Another tremendous day at the Asian Poker Tour‘s season finale – APT Hanoi Billions 2023 – as more players poured in resulting in record fields at the Super High Roller and Mystery Bounty. Over at the Vietnam National Cup, local player Chu Van Tien took it to the limit to capture his first ever live title. The festival kicked off on December 1 and will run until December 10 at the National Convention Center. Here are the Day 2 highlights.
Chu Van Tien wins maiden title at Vietnam National Cup
A very happy first time champion at the series as Vietnam’s Chu Van Tien emerged victorious at the Vietnam National Cup. Chu was proclaimed the winner after an ICM deal at heads up with Elliot Damashek. Chu locked up a career high VN₫ 954,000,000 (~$39,300) and his first ever live title.
On opening day, the Vietnam National Cup whipped past its guarantee after a massive influx of 1,527 entries poured in to generate a record-breaking prize pool of VN₫ 6,665,355,000 (~$275,370). Returning to Day 2 were 212 players led by Chu Van Tien who at the time, only had one small live cash to his name.
Several hours later, Chu found himself at the final table where he battled from just 4 big blinds. As players fell, Chu laddered up to five-handed where he eliminated Allan Pun then got lucky against Damashek to survive with 8 bb. Another come from behind double up drove his stack to 23 bb then finished off Cezar Quiambao in 3rd place to earn the chip lead entering heads up. Chu and Damashek opted on an ICM deal. Chu was awarded the win for his larger stack. For runner up Damashek, he too locked up a career high score of VN₫ 892,865,000 (~$36,760).
Buy in: VN₫ 5,000,000 (~$206)
Guarantee: VN₫ 3,000,0000,000 (~$123,590)
Entries: 1,527 (1,022 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 6,665,355,000 (~$275,370)
ITM: 212 players
Final table payouts
| 1 | Chu Van Tien | ₫954,000,000* |
| 2 | Elliot Damashek | ₫892,865,000* |
| 3 | Cezar Quiambao | ₫472,990,000 |
| 4 | Ngoc Thang Nguyen | ₫347,880,000 |
| 5 | Allan Tsz Him Pun | ₫272,620,000 |
| 6 | Huu Manh Nguyen | ₫208,260,000 |
| 7 | William Ysmael | ₫159,360,000 |
| 8 | Junguang Chen | ₫112,860,000 |
| 9 | Nguyen Van Chien | ₫86,500,000 |
*Heads up ICM deal. Full payouts list via this link: Vietnam National Cup results
Record fields at the Super High Roller and Mystery Bounty
Two highly popular events were the reasons for four scheduled events to be cancelled. The first was the Mystery Bounty event, sponsored by Natural8, where an overwhelming turnout of 1,115 entries (759 unique) across two flights was witnessed. This set another APT record. Priced at VN₫ 11,000,000(~$452) to enter, the prize pool easily surpassed the VN₫ 5 Billion guarantee for a sweeter VN₫ 7,027,845,000 (~$289,330).
Another blockbuster event was the Super High Roller 8-Max with 156 entries (115 unique) putting up the VN₫ 120,000,000 buy in (~$4,933) for a substantial VN₫ 16,947,840,000 (~$697,750) prize pool. The previous APT high score was 117 entries at APT Taipei for a prize pool of just over half a million USD. The eventual champion is slated to secure a burly VN₫ 3,940,430,000 (~$162,330).
Both of these record breaking events will resume on day 3 of the festivities.
APT Hanoi Billions 2023
Taking place from December 1 to December 10, 2023 at the National Convention Center, APT Hanoi Billions 2023 is set to be the brand’s most ambitious festival hosted in Vietnam. The ten-day series offers a diverse range of poker variants, extending beyond the usual Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha. Players can anticipate games like Razz, Stud, Single Draw, 2-7 gracing the tables. With the expanded schedule, players of all bankrolls will have the opportunity to vie for a trophy.
At the forefront is the VN₫ 25,000,000,000 (~$1,000,000) guaranteed MAIN EVENT. This is the richest prize pool ever to be announced by any brand for Vietnam and the most sought after title by every player. The Main Event runs from December 4 to 9, 2023 with buy in at VN₫ 36,000,000 (~$1,480).
APT Hanoi Billions Main Event aiming for a record-breaker – December 4 to 9, 2023
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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