APT Hanoi Billions rages past Main Event $1M guarantee; Nozomu Shimizu with back-to-back takedowns

The Asian Poker Tour redefined history as the APT Hanoi Billions 2023 numbers continued to soar on Day 4 of festivities. Never before has a poker event in Southeast Asia attracted such an overwhelming turnout that despite the addition of more tables, side events continued to be canceled as seats were simply not enough. This poker event is undoubtedly the largest gathering of players in this section of Asia and it shows no signs of slowing down.

The biggest story on Day 4 was the Main Event which raged past its VN₫ 25,000,000,000 (~$ 1 Million) guarantee. Flight A attracted a booming 670 entries (521 unique) and with another 213 added from Natural8 Online qualifiers, the combined 883 entries bloated the prize pool to VN₫ 27.6 Billion. That figure will continue to rise as three more entry flights have yet to play out and registration open just before the start of Day 2.

As action continues to unfold, it will be interesting to see if the Main Event numbers can match up to big brands such as China Poker Games, World Poker Tour, and PokerStars. By the looks of it, it is already headed in that direction.

Flight A closed with 246 players bagging up led by Vietnam’s Do Quang Thang. Other notables powering through were USOP Hanoi Main Event champion Vishal Ojha, China’s Xiaosheng Zheng, PSPC runner up Marc Rivera, WSOPE Main Event runner up Ting-Yi Tsai, USOP Danang Main Event champion The Naing, and APT’s biggest Main Event champion / Triton Main Event champion Punnat Punsri to name a few.

Japan’s Nozomu Shimizu strikes again!

In other Day 4 news, Nozomu Shimizu struck again! The Japanese superstar player captured a second win at the Superstar Challenge. The only other player to have achieved this in 2023 was Hoang Hai Nam at USOP Hanoi back in September. Hoang was seen battling it out on the felt but failed to reach the money round.

Shimizu is Japan’s most achieved player of the year with deep runs in the world’s biggest tournaments. Preferring high roller tournaments, Shimizu outlasted the star studded final table that included Malaysia’s Kok Wai Sim (8th), Nguyen Van Sang (7th), and WSOP Online Main Event runner up Kannapong Thanarattrakul (4th).

Shimizu defeated Estonia’s Ragnar Toompere at heads up to lock up another multi billion dong first prize of VN₫ 5,438,810,000 (~$223,930). With this win, Shimizu has now collected roughly $400K in winnings at the series and is  nearing $1.8 Million in total live earnings.

Vishal Ojha runs deep at Day 4

Attending his first ever APT live event, India’s Vishal Ojha is determined to make the mark. At Day 4, Ojha nearly shipped the Single Day High Roller, falling only to China’s Yuzhu Wang at heads up. After hitting the cage for his VN₫ 1,576,830,000 (~$64,970), payout, Ojha jumped in the Main Event where he secured a spot into Day 2 with a sizable 268 bb stack.

Record breaking events of Day 4

Event 18: Single Day High Roller

Buy in: VN₫ 50,000,000 (~$2,075)
Entries: 271 (210 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 11,829,150,000 (~$486,995)
ITM: 39 places
Winner: YUZHU WANG – China – VN₫ 2,371,730,000 (~$97,716)

Event 16: Sunday Super Stack

Buy in: VN₫ 7,500,000 (~$310)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2,000,000,000
Entries: 555
Prize pool: VN₫ 3,640,410,000 (~$149,870)
ITM: 79 places
Winner: JUNGHYUN LEE – South Korea – VN₫ 697,192,500 (~$28,725)

Event 33: Turbo – Deuces Wild

Buy in: VN₫ 6,000,000 (~$249)
Entries: 67 (57 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 350,946,000 (~$14,440)
ITM: 9 places
Winner: BACH QUANG TRUONG – Vietnam – VN₫ 102,286,000 (~$4,215)

Event 35: Hyper Turbo

Buy in: VN₫ 2,000,000 (~$83)
Entries: 273 (231 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 476,657,999 (~$19,620)
ITM: 39 places
Winner: NGUYEN VAN KHOA – Vietnam – VN₫ 95,588,000 (~$3,940)

Other Winners

Event 27: Limit Triple Draw Mix

Buy in: VN₫ 5,000,000 (~$207)
Entries: 34 (33 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 148,410,000 (~$6,115)
ITM: 5 places
Winner: HAL ROTHOLZ – USA – VN₫ 54,910,000 (~$2,260)

Event 28: NL Hold’em Freezeout

Buy in: VN₫ 10,000,000 (~$415)
Players: 239
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,086,470,000 (~$85,960)
ITM: 31 places
Winner: HERNAN JAYBEE VILLA – Philippines – VN₫ 441,290,000 (~$18,180)

Event 30: PL Omaha High -Lazy Rivers

Buy in: VN₫ 4,000,000 (~$166)
Entries: 77 (56 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 268,884,000 (~$11,060)
ITM: 12 places
Winner: YUCHENG XIAO – China – VN₫ 46,000,000 ~$1,895)

Event 34: Turbo NL Omaha Hi-Lo 5 Card

Buy in: VN₫ 3,000,000 (~$124)
Entries: 56 (42 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 146,664,000 (~$6,040)
ITM: 8 places
Winner: DALE TOWNSEND – Australia – VN₫ 43,984,000 (~$1,810)

APT Hanoi Billions – Festival Results

APT Hanoi Billions 2023 boasts ₫60 Billion (~$2.5M) season-ender festival guarantee; Main Event guarantees US$1M!