APPT Main Event

Another intense yet thrilling day came to a close at the record breaking APPT Cambodia Main Event with the field reduced to the last 9 players. This was determined at the fall of Sunghak Lee in 10th place to Christopher Mateo just before the eleventh hour kicked in. In turn, Mateo bagged up the largest stack of 3,275,000 (81 bb) with his closest challenger, Nicola Spicher, sitting 13 bb behind.

Running third rank is none other than Trong Hieu Ngo, the champion of the APPT Manila Championship that took place last month. Hieu has been running strong at the festival with a trophy already captured at the Megastack High Roller. Hieu is looking to be the first player to win the APPT Main Event in back to back tours.

Entering Day 2, Sven McDermott led the chase and became the first player to amass a million in chips very early on. McDermott caught Alexsandr Blokhin bluffing to bring about the bubble round.

After several attempts, the bubble burst on Jeremy Jehanne who was forced all in on the big blind and fell to small blind caller Noyan Slamiya.

Others down the lineup are the highly decorated David Erquiaga who is on a hot streak this year, Ceesvin Abraham, Vaicheslav I, and well known cash game slugger Donghyup Kim.

Standing out of that star loaded final 9 lineup is USA's Ziad Zebib, who is already looking at a substantial profit having won his seat via one of the flip out events for just US$ 165.

When the final 9 players return they are each guaranteed US$ 13,954 while awaiting the champion is a life-changing US$ 147,500. The remaining payouts are as follows:

1st US$ 147,500

2nd US$ 92,000

3rd US$ 66,000

4th US$ 50,600

5th US$ 39,000

6th US$ 30,000

7th US$ 23,000

8th US$ 17,700

9th US$ 13,953

Blinds continue for just over 2 minutes at Level 25. At the completion, Level 16 onwards will have blinds increase every 75 minutes.

Donghyup Kim initiates the action with an 80,000 raise, small blind Nicola Spicher three-bets 210,000, Kim calls to go post flop. Cards land Q♦ 3♥ 4♠ , Spicher continues for 175,000, Kim calls then faces another bet of 250,000 on the turn A♣ . Kim opts to fold and drops below the million marker.

Ceesvin Abraham has been grinding for chips with much success at this short handed round. One of the pots was up against big blind Christopher Mateo who called Abraham's preflop raise. Both players checked the flop 6♥ 9♣ 8♥ then Mateo bet 75,000 on the turn 5♣ . Abraham made the call and the river was 4♥ .

Mateo fired another bet of 100,000, was answered with a 275,000 raise from Abraham, Mateo called and mucked to the 7♥ 7♦ straight.

Action folds to the small blind Ziad Zebib, he looks down at A♠ Q♦ and shoves 530,000. Big blind Donghyup Kim calls and shows A♦ 3♦ . The board runs 6♠ A♣ 7♠ J♦ 2♥ for a clean double up to Zebib.

Abraham has a chance to bad beat with a king on the flop but doesn’t improve further to pay McDermott a full reload.

Short stacked Ngoc Thai Huynh is hanging in there with the big stack landing a double up with Q♠ J♠ that got lucky on a board A♠ Q♦ 2♣ J♥ 9♥ against caller Ceesvin Abraham with A♥ 6♣ .

Ferdinand Lu makes it 65,000 which is cheap for big blind Donghyup Kim to call and see the flop 3♥ 2♥ 7♦ . Good board for the blind who check-calls 75,000. On the turn T♠ , Lu fires sends out 160,000 but this time is met with a check-raise from Kim to 350,000. Lu gives it some thought and opts to fight another hand.

Donghyup Kim takes charge with a 50,000 raise from hijack that big blind Adrien Berger calls. When the board runs 5♦ Q♥ T♥, Kim fires 150,000 and another 330,000 on the turn 8♠ . Berger check-calls both. On the river K♠ , Kim fires again for 330,000, Berger tanks and pays to see. Kim shows K♦ Q♦ two pair and ships a huge pot as Berger plunges.

Following the loss to Hieu Ngo, Sven McDermott enters the next pot that builds to 400,000 by the turn A♥ 7♦ 5♣ 6♥ . Big blind Sunghak Lee checks, McDermott bets 240,000, Lee tanks for a time bank then slides in the call. On the river 2♠ . McDermott lays out 530,000, Lee tanks again for two time banks then gives up his stake on the pot.

