Main Event

After 13 heads up hands, Taiwan’s Chao Ting Cheng defeated Filipino Junnie Pamplona in dramatic fashion. Pamplona had a full house, Cheng had quads. What a great way to end this exciting tournament! Cheng earned an ICM deal payout of US$ 94,448 and the coveted PokerStars Shard trophy.

*Heads up deal

30,000 ante

And they’re off! The hunt for the APPT Cambodia Main Event title has kicked off! Everyone is guaranteed a minimum US$ 10,908 but all eyes will be on the PokerStars Shard Trophy and US$ 120,300 top prize.

25,000 ante

Chao Ting Cheng shoves with A♣ K♦ and Bien Mai snap calls with A♠ Q♥ , the board runs 6♥ 7♣ 8♦ T♠ 5♥ for a double up to Cheng.

20,000 ante

Catching the action on a board 6♣ 9♣ 4♥ 7♦ T♣ , Bien Mai bets 150,000, Jimmy Torres raises to 500,000, snap-called by Mai who then folds when the A♣ K♣ nut flush is revealed.

20,000 ante

Jun Young Park all in with K♠ {qh and is dominated by Bien Mai’s A♦ Q♠ , no help comes as the board runs 2♥ A♠ 6♣ 4♠ 5♠ .

16,000 ante

Three way to the flop 4♥ Q♠ 7♠ 9♦ . Utg Bien Mai bets, Lukasz Jancowicz folds, big blind Hua Wei Lin check-calls. On the turn 6♥ , Lin checks again, Mai fires 175,000, this time Lin folds.

16,000 ante

Down to 135,000, Jin Woo Kim shoves with K♥ Q♦ , big stacked Bien Mai calls with Q♠ 9♠ , the board runs { 9♥ 7♥ 4♠ A♠ K♠ for runner runner flush to Mai.

6000 ante

The first half hour of the new level saw 16 players go bust. 55 players remaining. Here are the top 5 in chips. Bien Mai leads. We were told by a player that Bien shipped big pot with pocket Aces against Ace-King.

After twelve hours of play, the APPT Cambodia Main Event Final 9 players was formed! Filipino Junnie Pamplona bagged the largest stack with Taiwan’s Eric Tsai and Colombia’s Jimmy Torres close behind. The finalists return at 1pm on Monday, May 15, 2023 and will chase down the coveted title, trophy, and six figure US$ 120,300 payout. Somuchpoker will bring you the blow-by-blow action via Live Updates.

Main Event Day 1A is in the books with 41 players out of 176 entries surviving the 13 rounds. Cheng Zhang bagged the chip lead with 399,000 and at his heels was hot running Bien Mai with 394,000.

1200 ante

After a preflop betting war, small blind Bien Mai is all in with A♥ A♣ , big blind Quan Zhou with K♥ K♦ , the board runs A♦ 6♥ 6♣ 4♣ 5♦ . Bien ships it as Zhou busts.

1200 ante

Selim Souissi came over to tell us what just went down between him and Bien Mai. In an earlier bout, Souissi lost 30,000 of his stack to Bien with a set beating his top two pair. In this new round, Souissi hit back in a three way all in preflop. He had pocket Sevens, Bien with Ace-King, at risk player also with Ace-King, a seven showed up on the board to ensure Souissi’s win as one player goes bust.

1000 ante

Bien Mai is visibly one of the chip leaders with 208,000 after taking down two beefy pots. The first one sent a player packing. Lojack player raises. cutoff calls, button Bien Mai three-bets to 7500, lojack call, cutoff jams, Bien quickly jams, lojack folds.

Cutoff J♣ J♠ Bien A♠ 4♠

When the flop lands A♦ 6♣ 2♥ the all in player gets up to go and leaves as the board completes T♥ turn and Q♦ river.

Next winning hand was told to us by Selim Souissi who lost 30,000 to Bien. Souissi says he had Ax Qx , Bien had 5x 5x , the board ran A♠ 5x 3x Qx 8x , Bien checks to Souissi who opted to check back, thus avoiding the trap.