The World Poker Tour is back in Vietnam for the penultimate event of Season XVII Asia Pacific. The festival kicked off on March 14 at Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh City. It runs a course of 11 days to conclude on March 24.
At this time, four days of games have already wrapped up. The Kickoff Event drew an impressive field of 595 entries to easily surpass the advertised VND 3 Billion guarantee. This was the first of two events offering a guarantee. The second one is yet to come, that would be the star of the show, the Main Event with its VND 8 Billion (US$ 344,787) guarantee.
Here’s a look at what’s ahead and what has already concluded.
Main Event – VND 8 Billion guarantee
If there is only one event to attend at WPT Vietnam, it is of course the Main Event. This installment comes with an VND 8 Billion (US$ 344,787) guarantee. The event runs from March 19 to March 23. Buy-in is VND 25,000,000, (~US$1,077) with one re-entry allowed per day. See schedule below:
Tuesday, March 19: Day 1A
Wednesday, March 20: Day 1B
Thursday, March 21: Day 1C
Friday, March 22: Day 2
Saturday, March 23: Final Day
Last year, the Main Event attracted 679 entries driving the prize pool to over VND 13 Billion. Gauging by the kickoff event attendance and by the players that have confirmed, there is a strong likelihood it will break its previous number. Among those certain to be on the felt is defending champion Dhaval Mudgal. Not only will Mudgal be looking to secure a second WPT championship win but he will also be gunning for the WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year title. Mudgal currently shares the top spot with Nikunj Jhunjhunwala. More on that below.
High Roller
Sharing the floor with the Main Event are numerous side events of varying buy-ins. The highest on the scale is the High Roller event with a buy-in of VND 50,000,000 (US$2,155). Two re-entries allowed per day. This is a three-day event. See schedule below:
Friday, March 22: Day 1A
Saturday, March 23: Day 1B
Sunday, March 24: Final Day
Added – Super High Roller events
Just announced, a second Super High Roller event has been added. The event will take place on March 24, last day of the festival, at 430pm local time. Buy-in is VND 100 Million. This is a turbo event.
If there is enough player interest, a Super High Roller Turbo may be added tomorrow, March 19 at 4pm. Buy-in is VND 100 million buy-in. For those interested, please contact Danny McDonagh on fb messenger asap.
Other Events
Other side events on tap range from VND 5,500,000 to VND 11,000,000. Keep in mind that most of the games are scheduled to run for two days. The only Short Deck event is underway as we speak. The next days will see games such as: Pot Limit Omaha, Mix Max Freezeout, Teams Event, Shootout, Superstack Classic, and the Superstack Turbo.
More: WPT Vietnam 2019 Schedule
WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year
It is a heated race for the WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year title with two players running neck on neck. As mentioned above, Dhaval Mudgal and Nikunj Jhunjhunwala share the top spot both with 1000 points. It’s still anyone’s to title claim though with big points certain to be awarded at the Main Event. There is also one more festival to earn points with WPT New Zealand capping the season.
Live Coverage
Somuchpoker will be onsite to bring you live updates on the Main Event along with recaps and results of the side events. We will also be tracking the High Roller event on the final two days. Make sure to check out our FB page for the daily videos and highlights.
Player Info
For those still making their way to WPT Vietnam or are on the fence about coming, host venue Pro Poker Club is in District 3 of Ho Chi Minh. Best to try to get accommodations in the area to be close to the venue. Otherwise, hailing cabs or booking a bike is quite easy. It is the peak of summer in the country which means it is hot. Temperature at 35 degrees celsius or 93 degrees fahrenheit. Currency is in Vietnamese Dong. For newcomers, you will need to pay a one-time membership fee of VND 200K to enter the club.
Current Results
Event 1: Kickoff Event
The Kickoff Event drew a thunderous 595 entries to zoom past the advertised VND 3BN guarantee. With each entry at VND 10M each, the prize pool swelled to VND 5,194,390,000 (US$223,862). Day 1C saw the biggest turnout of the four starting flights. It packed the house with its 271 entries. Each starting day played down to the money for a total of 74 players dipping in the cookie jar. Claiming the biggest cut was USA’s Rex Clinkscales. After a deal with Kopyl Waldemar at heads up, Clinkscales went on to win to pocket VND 905,000,000.
Top 10 payouts
1st Rex Clinkscales – USA – VND 905,000,000
2nd Kopyl Waldemar – Germany – VND 765,190,000
3rd Huynh Ngoc Huy Trieu – Vietnam – VND 443,810,000
4th Madhav Gupta – India – VND 316,910,000
5th Pasi Heinanen – Finland – VND 243,250,000
6th Pavel Lubov – Russia – VND 199,720,000
7th Norbert Koh – Singapore – VND 164,610,000
8th Andy Li Xueyan – Singapore – VND 131,260,000
9th Hoang Van Long – Vietnam – VND 98,480,000
10th Nguyen Quoc Anh – Vietnamn – VND 81,910,000
Event 2: Deepstack event
The Deepstack event drew 88 to the floor. Buy-in was VND 6,600,000 for a prize pool of VND 512,160,000 (US$22,000). Winning the event was Vietnam’s Nguyen Duc Thanh. He earned VND 165,170,000.
Payouts
1st Nguyen Duc Thanh – VND 165,170,000
2nd Tan Wah Meng – VND 99,870,000
3rd Tse Jia – VND 62,100,000
4th Jeonggyu Cho – VND 42,000,000
5th Huynh Duc Tai – VND 32,010,000
6th Pham Dinh Quan – VND 25,610,000
7th Chi Chung Ho – VND 21,250,000
8th Oliver Biles – VND 17,930,000
9th Le Tan Ngoc – VND 16,520,000
10th Nong Mitchel – VND 15,360,000
11th Simon Matthonnet – VND 14,340,000
Event 3: Deepstack Turbo
The Deepstack Turbo event with a buy-in of VND 6.6 M saw 63 entrants for a prize pool of VND 366,660,000 (US$15,800). Taking that down was Vietnam’s Pham Quang Anh defeating Frenchman Simon Matthonnet at heads up. Pham pocketed VND 132,000,000.
Payouts
1st Pham Quang Anh – Vietnam – VND 132,000,000
2nd Simon Matthonnet – France – VND 77,540,000
3rd Vincent Chauve – France – VND 48,580,000
4th Pak Hang Pun – China – VND 33,000,000
5th Zhang Min – China – VND 25,670,000
6th Yasheel Praveen Dodanavar – India – VND 20,170,000
7th Andy Lim Sung Wan – Korea – VND 16,500,000
8th Edward Yam Ho Chun – Hong Kong – VND 13,200,000
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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