With a huge 460,000 brewed preflop, Sven McDermott test bets 240,000 on a board K♣ A♠ Q♦ 3♦ and Hieu Ngo check-calls. They head to the river A♣ . Both tank check. Hieu opens A♦ 5♦ that earns a muck.

Three players are in for 50,000 and all play it friendly on the flop 7♦ K♣ K♠ . On the turn 8♦ , no more checking with Nicola Spicher betting 65,000 and getting Donghyup Kim to join to the river 9♣. It's back to checking again. Spicher dominates with A♣ J♠ over A♦ T♦ to claim the pot.

Jumping into the action on the turn 9♥ 2♣ 4♥ J♥ with 140,000 in the pot, Donghyup Kim check-calls 150,000 to see the turn 5♥ . Hieu Ngo leads with another 250,000 bet to take it down.

CO Ferdinand Lu opens 45,000, followed by Adrien Berger's 110,000 from the button that sends Lu in the tank. After the aid of a time bank, Lu makes it 345,000 and gets it through without seeing a flop.

UTG min raises and gets called by HJ Sven Mcdermott and Hu Jinlong in the big blind. The flop 7♥ 3♣ Q♠ gets checked to Sven Mcdermott, making it 50,000, Hu Jinlong check-raises to 150,000 with Sven Mcdermott calling, eliminating the initial raiser in the process. The turn 9♥ has Hu check-folding to a 150,000 bet from Mcdermott.

Noyan Slamiya jams his remaining 120,000 with A♦ A♥ and gets called by Hu Jinlong with A♠ 6♠ . With 3♣ 9♠ 2♠ K♥ 7♠ Hu hits a flush and sends Noyan Slamiya packing.

Ziad Zebib starts us of with a min-raise and calls DB Christopher Mateo's 125,000 to see the flop 3♠ 5♣ T♥ . Checked to the turn J♥ , Zebib leads 100,000, Mateo calls. On the 2♥ river Zebib bets his last 255,000 and Mateo tank folds.

With a raise 45,000 from CO Ngoc Thai Huynh, Michael Falcon puts in his last 175,000 from the BB and Huynh calls.

Four bet shove from UTG Nicola Spicher and a call from Zinan Xu in the BB, who is at risk, see the eyes wander to the dealers hands once more.

Jinlong Hu opens 40,000 from the button and calls Michael Falcons BB jam for all his chips.

With HJ Donghyup Kim opening 40,000, button Hieu Ngo and BB David Erquiaga stay for the flop 9♥ 6♠ A♥ . Kim's 60,000 c-bet takes us to the turn 8♠ heads up with David Erquiaga, another 100,000 c-bet and a call give us the river T♣ and David Erquiaga goes deep in the tank, facing the chip leader's jam. After three time banks he lets it go to preserve some of his chips.

Picking up the action on 2♠ 8♦ 8♥ J♠ and 150,000 in the middle, Jinlong Hu check raises to 150,000 against Agharazi Babayev's 65,000, who decides to call, flicking a time bank in the dealers direction, and then leading 150,000 of his own on the 7♣ river. Hu decides to let it go and is among the short stacks again.

Min-raise and a call from UTG Jinlong Hu and SB Noyan Slamiya gives us the flop 8♠ 5♥ 9♠ , with Slamiya donk-shoving 220,000 into Hu's shorter stack that goes in the middle as well. Two blanks keep Jinlong Hu's top set in the lead.

When David Erquiaga makes it 40,000 from HJ and Abraham Ceesvin counters with a jam for 400,000 from CO, all the chips go in and we see the board revealed as 3♣ 8♠ J♦ 4♠ 8♥ .

Opening 40,000 in +1 and then calling Michael Falcons 220,000 shove from CO, Hu Jinlong needs to hit with K♠ Q♣ against Falcon's 4♦ 4♥ . He does so when the dealer tables 4♠ T♥ Q♠ 5♦ 4♣ , but still loses against quads.

Nicola Spicher defends his BB with a 70,000 three-bet against SB Zinan Xu bet-calling 40,000. Check-call all the way for Zinan Xu on 5♠ Q♣ 8♦ 4♦ 2♣ , 45,000, 85,000 and 150,000 to muck against Nicola Spicher's K♥ Q♦ .

