APL Da Nang closes with brand ambassador Jack En Ching Wu seizing the High Roller title

Asia Poker League closed its calendar year for the first time in Da Nang, Vietnam running from December 12 to 21 at the Risemount Premier Resort. The inaugural event drew impressive numbers throughout along with a guarantee breaking Main Event. The last of the trophies were grabbed on the final two days. Seizing the coveted High Roller title was APL Ambassador, Jack En Ching Wu. Final results also include winners Trung Nguyen, Im Sangguk, Ceesvin Abdullah, and Latvijas Aigars.

High Roller: JACK EN CHING WU – VND 1,362,100,000 (~US$ 58,600)

The High Roller event drew the largest field of the remaining side events at 119 entries over two starting days. It attracted some of the biggest names in the Asian poker circuit, each one coughing up the VND 43,000,000 (~US$ 1,850) buy-in to generate a wealthy pot of VND 4,617,200,000 (~US$ 198,500). Out of the 15 players in the money, seizing the glory and the third largest payout of the entire series was APL Ambassador Jack En Ching Wu. He shipped a handsome  VND 1,362,100,000 (~US$ 58,600) and a back-to-back APL High Roller title.

2019 has shined brightly on Wu. Two months ago he won his first-ever APL High Roller title in Ho Chi Minh City. Ten days later he finished 2nd at the APT Taiwan Championships Event. In total, he earned eight five-figure payouts this year along with a long list of four-figure scores. He is at US$ 800k in live tournament earnings.

High Roller recap

On the final day of the High Roller event, the bubble burst on William Kang when his was cracked by none other than eventual champion Wu. Action folded to the small blind Wu who pushed his big stack with , big blind Kang with the snap-call for his tournament life. Unfortunately for Kang, the cards favored Wu as it ran for the nut flush.

Quick eliminations followed starting with Dutch pro Tobias Peters. When the final table of 9 players was formed, the field trimmed to 7 when Huu Dung Nguyen delivered a double knockout. Huu’s won the flip against Soo Jo Kim‘s and Nrak Lentphor’s .

Four-handed

Three eliminations later, chip leader Hong Kong Nguyen railed Im Sangguk in 4th place. Sangguk four-bet called for his tournament life with only to find himself dominated throughout by Hong‘s . By this time, Hong commanded the table with 66% of the chips in play at his disposal.

Huu departed next at the hands of Wu who knocked out the Vietnamese pro in similar fashion as the bubble Kang. From small blind, Wu shoved with , big blind Huu called for all his chips with , the board ran for a winning straight to Wu.

At heads up, Hong was still ahead in the count. Within the first five minutes, Wu delivered a crushing blow to Hong‘s stack to switch it up. Wu‘s full house earned big pay on a board . Wu bet on every street, raised the river, all matched by Hong.

The next hand closed out the event with Hong all in holding , Wu , the board straight for Wu.

Payouts

1st En Ching Wu – Taiwan – VND 1,362,100,000
2nd Hong Kong Nguyen – Canada – VND 842,600,000
3rd Huu dung Nguyen – Vietnam – VND 503,300,000
4th Im sangguk – Korea- VND 323,200,000
5th Sung Chang Park – Korea – VND 244,700,000
6th Nam Phong – Vietnam – VND 203,200,000
7th Soo Jo Kim – Korea – VND 175,500,000
8th Linh Tran – Vietnam – VND 154,700,000
9th Nrak Lentphor – Thailand – VND 136,200,000
10th Nguyen Tuan Anh – Vietnam – VND 120,000,000
11th Trinh Anh Dung – Vietnam – VND 120,000,000
12th Michael Falcon – Denmark – VND 120,000,000
13th Alex Xiang Wei Lee – Singapore – VND 103,900,000
14th Kang Yoo Sin – Korea – VND 103,900,000
15th Tobias Peters – Netherlands – VND 103,900,000

Super Deepstack: TRUNG NGUYEN – VND 389,500,000 (~US$ 16,700)

The two day Super Deepstack brought in 83 to the felt at VND 16,500,000 each for a prize pool of VND 1,207,700,000 (~US$ 52,000). Interestingly, the pot was divvied up by players from Vietnam and Korea. The largest cut went to Vietnam’s own Trung Nguyen after defeating Korea’s Jang Ho Young at heads up.

Payouts

1st Trung Nguyen – Vietnam – VND 389,500,000
2nd Jang Ho Young – Korea – VND 2355,500,000
3rd Phung Huy Quang – Vietnam – VND 146,400,000
4th Luong Anh Tuan – Vietnam – VND 99,000,000
5th Kim Dongkyu – Korea – VND 75,500,000
6th Cao Ngoc Anh – Vietnam – VND 60,400,00
7th Nguyen Huu Tuan – Vietnam – VND 50,100,000
8th Lee Deok Young – Korea – VND 42,300,000
9th Yoo Heung Youl – Korea – VND 38,900,000
10th Nguyen Anh Minh – Vietnam – VND 36,200,000
11th Kim Kyung – Korea – VND 33,900,000

High Roller One Day Event: IM SANGGUK – VND 349,200,000 (~US$ 15,000)

Buy-in: VND 43,000,000 (~US$ 1,850)
Entries: 18
Prize pool: VND 698,400,000 (~US$ 30,000)

Payouts

1st Im Sangguk – Korea – VND 349,200,000
2nd Lu Zheng Hao – Singapore – VND 209,500,000
3rd Kim Dongkyu – Korea – VND 139,700,000

Deepstack Turbo: CEESVIN ABDULLA – VND 124,100,000 (US$ 5,300)

Buy-in: VND 8,800,000 (~US$ 380)
Entries: 41
Prize pool:  VND 318,200,000 (~US$ 13,700)

Payouts 

1st Ceesvin Abdulla – Singapore – VND 124,100,000
2nd Anthony Abram – Australia – VND 73,200,000
3rd Oh Sehoyu – Korea – VND 44,500,000
4th Jang Jong Bea – Korea – VND 31,800,000
5th Joe Zhang – China – VND 25,500,000
6th Duy Ho – USA – VND 19,100,000

6 Max Turbo: AIGARS LATVIJAS – VND 94,300,000 (~US$ 4,000)

Buy-in: VND 8,800,000 (~US$ 380)
Entries: 27
Prize pool: VND 209,500,000 (~US$ 9,000)

Payouts

1st Aigars Latvijas – Latvia – VND 94,300,000
2nd Yuwen Pan – China – VND 56,600,000
3rd Kim Gun Young – Korea – VND 35,600,000
4th Chinnarut Tamprateep – Thailand – VND 23,000,000