka Vedantham | Day 1A | 323,500 |
Sumit Sapra | Day 1C | 310,500 |
Ashish Munot | Day 1B | 248,000 |
Shashank Jain | Day 1C | 232,000 |
Rubin Labroo | Day 1B | 199,000 |
Vinay B | Day 1B | 156,500 |
Sahil Mahboobani | Day 1C | 148,500 |
Neel Joshi | Day 1A | 132,000 |
Tusha K Banal | Day 1B | 97,000 |
Kush Kataria | Day 1A | 90,000 |
Nikunj Jhunjhunwala | Day 1A | 78,000 |
Raman Gujral | Day 1B | 72,500 |
Alok Birewar | Day 1B | 49,500 |
Deepak Raina | Day 1C | 45,500 |
Dishant Soni | Day 1C | 41,000 |
Local pro Thai Ha, who was also the chip leader for Day 1B, is currently leading the way coming into Day 2 with a massive stack of 363,500 among 170 runners who will return to the felts later today to get one step closer to the coveted title.
Main Event – Day 1C Recap
Day 1C of the prestigious Main Event kicked off yesterday requiring only nine entries to surpass its guarantee of VND 8 Million. By the time late registrations were closed, a total of 339 entries (263 unique and 76 re-entries) were registered in the event taking the overall player field to 686 entries. This year’s Main Event has not only eclipsed the previous year’s record of 679 entries but is now the largest Main Event field in Vietnam history with a prize pool of a jaw-dropping VND 15,105,034,000 (₹4,46,49,843). The top 86 places are assured a min-cash of VND 37,160,000 (₹1,09,843), while the eventual champion will walk away with VND 2,777,360,000 (₹82,09,758).
The last starting flight of the Main Event saw a battalion of 11 Indians participate, namely Sumit Sapra, Sahil Mahboobani, Shashank Jain, Dishant Soni, Deep Raina, Romit Advani, Niharika Bindra, Praveen Kumar, Madhav Gupta, Amanpreet Singh, and Dhaval Mudgal. However, only five progressed to Day 2.
The front-runner for Day 1C, Sumit Sapra was seen in action on Day 1B as well. Over the years, Sapra has become a recognizable face in the Asian poker circuit with a plethora of scores and final table finishes including 2018 Jeju Red Dragon, APL Vietnam, 2018 WPT Vietnam and the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Vietnam. Though most of his journey throughout Day 1C went unnoticed by Somuchpoker’s live reporting team, he did bag the biggest stack of the day with 310,500 chips under his belt. In fact, he was the only player to cross the 300,000-mark on the day.
Shashank Jain was another Indian steadily building his stack over the course of 14 levels of play. During level 11, he crossed the 200,000-mark when he eliminated a player named June. The latter’s were cracked by Jain’s which bettered to a set of tens on the runout . Jain ended the day with a stack of 232,000 which also happened to be the fifth-largest stack of the day.
Sahil Mahboobani (148,500), Deepak Raina (45,500) and Dishant Soni (41,000), all managed to carry workable stacks to Day 2.
Amanpreet Singh was one of the first Indians to depart during level 2. With the board open , both Singh and Nguyen Dang Toan picked up full houses on the board. But Singh’s was no match for Nguyen’s , leading to his exit.
Defending WPT Vietnam champion Dhaval Mudgal took his last shot of not only qualifying for Day 2 but also adding some valuable points for the WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year race. Unfortunately, he hit the rail before the end of play.
Romit Advani, Niharika Bindra, Madhav Gupta, and Praveen Kumar were all seen in the fray, but none were able to advance to Day 2.
Other notable names that bagged commendable stacks for Day 2 were Rex Clinkscales (196,500), Marvin RettenMaier (181,500), Gabriel Carter (144,000) and Alex Lee (72,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1C
1. Sumit Sapra – 310,500
2. Vincent Chauve – 263,000
3. Tzu Chieh Lo – 250,000
4. Dinh Xuan Dinh – 243,500
5. Shashank Jain – 232,000
6. Andy Li Xueyan – 226,000
7. Tony Trieu – 223,500
8. Pham Quoc Anh – 215,000
9. Petr Koula – 212,500
10. Bon Hyuk Ku – 208,000
Play will resume later today as the 170 runners from all three starting flights (Day 1A – 37, Day 1B – 48 and Day 1C – 85) will come together for the first time on Day 2 with Thai Ha (363,500) as the overall chip leader.
To 10 Chip Counts At the Start of Day 2
1. Thai Ha – 363,500
2. Yasheel Doddanavar – 333,000
3. Eka Vedantham – 323,500
4. Sumit Sapra – 310,500
5. Tuan Pro – 303,500
6. Norbert Koh – 299,000
7. Vincent Chauve – 263,000
8. Chia Hsuan Tu – 256,500
9. Tzu Chieh Lo – 250,000
10. Wang Gui Yang – 249,000
Content & Images Courtesy: So Much Poker
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