WPT Vietnam: Yasheel Doddanavar & Eka Vedantham Headline 37 Main Event Day 1A Survivors; Neel Joshi, Kush Kataria, Nikunj Jhunjhunwala & Alok Birewar Advance to Day 2

Yasheel Doddanavar & Eka Vedantham
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis March 20, 2019
  • 4 Minutes Read

The 2019 World Poker Tour (WPT) Vietnam got off to a flying start on March 14 and present at the series is a strong contingent of Indian pros who have already posted several deep runs at the stop currently underway at the Pro Poker Club in Ho Chih Minh City.

The biggest draw of the series – the Main Event VND 8 Billion GTD played out its first starting fight – Day 1A – on March 19. Out of the 136 entries that were registered on Day 1A, only 37 made the cut for Day 2. Leading the charge was Team India’s Yasheel Doddanavar who bagged 333,000 in chips and hot on his heels was another Indian contender Eka Vedantham with 323,500.

They weren’t the only Indians who carried stacks to Day 2. Online regular Neel Joshi (132,000) also was among the top 10 chip counts of the day, while Kush Kataria (90,000), WPT India champion Nikunj Jhunjhunwala (78,000) and Alok Birewar (49,500), all advanced to Day 2.

With two more starting flights left to play out and Day 1B slated to begin later today, Indians who failed to progress from the first starting flight will get another chance in the event.

 

Main Event – Day 1A Recap

The first flight recorded 136 entries (117 unique and 19 re-entries). Our Indian challengers have made quite the impression in side events and the Main Event was no different. About ten Indian challengers, namely Meherzad Munsaf, Madhav Gupta, Dhaval Mudgal, Abhinav Iyer, Eka Vedantham, Raman Gujral, Yasheel Doddanavar, Kush Kataria, Alok Birewar and Neel Joshi, were all seen in action on Day 1A.

Meherzad Munsaf was one of the first Indian challengers whose name popped up on SoMuchPoker’s live coverage of the event. He won a pot against Daniel Jo Ocean in level 1 but eventually busted out before play concluded for the day.

APT Vietnam Main Event champion Abhinav Iyer joined the fray during level 4. By level 7, he wasn’t faring too well as he folded a hand to Dang Van Hien. He also failed to make it past Day 1A.

Chandigarh-based veteran pro Raman Gujral managed to win some chips against Richard Marquez, but ultimately he too was unable to last the day. Baadshah Gaming co-founder Madhav ‘Maddy’ Gupta was another who tried his luck at the felts but was eliminated before the day concluded.

WPT Vietnam defending champion Dhaval Mudgal and 2018 WPT India winner Nikunj Jhunjhunwala, both entered the Main Event with 1000 points each and were looking to up the ante in their race to win the WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year race.

Dhaval Mudgal
Dhaval Mudgal

Mudgal joined in the action during level 3. After losing a pot to Natalie Teh, he doubled up against Rex Clinkscales. But by level 14, Mudgal’s run had come to an end.

Jhunjhunwala fared much better than Mudgal, even bringing about the double eliminations of Mohamed Tharpa and Azex Aisec during level 8. With the board open , Tharpa’s and Aisec’s were no match for Jhunjhunwala’s which bettered to a set of tens on the turn.

Nikunj Jhunjhunwala
Nikunj Jhunjhunwala

Around the time Mudgal was knocked out of the competition, Jhunjhunwala too was on unsteady ground. However, he was able to win a pot against Francis Garson during the closing hands of the day to avoid the rail as he packed up with a count of 78,000.

Eka Vedantham has had an impressive start to 2019 with several scores in the APT Vietnam series and a final table finish in the ₹65K High Roller at DPT February edition. Vedantham was in peak form as he entered Day 1A winning a pot against Hu Jin Long. Soon after that, Vedantham was entangled in a three-way hand with Xiao Yin He and another player. Vedantham pitted his against Xiao’s and the other opponent’s . The runout showed and Vedantham rivered three-of-a-kind aces to win the pot and eliminate the two other runners. Vedantham ended Day 1A with a huge stack of 323,500 which was also the second biggest-stack of the day.

Eka Vedantham
Eka Vedantham

The largest stack of the day belonged to India’s Yasheel Doddanavar. Fresh from his sixth-place finish in the Deepstack Turbo for VND 20,170,000 (₹59,790), Doddanavar topped the survivors with a massive 333,000 in the bag.

Yasheel Doddanavar
Yasheel Doddanavar

Neel Joshi was another Indian whose name featured among the top 10 stacks of the day. He collected the tenth-biggest stack of 132,000 to Day 2.

Kush Kataria bagged 90,000 in chips, while Alok Birewar also managed to accrue a workable stack of 49,500 by the end of the day.

Other notable stacks of the day include Alan King Lun Lau (114,000), Jack Salter (78,500), Phachara Wongwichit (58,000) and Le Tam Viet (37,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1A

1. Yasheel Doddanavar – 333,000

2. Eka Vedantham – 323,500

3. Tuan Pro – 303,500

4. Richard Marquez – 181,000

5. Quang Nguyen – 180,000

6. Hu Jin Long – 154,000

7. Kilian Loeffler – 150,600

8. Lin Hung Sheng – 150,000

9. Linh Tran – 135,000

10. Neel Joshi – 132,000

Content & Images Courtesy: So Much Poker

Keep following PokerGuru for more exciting updates from the 2019 WPT Vietnam!

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