WPT Prime Cambodia: Japan’s Kosuke Hanzawa and China’s Xu Jing Je top opening day events 

 

On Thursday, March 9, doors opened at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts for Season XXI of World Poker Tour Prime Cambodia. Tables quickly filled up for Event 1: NagaWorld Superstack 50K and the late afternoon Event 2: NagaWorld Millions $150K guaranteed. Among the day’s sluggers were WPT champions Marc Inizan, Dhaval Mudgal, Vincent Chauve, and Zarvan Tumboli. Here are the day’s results.

Event 1: NagaWorld Superstack 50K

The most popular tournament of opening day was the NagaWorld Superstack 50K with 202 entries for a prize pool of US$ 53,884. Just past 11.5 hours of play, the bubble burst. Chip leader Kosuke Hanzawa cracked a player’s on a board . The remaining 26 players bagged up with Hanzawa sitting on the largest of 48 bb.

The players return on Friday, March 10, at 1pm for the final stage of the race. Each one is guaranteed to min-cash US$ 403 however all focus will be on locking up the trophy and the US$ 13,253 top prize. Players will also be the first to earn points towards the Player of the Festival race.

Chips in play: 10,100,000
Average stack: 388,460
Day 2 opening blinds: 10,000-20,000, 20,000 bb ante (8:00 remaining)

Player	Flag	Chips	BB
Kosuke Hanzawa	Japan	955,000	48
Vineet Kumar	India	590,000	30
Duc Luu Huyen	Vietnam	575,000	29
Jong Min Won	Korea	535,000	27
Richard Sheils	“Ginge Poker”	530,000	27
Kiale Matthews	Australia	515,000	26
Dhanesh Chainani	Singapore	515,000	26
Xianbing Zhang		500,000 approx	25
Chi Ling Tsang	Canada	455,000	23
Kevin Clemot	France	435,000	22
Daniel		430,000	22
Amir Abbas	Australia	430,000	22
Lucas Tae	USA	400,000	20
Jeremy Jehanne	France	390,000	20
Yoke Wei Woon	Malaysia	375,000	19
Kuhnast	Germany	330,000	17
Men Van Nguyen	USA	290,000	15
Eike Soren Strub	Germany	251,000	13
Syu Ho Shen	Taiwan	210,000	11
He Zhou	China	202,000	10
Stephen Nathan	UK	190,000	10
Krzysztof Wierzbicki	Poland	180,000	9
Han Yee Seow	Singapore	165,000	8
Adrien Franck Berger	France	150,000	8
William Bolton	Australia	135,000	7
Jasven Saigal	India	85,000	4

Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 202 (168 unique, 34 re-entry)
Prize pool: US$ 53,884
ITM: 26 places

Payouts

1	US$ 13,253
2	US$ 9,200
3	US$ 5,523
4	US$ 3,360
5	US$ 2,594
6	US$ 2,150
7	US$ 1,832
8	US$ 1,579
9	US$ 1,326
10-12	US$ 1,153
13-15	US$ 981
16-18	US$ 808
19-21	US$ 647
22-24	US$498
25-26	US$ 403

Event 2: WPT Prime Cambodia NagaWorld Millions $150K GTD

At the close of Event 1: NagaWorld Superstack 50K, the WPT Prime Cambodia NagaWorld Millions – Day 1A – got underway. It was the first of four events on schedule boasting a guarantee. For this one, a $150,000 prize pool awaits players, which could grow further with a total of four entry heats to play out.

According to WPT Live Events Specialist, Danny McDonagh, this event is similar to the Macau Millions in that it features better payouts. Only the top 10% of each starting day is in the money. Day 1A attracted 33 entries with 4 reaching ITM.

Just missing the chance to advance were Taiwan’s Hua Wei Lin and Australia’s Armon Van Wijk. The latter Wijk busted on the bubble with failing to improve against Taiwan’s Chao Ting Cheng‘s .

Bagging the chip lead was China’s Xu Jing Je who knocked out two players simultaneously at the final table with Queen-Jack pairing up to beat Ace-King and Ace-Five. The remaining four players have a couple of days break before returning on Sunday, March 12 at 1pm for the race to the top.

Before that happens, up next is Day 1B which takes place at 1pm on Friday, March 10. This is followed by two flights on Saturday, March 11 – Day 1C starts at 1pm and Day 1D Turbo starts at 7pm (blinds increase at a faster 25 minutes).

Buy in: US$ 550
Guarantee: US$ 150,000
Day 1A: 33 entries (27 unique, 6 re-entry)
Day 1A ITM: 4 players

End of Day 1A qualifiers – 4 players (ITM)

Player	Flag	Chips
Xu Jing Je	China	281,000
Chao Ting Cheng	Taiwan	230,500
Rolands Norietis	Latvia	166,000
Jeffry Kurniawan	Indonesia	147,000

Cash Game Bonanza

Not all the fun was being experienced at the tournament tables. Over at the cash tables, a daily draw called the Cash Game Bonanza awarded players US$ 100 every two hours starting at 7pm. A total of 10 draws per day throughout the 13 festival days for a total of US$ 13,000 in cash giveaways.

WPT Prime Cambodia, in partnership with Connaissance Management, runs from March 9 to 21 at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts. A total of 30 tournaments are scheduled and US$ 1 Million in guarantees.

Last year, the Main Event set new heights for the brand with 1,050 turning up. At the time, it was the largest WPT Main Event for an open tournament. In prize money, it guaranteed half a million dollars which doubled up, closing at US$ 1,018,500. This year, the Main Event returns with the same guarantee with the goal of surpassing its previous turnout and possibly even set another new record. Already seen on site is reigning WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event champion David Erquiaga who will most certainly be hunting down a back to back.

Season XXI WPT Prime Cambodia – Player Guide

Breakdwon of WPT Prime Cambodia schedule

Reminders:

• NO TAX on winnings
• Event photos can be found in the Somuchpoker Facebook page

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates of WPT Prime Cambodia from start to finish.