Alston Wang shoves 165,000 with T♥ T♣ from the CO and button David Erquiaga is the only one electing to call with Q♠ J♠. The board runs J♦ 5♣ 4♠ 7♥ K♣ and David Erquiaga eliminates Alston Wang.

With a 45,000 open on the button and 625,000 jam from SB David Erquiaga, Yi Chuen Hung fills up his BB for a total of 100,000 and hopes for the best.

Michael Falcon opens 50,000 from the CO, stares down at a 240,000 jam from BB Noyan Slamiya and says call.

Ziad Zebib starts us off with 40,000 from UTG and only Ferdinand Lu wants to see the flop, defending his big blind. Lu check-calls for 30,000 on Q♠ 9♣ 9♠ and 60,000 on the turn 9♥ to switch it up and lead on the river K♦ for 100,000. Zebib needs a time bank to find the call and mucks when Lu flips over K♠ J♠ .

With SB Donghyup Kim pushing his massive stack and BB Khoa Anh Ngo calling for his last 150,000 we have another player at risk.

With 23 fighters left the top spots go to:

Blasting his last 148,000 in the middle, Naoki Watanabe watches the action unfold behind him. David Erquiaga ups it to 300,000 in the SB and Sunghak Lee calls for a second time from the button to see the flop A♠ 3♠ 5♣ . David Erquiaga says he folded jacks when faced with Lee's 286,000 all-in who flips over A♥ J♦ against Watanabe's A♦ 8♣ . The dealer seals the deal with the turn J♣ and an insignificant A♣ on the river to send Naoki Watanabe packing.

Christopher Mateo tests the waters with a 35,000 open from the button and Huseyin Akgul defends his BB. Checked down to the turn 6♦ 5♦ 6♣ A♥ we see Akgul take over the reigns with a 40,000 lead, answered by a call. The 7♥ river has Huseyin Akgul bluff for 200,000 with a missed flush draw J♦ 3♦ and a happy customer with A♦ 8♦

With Michael Falcon opening 35,000 from CO and Noyan Slamiya defending the BB we have action on the flop J♠ 3♥ A♣ . Falcon c-bets 25,000, countered by a 125,000 check-raise from Slamiya, who finds a strong fold with A♠ T♣ against Falcons 323,000 all-in with A♦ K♥

With UTG raising to 35,000, Ferdinand Lu calls from the CO, button Adrien Berger makes it 110,000 and Lu is the only one to call. The flop 3♣ 8♥ J♥ has Berger bet-fold 80,000 when faced with Lu's massive all-in.

Khoa Anh Ngo open-jams 95,000 from the button, finds a caller in Sunghak Lee from the BB and we wait for the board to materialize.

UTG Christopher Mateo gets us going with 35,000 and both blinds defend. The flop Q♠ 4♠ A♥ gets checked to him, he continues for 65,000 and only Ziad Zebib finds a call from the BB. The turn T♠ has Zebib lead for 115,000 and thereby secure the pot uncontested.

Erik Rozhynskyi slides his last 85,000 in the middle, gets called by Donghyup Kim on the button and the table watches the next race unfold.

Sven Mcdermott opens 32,000 in +1, Mike Takayama is not convinced and says all-in from the SB for around 200,000, Mcdermott snaps and Takayama's K♣ Q♣ is dominated by Mcdermott's A♠ K♦ . The low board 4♥ 8♥ 8♠ 2♣ 6♦ is of no use for Mike Takayama and another deep run for him comes to an end.

Adrien Berger starts the action with a raise to 32,000 from CO, followed by a reraise to 146,000 from Arthur Pierre Eldin to his left. With the action back at Berger, he moves his 1,100,000 in the middle, enough to put Eldin all-in with his last 600,000, who says call and the players' fate is in the dealers hands once more.

Looking at Agharazi Babayev's limped SB, Hieu Ngo decides to make it 45,000 and we see the flop T♣ A♥ Q♣ . Check-call 35,000 for the 2♥ turn, another check call for 67,000 to see the river J♣ . This time Agharazi Babayev cant find the call for 75,000 and flings his cards in the middle.

