There has been a great deal of anticipation surrounding APT Daegu since it was added to the schedule, as this is the first time that the APT have hosted an event in this city – the fourth largest in Korea. When the anticipation eventually turned to action and the chips started flying, we soon saw a number of interesting stories develop. Here is a roundup of the action:
Kim Nayoung becomes the first lady to ever triumph in an APT Main Event
There have been 47 APT festivals since 2008, and this day had certainly been a long time coming. The APT now has it's first ever female Main Event champion – sending a reminder for any who needed one, that women can accomplish great things in poker, despite men very much outnumbering women at these live tournaments. Japanese player Kim Nayoung had been actively accumulating chips in the late stages of the Main Event, and managed to take the second largest chip stack to the final table, with 283,000.
Chip leader Sergey Zasorin had held a slight advantage going into the final table, with 290,500 and had been chip leader since day 1. In truth though, it was still anyone's tournament to win, with seven of the eight finalists having stacks above 75,000. The two largest stacks showed precisely why they were leading coming into the final day, as they gradually dispatched their opponents and eventually reached heads up play. It didn't take long for Nayoung to finish the job, and become the first ever female champion – lifting the trophy and taking home KRW25,800,000 ($22,563) for besting the field of 64 players.
Kim Nayoung (Photo APT)
Payouts and final placings
1st – Kim Nayoung – KRW25,800,000
2nd – Sergey Zasorin – KRW15,920,000
3rd – Takuya Kitamura – KRW11,640,000
4th – Yoichi Uesugi – KRW9,030,000
5th – Kimura Lee Jong Yeol – KRW7,820,000
6th – Yoshito Iwarma – KRW6,800,000
7th – Itsuki Taniguchi – KRW5,960,000
8th – Ki Min Woo – KRW5,310,000
Double Champions – Kim Nayoung, Pasi Heinanen, and Toan Nguyen
Not only did Nayoung take the Main Event title, but also underlined her credentials further by having already taken down the Deepstack Turbo Event earlier in the festival. She is not alone in being a double winner however, as Pasi Heinanen has already won the Welcome Event, and the NL Holdem 1 day Event. Also, Toan Nguyen has been destroying PLO fields, having taken down the PLO Hi Event, and the PLO High Roller.
Toan Nguyen (Photo APT)
Pasi Hainanen (Photo APT)
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.
Follow Me:
