Dang Xuan Canh wins APT Vietnam HCM Main Event; Gavin Flynn, Huynh Tan Dung, and Yohwan Lim earn titles

The Asian Poker Tour has been in Vietnam since July 11 for their twelve-day championship series in Ho Chi Minh City. The event is currently ongoing at the Pro Poker Club with several events already wrapped up.

Vietnam’s Dang Xuan Canh wins the Main Event

Last night, the Main Event witnessed Vietnam’s Dang Xuan Canh outlast the Final 8 players to capture his first-ever victory.

This was an impressive performance by the champion who only last month finished 3rd at the Asia Poker League Main Event held at the same location. He won VND 1,636,720,000 (~US$70,800) for the largest score of his young live tournament career.

Like the tour’s first visit to Ho Chi Minh back in January, the APT attracted big numbers once again. With a higher Main Event buy-in this time around of VND 22 Million as compared to its previous VND 16.5 Million, the 499 entries produced an enormous VND 9,680,600,000 (~US$419,900) prize pool to easily surpass the advertised VND 6BN guarantee. This now set a new record as the largest-ever Main Event prize pool in Vietnam.

Scattered among the extensive list of attendees were notable pros and players; among those that reached the money were Devesh Thapar (13th), Nguyen Trung Hieu (16th), Alex Lee (18th), Eric Tsai (19th), Norbert Koh (21st), Hoa Thinh Nguyen, Eugene Co (48th), Ying Lin Chua (62nd), Gabriel Carter (67th), Frederic Bolliet (75th), Ting Shum Kwok (79th), and Piet Pape as the first player paid in 84th place.

Several APT Main Event title-holders were also slugging it out at the felt but only Choong Kian Weng pulled through finishing in 10th place. As for Japan’s Iori Yogo, he flew in from Las Vegas and jumped in the action but fell one spot shy of the money, knocked out during the bubble round.

Final Table payouts
Prize pool: VND 9,680,600,000 – Buyin: VND 22,000,000 – ITM: 84 places
1st Dang Xuan Canh – Vietnam – VND 1,636,720,000
2nd Minh Le – Vietnam – VND 1,091,150,000
3rd Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – VND 761,810,000
4th Tzu Chieh Lo – Taiwan – VND 554,530,000
5th Lien Kang Feng – Taiwan – VND 419,090,000
6th Hai Chuot – Vietnam – VND 327,560,000
7th Tran Duc Phuong – Vietnam – VND 263,820,000
8th Le Duc Anh – Vietnam – VND 218,230,000

Huynh Tan Dung wins the first-career title at the High Rollers 1

Prior to Dang’s victory, Huynh Tan Dung triumphed at the CoinPoker High Rollers 1 event, notably the largest buy-in tournament of the series of VND 107,500,000 (~US$4,650). Huynh became the first Vietnamese to win a trophy at the festival and he did so by defeating a field of 28 entries.

One notable player that nearly went the distance was Soo Jo Kim. The Korean pro finished in 3rd place leaving two Vietnamese players to battle it out. Huynh went on to win it earning a thick bankroll worth VND 1,148,140,000 (~$49,600). With only three prior live tournament earnings listed on Hendon Mob, this is Huynh’s first career title and his largest-ever live tournament score.

Payouts
Prizepool: VND 2,716,000,000 – Entries: 28 – ITM: 5 places

1st Huynh Tan Dung – Vietnam – VND 1,148,140,000
2nd Nguyen Pham Duy Khanh – Vietnam – VND 667,990,000
3rd Soo Jo Kim – Korea – VND 418,230,000
4th Nguyen Van Dung – Vietnam – VND 280,720,000
5th Phan Chi Cuong – Vietnam – VND 200,920,000

Gavin Flynn wins two events: Monster Stack and CoinPoker High Rollers 2

Just as impressive as the winners above was Irishman Gavin Flynn. Flynn earned the first champion bragging rights after he rose above a field of 123 entries at the opener Monster Stack event. One week later, Flynn was back on the winner’s stage, awarded champion of the CoinPoker High Rollers 2 event after a three-way deal.

That event assembled one of the largest High Rollers field in the tour’s history with 136 total entries. Out of the 23 players paid were notable pros Norbert Koh (2nd), Dang Van Hien (6th), Iori Yogo (13th), Jaewook Shin (14th), and Alex Lee (20th).

Top 10 payouts
Prizepool: VND 5,276,800,000 – Buyin: VND 43,000,000 – ITM: 23 places

1st Gavin Flynn – Ireland – VND 914,680,000 (deal made)
2nd Norbert Koh – Singapore – VND 886,000,000 (deal made)
3rd Piet Pape – Germany – VND 853,710,000 (deal made)
4th Bui Thanh Tuan – Vietnam – VND 421,800,000
5th Dong Hyun Kim – Korea – VND 318,780,00
6th Dang Van Hien – Vietnam – VND 249,160,000
7th Wei Cheng Xin – Taiwan – VND 200,670,000
8th Tran Kim Dong – Vietnam – VND 166,000,000
9th Long Kim Lam – Vietnam – VND 140,600,000
10th Cho Min Ho – Korea – VND 130,170,000
Lim Yo Hwan adds another APT title to his list

Lim Yo Hwan winsthe WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo

Another early side event winner was Korea’s Lim Yo Hwan aka Boxer. Ever since Boxer transitioned from StarCraft to tournament poker, he has been a regular player at the Asian Poker Tour. To-date, he has already earned several APT side event titles and added another by winning the WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo. Boxer topped a field of 107 entries to pocket VND 93,480,000 (~$4,000).

Final Table payouts
Prize pool: VND 415,160,000 – Buyin: VND 4,400,000 – ITM: 18 places

1st Lim Yohwan – Korea – VND 93,480,000 (deal made)
2nd Sung Woong Lee – Korea – VND 80,000,000 (deal made)
3rd En Ching Wu – Taiwan – VND 48,450,000
4th Kim Ji Woon – Korea – VND 35,270,000
5th Hisashi Ogi – Japan – VND 26,650,000
6th Kang Feng Lien – Taiwan – VND 20,830,000
7th Tran Tuan Long – Vietnam – VND 16,780,000
8th Gao Ngoc Anh – Vietnam – VND 13,880,000

Article by Tricia David