Ongoing in Ho Chi Minh City at the Pro Poker Club is the Asian Poker Tour’s sixth festival of the year. APT Vietnam 2019 has been running since July 3 and is scheduled to conclude on July 14. This is the tour’s second visit of the year with a third one lined up for early November.
The twelve-day series features two highlighted tournaments and 23 side events. Half of the events have already been claimed including the Main Event that witnessed China’s Zhou Jiaping ship it for his first-ever career title and largest live score of VN₫ 1,892,170,000 (~US$ 81,000).
To briefly recap Jiaping’s road to victory, he entered the final 8 sandwiched in the middle. New Zealand’s Oliver Helm led the pack. The host country had odds on winning with five contenders in the lineup. Among them was Nang Quang Nguyen, one of the most decorated players from Vietnam. Last year, Quang finished 2nd at this same event in October then turned a win the next month at the APL Vietnam Main Event.
However, Quang would once again be denied an APT major title falling in 5th place. He was Jiaping’s first of four victims at the final table. Jiaping railed Nguyen Tien Thanh (4th), Oliver Helm (3rd), and to seize the title, he downed Nguyen Nam Duong at heads up in just five quick hands.
Final 8 payouts
1st Zhou Jiaping – China – VN₫ 1,892,170,000
2nd Nguyen Nam Duong – Vietnam – VN₫ 1,261,440,000
3rd Oliver Helm – New Zealand – VN₫ 876,930,000
4th Nguyen Tien Thanh “Terry” – Vietnam – VN₫ 633,930,000
5th Quang Nguyen – Vietnam – VN₫ 473,680,000
6th Nguyen Pham Duy Khanh – Vietnam – VN₫ 365,580,000
7th Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam – VN₫ 290,310,000
8th Tobias Napel Cornelis – Norway – VN₫ 236,520,000
The Main Event ran from July 4 to 9 with 458 entries at VN₫ 22,000,000 (~US$ 950) for a prize pool of VN₫ 8,885,200,000 (~US$ 380,000). The event paid out 46 places. Among the players in the money were: Kannapong Thanarattrakul (10th), David Erquiaga (14th), Hisashi Ogi (27th), Soo Jo Kim (34th), and Cao Ngoc Anh (40th).
Early winners
With the event halfway through, several side events have also been claimed. Koreans had a strong showing. They were among the festival’s biggest early winners.
Eunho Kwon wins the Monster Stack #1
Opening up the festivities was the first of two Monster Stack events. This is a popular one at every APT series. 131 took to the felt at VN₫ 11,000,000 (~US$ 475) each. A prize pool worth VN₫ 1,270,700,000 (~US$ 54,500) was generated with 22 paid. Capturing his first-ever APT win was Korea’s Eunho Kwon along with a healthy payday of VN₫ 308,120,000 (~US$ 13,200).
Final 8 payouts
1st Eunho Kwon – Korea – VN₫ 308,120,000
2nd Stephen Schumacher – USA – VN₫ 205,430,000
3rd Rubin Labroo – India – VN₫ 142,810,000
4th Tobias Cornelis – Netherlands – VN₫ 103,150,000
5th Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam –VN₫ 77,140,000
6th Tan Chong Hwee – Singapore – VN₫ 59,540,000
7th Casper Wong – Singapore – VN₫ 47,280,000
8th Justin Skovholt – USA – VN₫ 38,520,000
Junwoo Oh wins the Super High Rollers
The series schedule offered seven High Rollers events with the Super High Rollers packing the largest punch. 25 signed up at VN₫ 107,500,000 (~US$ 4,700) each for a prize pool of VN₫ 2,425,000,000 (~US$ 104,000). Korean player Junwoo Oh banked the VN₫ 886,520,000 (~US$ 38,000) first prize. This was the single largest payout of the completed side events. It was also Oh’s first-ever live tournament win.
Payouts
1st Junwoo Oh – Korea – VN₫ 886,520,000
2nd You Hewng Youl – Korea – VN₫750,000,000
3rd Le Zhenghua – China – VN₫371,730,000
4th Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 245,150,000
5th Daniel Smith – New Zealand – VN₫ 171,600,000
Other High Rollers champions
In addition to the SHR winner above, three other High Rollers events also completed.
Event #2: High Rollers #1
Prize pool: VN₫ 485,000,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 54,000,000 – Entries: 10
1st Hong Kong Nguyen – Canada – VN₫ 279,000,000
2nd Soo Jo Kim – Korea – VN₫ 151,000,000
3rd Huu Dung Nguyen – Vietnam – VN₫ 55,000,000
Event #8: High Rollers Single Day #1
Prize pool: VN₫ 931,200,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 43,000,000 – Entries: 24
1st Nguyen Manh Hung – Vietnam – VN₫ 455,470,000
2nd Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 244,320,000
3rd Tomokazu Hatanda – Japan – VN₫ 141,980,000
4th Long Ip Seng – China – VN₫ 89,430,000
Event #12: High Rollers Single Day #2
Prize pool: VN₫ 1,319,200,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 43,000,000 – Entries: 34
1st Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 501,940,000
2nd Daniel Smith – New Zealand – VN₫ 308,270,000
3rd Chee Keong Teng – Singapore – VN₫ 200,150,000
4th Mark Gruendemann – Ireland – VN₫ 136,890,000
5th Seong Hwang – Korea – VN₫ 98,250,000
6th Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – VN₫ 73,700,000
Article by Tricia David
