After six days of continuous thrilling poker at Pro Poker Club, the massive 623-entry field of the Asia Poker League Vietnam – Main Event – downsized even further in Day 3. 23 runners returned to the felt and in just four hours, the final 9 players emerged.
For every one of these contenders, the hunt begins for their first major APL title and the coveted first prize amounting to VND 1,700,440,000 (~US$72,800).
Let’s have a look at the finalists in detail:
Zhu Yong – China – 4,670,000 – Seat 6
Zhu Yong heralds in the largest stack of the final 9. Unfortunately we don’t have much background on him however he has been a force to reckon with since Day 2. Zhu climbed up the charts very fast and entered Day 3 just under the big stacks. His first big pot was a double up against fellow countryman Te Mai to send the chip leader on a downward swing. After railing Quan Nguyen (11th), he entered the unofficial final table of 10 players in full command, claimed another pot to close out Day 3 with 4,670,000. He is the only player remaining looking to bring home the title for China.
Feng Zhao – Singapore – 3,895,000 – Seat 9
Feng Zhao is considerably the most decorated of the finalists. He has had numerous deep runs in various festivals around Asia which included a Main Event victory at APT Philippines 2014 to pocket his largest career payout of US$126,500. He nearly bagged a second title finishing 4th at APT Cambodia two months after. Zhao is ranked 8th in The Hendon Mob’s Singapore All Time Money List with nearly US$400K in earnings. Zhao brings in the second largest stack of the finalists of 3,895,000. He shipped a majority of it when he cracked Qinyi Tong’s (16th) pocket aces with pocket kings turned full house.
Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – 2,940,000 – Seat 3
Vu Duc Trung is one of four Vietnamese players in the final 9 lineup. He doesn’t have that many deep runs however he cashed in big at two events: 3rd place at the APT Vietnam Main Event in July 2018 and 4th place at the WPT Vietnam Super High Roller for a combined earnings of US$54K. Vu Duc staged an impressive comeback during the final 10 players after being chunked down to 8 bbs by Zhu Yong. He landed two double ups which included the elimination of Nguyen Huu Manh to form the final 9. He stacked up 2,940,000 for the third-largest in the count.
Hong Kong Nguyen – Canada – 1,825,000 – Seat 7
Hong Kong Nguyen is a professional online cash game player. To earn his spot into the final day, he eliminated three players in Day 3: Huy Pham (12th), Li Min Jie (13th) and Qinyi Tong (16th).
Vu Trung Thanh – Vietnam – 1,805,000 – Seat 1
With only one small score of US$782, Vu Trung Thanh is already looking to pocket his largest live tournament career payout no matter where he finishes. He holds the second largest stack of the three Vietnam representatives in the lineup. Vu Trung nearly fell before the final table with pocket sevens dominated by pocket aces but found some help on the board to improve to a straight.
Pham Quoc Anh – Vietnam – 1,335,000 – Seat 2
The third Vietnamese hope is Pham Quoc Anh aka Leo Pham. Pham rose from one of the shortest stacks entering Day 3 and proceeded to enter the final 10 in fighting form. He lost a pot to Zhu Yong to close with 1,335,000. Last March, Pham missed the final table of the WPT Vietnam Deepstacks Main Event finishing in 11th place for nearly US$ 10k. This is his first final table appearance.
Melvin Tay Yao Loon – Singapore – 1,170,000 – Seat 8
Another Singaporean in the lineup, Melvin Tay Yao Loon with 1,170,000. Loon entered Day 3 running a strong second rank with over a million and maintained it throughout to secure one of the final 9 spots. Loon is an online cash game player in his first known live tournament final table appearance. He is also vying to win the “Last Man Standing” contest against countryman Feng Zhao. Winner receives a seat the the next APL Main Event.
Huynh Vinh Quang – USA – 520,000 – Seat 5
Huynh Vinh Quang rarely attends these big festivals with his home country on the clear other side of the globe. Last year, Huynh posted his first-ever live tournament cash for his victory at the APT Vietnam High Rollers event. He pocketed US$34,386. This is his first major live Main Event appearance.
Chu Thai Thinh – Vietnam – 445,000 – Seat 4
Holding up the rear is Vietnam’s fourth representative, Chu Thai Thinh with 445,000. Chu was seen consistently backed by a large stack. He rose above the 289 entries of Day 1D amassing the largest stack of the day’s 75 survivors. At the end of Day 2, he was running fourth-in-chips out of the 23 players. In Day 3, he shipped a very big double up against Thang Tran and sent him packing in 21st place. He also railed Loo Jun Zhong in 14th place. However, his stack went south after a costly loss to Vu Duc Trung. This is Chu‘s first-ever live Main Event final table appearance. As it stands, he is already due to earn his largest live score.
Main Event Final Day info
The Main Event will broadcast live at Pro Poker Club YouTube channel with a 30-minute delay. Live updates running on Somuchpoker starting at 130pm.
Total chips in play: 18,610,000
Average stack: 2,068,000
Opening blinds: 30k-60k ante 60k
Remaining payouts
1st VND 1,700,440,000
2nd VND 1,192,360,000
3rd VND 767,320,000
4th VND 552,670,000
5th VND 424,130,000
6th VND 342,370,000
7th VND 284,450,000
8th VND 226,710,000
9th VND 170,050,000
Main Event Day 3 recap
The Main Event began on May 12 with 623 total entries over the course of the four starting days. At VND 16,500,000 buy-in, this generated a guarantee breaking prize pool of VND 9,064,650,000 (~US$388,000) and it also broke their own Vietnam record of VND 8.3 BN set at the inaugural event last year.
At Day 2, 149 runners returned with only 23 advancing to Day 3. Entering with the largest stack was Te Mai, one of four players still in from China. Te Mai had a rougher day than previous, taking multiple hits to his stack to finish 17th. Pros Huy Pham (12th) and Norbert Koh (19th) also had their challenges falling before the unofficial final table.
One of the worst spills was Qinyi Tong crippled down by Feng Zhao when pocket kings found a two-outer on the river to crack aces. Tong fell after in 16th place while Zhao zoomed to become one of the leaders.
Also taking a hard fall was China’s Li Min Jie. His pocket kings wasn’t so fortunate with Hong Kong Nguyen’s pocket nines improving to a full house. To form the official final table of nine, Vu Duc Trung knocked out Nguyen Huu Manh aka King Maker by spiking a higher two pair on the turn and river.
You can read up on the action via our Live Updates posts.
Day 3 Payouts
10th Nguyen Huu Manh – Vietnam – VND 142,130,000
11th Nguyen Pham The Quan – Vietnam – VND 142,130,0000
12th Huy Quang Pham – Vietnam – VND 142,130,000
13th Li Min Jie – China – VND 113,220,000
14th Loo Jun Zhong – Malaysia – VND 113,220,000
15th Nguyen Duy Tung – Vietnam – VND 113,220,000
16th Qinyi Tong – China – VND 94,630,000
17th Te Mai – China – VND 94,630,000
18th Dong Kyoon Seo – Korea – VND 94,630,000
19th Norbert Koh – Singapore – VND 79,770,000
20th Yi Won Lee – Korea – VND 79,770,000
21st Thang Minh Tran – Vietnam – VND 79,770,000
22nd Tran Thanh Van – Vietnam – VND 66,260,000
23rd Tran Xuan Truc – Vietnam – VND 66,260,000
APL Vietnam 2019 – Full coverage
Article by Tricia David
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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