The first starting day of the WPT Vietnam – Main Event – came and went with 117 unique players pouring in at Pro Poker Club for an early start at the races. Of that number, 19 re-entered for 136 entries total. While there were many countries represented, a large contingent of Indian players could not be missed which included the attendance of defending champion Dhaval Mudgal and WPT India defending champion Nikunj Jhunjhunwala.
However by the end of the scheduled 14 rounds, instead of the two Indian champions making waves, a different set of Indians were the day’s star performers. Closing Day 1A as the chip leader was Yasheel Doddanavar with 333,000 trailed closely by Eka Vedantham with 323,500.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to track Doddanavar’s rise to the top however we did catch the action that helped send the second chip leader Vedantham right alongside. During Level 12, Vedantham delivered a double knockout, railing a short-stacked player with 
and above average stacked Xiao Yin He with 
. Vedantham held 
that improved on the board 
.
Also making it through were a couple of highly decorated local pros Quang Nguyen (181,000) and Linh Tran (135,000). The lone player from the Philippines, Richard Marquez, represented his country well with 181,000 bagged. Other big names were Jack Salter (78,500), Louis Salter (38,000), Alan Lau King Lun (114,000), Natalie Teh (86,500), Hung Sheng Lin (150,000), and Kilian Loeffler (150,600). Jhunjhunwala also advanced after doubling up on the last hand of the day. As for Mudgal, he will have to secure his spot on the next starting day.
Day 1A chip count
| Yasheel Doddanavar | 333,000 |
| Eka Vedantham | 323,500 |
| Tuan Pro | 303,500 |
| Richard Marquez | 181,000 |
| Quang Nguyen | 180,000 |
| Hu Jin Long | 154,000 |
| Kilian Loeffler | 150,600 |
| Lin Hung Sheng | 150,000 |
| Linh Tran | 135,000 |
| Neel Joshi | 132,000 |
| Nguyen Nam Duong | 125,000 |
| Khanh Con | 119,000 |
| En Ching Wu | 115,000 |
| Alan King Lun Lau | 114,000 |
| Xiaosheng Zheng | 109,500 |
| Nguyen Ba Cuong | 92,500 |
| Kush Kataria | 90,000 |
| Natalie Teh | 86,500 |
| Kmen | 82,500 |
| Mr Dang | 82,500 |
| Ni Xiangxiang | 81,500 |
| Andy (Sunghwan) Lim | 80,500 |
| Nam Phan | 79,500 |
| Jack Salter | 78,500 |
| Nikunj Jhunjhunwala | 78,000 |
| Pham Duy Hung | 76,500 |
| Khum Phan | 69,000 |
| Tung Nguyen | 65,500 |
| Phachara Wongwichit | 58,000 |
| Lau King Sing | 57,500 |
| Tran Thanh Dat | 53,500 |
| Alok Birewar | 49,500 |
| Francis Garson | 46,000 |
| Andre Vettau | 38,500 |
| Louis Salter | 38,000 |
| Le Tam Viet | 37,000 |
| Nga Huynh | 31,000 |
All of the day’s survivors will have a two-day break before returning on Friday, March 22 for Day 2 at 12pm. Prior to that, Day 1B gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday March 20 followed by Day 1C on Thursday, March 21. Buy-in is VND 25 Million (US$1070). Cards in the air at 1pm.
From our observation, by the looks of today’s numbers, there is a very strong chance that not only will the VND 8 Billion (US$344,800) guarantee be dusted but last year’s 679 attendance will be surpassed.
Somuchpoker will continue to be onsite throughout the festival. Main Event live updates will run daily. You can read up on the Day 1A action via the link below.
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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