APL HCMC Main Event: Down to 29 players with Minh Le leading into Day 3

147 players returned to Pro Poker Club for Main Event Day 2 of the APL Ho Chi Minh City Road Series Vol.3. By the end of the scheduled ten rounds of play, the field trimmed down to just 29 players. Three players crossed into the million marker with Vietnam’s own Minh Le earning the chip lead with his 1,439,000 stack.

Minh was the bane of numerous players throughout the day, most especially for Johannes Felix Hoeld. Minh and Hoeld have a history of encounters that haven’t gone well for the German player. It was no different today with Minh knocking out Hoeld during the bubble round.

Holding up the fort for his country was Abhishek Paul. Abhishek was one of a few Indian players that attended the Main Event. The others were Amanpreet Singh and Sumit Sapra. Only Singh and Abhishek advanced to Day 2 however Singh failed to reach the money while Abhishek made it through to Day 3 with 311,000. Abhishek is running well at the series; he claimed his first-ever career live tournament win at the Hyper Turbo 1 event days ago.

Along with the players mentioned above, Day 3 will see several decorated champions and notable pros returning to the races namely Cao Ngoc Anh, SJ Kim, Huy Pham, En Ching Wu, Quang Nguyen, Dang Van Hien, and APL Vietnam defending champion Yin How Lew.

With the money reached midway through Day 2, among the players that cashed were the day’s entering chip leader Xuewei Li (30th), Ang Boon Seng (33rd), Phan Hoang Tu (34th), Huu Dung Nguyen (35th), Tran Huy Hoang (37th), Tzai Wei Phua (50th), and Nguyen The Anh (55th),  

The lone lady survivor, Linh Ran Nguyen, also put up a strong fight against the masses. She drove her stack to the final five tables where she finished in 39th place.

While these players had something to show for their efforts, it was a difficult day for the other half. Among the fallen were Lim Yohwan, Linh Tran, Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Bobby Zhang, Iori Yogo, Hai Chuot, Mel Judah, Men “the Master” Nguyen, and Norbert Koh. For the latter Koh, his big stack took a beating when his pocket queens fell to Teoh Ming Hong’s set of tens.

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More: Day 2 Live Updates

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Chip Counts

1 – Minh Le – 1,439,000
2 – Quang Nguyen – 1,1350,00
3 – Duy Ho – 1,080,000
4 – Cao Ngoc Anh – 993,000
5 – SJ Kim – 707,000
6 – Mark Zhang Lei – 681,000
7 – Nguyen Quang – 681,000
8 – Dang Van Hien – 622,000
9 – Alex Choi – 609,000
10 – Nguyen Thanh – 570,000
11 – Huy Pham – 549,000
12 – Tran Van Quan – 531,000
13 – Edmund Eng – 480,000
14 – En Ching Wu – 478,000
15 – Willy “Doorman” – 462,000
16 – Nguyen Duc Hoang – 417,000
17 – Thien An – 384,000
18 – Phuong Xu – 382,000
19 – Chang Hui Chieh – 347,000
20 – Erik Billgren – 314,000
21 – Abhishek Paul – 311,000
22 – Nguyen Nam Duong – 260,000
23 – Jae Kyung Sim – 250,000
24 – Harry “Wind” Tran – 231,000
25 – Sao Bac Dau – 227,000
26 – Lew Yin How – 162,000
27 – Xiaosheng Zheng – 150,000
28 – Pham Thanh Dat – 142,000
29 – Jiang Yuan – 72,000

Day 2 in video

Day 3

The Main Event resumes on Friday, November 23 at 1pm. The last 29 players will be looking to secure a Final 8 seat. Total chips in play is 14,587,300. Average stack is 503,000. Action kicks off at Level 25 with blinds at 12K/24K ante 4K. 

Overall, the Main Event drew 587 entries for a prize pool of VND 8,540,850,000 (~US$366,300). 74 players earn a cut with the eventual winner due to pocket the hefty VND 1,618,750,000 (~US$69,300) first prize. 

Somuchpoker will continue to provide live coverage of the festival. You can read up on the action in our live updates and daily recaps.

High Roller – Day 1A

The High Roller event kicked off with 51 entries for Day 1A. 24 players bagged up with Malaysia’s Sam Ng as the leader. He amassed an enormous stack early on and ended with 1,096,000. Players can still jump in this event with Day 1B kicking off at 3pm on Friday, November 23.

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More: High Roller Day 1A – Chip Counts

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Article by Tricia David