With the pot being at 74,000, both contestants check to the turn A♣ and the action gets started with a 35,000 bet by HJ Adrien Berger and a call by Donghyup Kim. The river 8♠ has both players fall back to the same pattern, this time with a 225,000 bet by Berger with holding 2♥ 2♦ and the call being good for Kim's A♠ J♥ .

Arthur Eldin is on a rush picking up pot after pot and sending his challengers tanking. Before Table 3 broke, Eldin went head to head against Christopher Mateo and Donghyup Kim.

Up against Mateo, an 80,000 pot was brewed by the turn 8♣ J♥ T♥ 8♦ . Eldin bet half pot and Mateo flatted. On the river 5♠ , Eldin bet 90,000 and again Mateo called. Eldin flipped open 8♥ 2♥ and collected the pot.

Moving over to Table 2, a pot of 270,000 was built by the river board 5♥ 6♣ 2♠ 3♣ Q♦ . Eldin fired 125,000 and Donghyup Kim tank-folded.

UTG Sunghak Lee puts his newly acquired 92,000 to the test, Aladin Reskallah successfully isolates from +1 and the dealer hits the felt.

Micro stack Sunghak Lee puts his last 34,000 in the middle, gets called by David Erquiaga and the eyes are on the dealer.

Agharazi Babayev opens 25,000 from HJ, gets called by CO Hieu Ngo and we see the flop A♣ A♠ 8♥ with Agharazi Babayev slowing down to check-call Hieu Ngo's 25,000 lead. Checking down 6♠ and arriving at the river J♠ , Agharazi Babayev takes the lead again with 25,000 and adds a small pot to his big stack.

Arthur Pierre Eldin starts small with 25,000 in +1, BB Jean Testa shoves his remaining 110,000 with Q♠ Q♣ , gets called by Eldin's 7♦ 7♥ and the dealer delivers the bad news for Testa by flipping over 6♥ J♠ 2♥ 7♣ 4♥ , cracking the queens and sending him to the rail.

Huseyin Akgul opens 25,000 from HJ, Adrien Berger makes it 85,000 and Akgul's four-bet-jam is too much for Adrien Berger to stay in the hand.

Picking up the action on 9♥ 6♠ 3♦ with 68,000 in the pot, we go check-ckeck to the turn 8♦ and BB Hieu Ngo leads 20,000 to find Alston Wang calling in the HJ. The river T♠ has Hieu Ngo slide out another 35,000 which is enough to make Alston Wang fold.

SB Hu Jinlong needs a time bank before calling Nevan Chang's 95,000 all-in from the button.

With Trong Hieu Ngo opening from +2, HJ Panitan Poopadsri decides to jam for 182,000 and a call from Trong Hieu Ngo gets the dealer working.

With 55,000 in the pot and A♦ Q♦ 9♣ on the board, HJ Nikolai Zhivoderov raise-jams 105,000 against Hyun Kyu Bae's 50k, who quickly calls.

Coming to the action on the river 4♦ 7♠ 2♥ 9♠ 4♥ with 115,000 in the pot, we see BB Michael Falcon check-calling 90,000 and mucking his hand after watching Sven McDerrmott table K♦ 7♥ .

David Erquiaga jams his last 117,000 from HJ and Frank Lillis fills up his big blind.

Button Panitan Poopadsri attacks the blinds with 20,000 and calls Ceesvin's 65,000 reraise from SB. The flop J♦ K♠ K♥ has Ceesvin Abraham bet-calling a min raise to 60,000 from Poopadsri for a checked turn 5♠ and a river Q♣ . A 320,000 lead-jam from Abraham sends Poopadsri deep in the tank. Having made his decision, he sends his cards and two time banks the dealers way.

UTG Bernard Vu starts off with a 23,000 raise and finds three callers from HJ, CO and BB. Michael Falcon takes over with a 27,000 lead from HJ on 7♦ Q♠ 3♥ and picks it up right there.

Faced with an UTG 20,000 open and two callers, Michael Falcon three-bets 80,000 from the big blind, initial raiser Sven McDermott calls with HJ and CO dropping out. The action gets checked to the turn 9♦ 5♠ K♠ 5♥ , with Michael Falcon leading 100,000 and bagging a sizable pot to stay among the leaders.

John Clyde Tan jams 117,000 from CO with an over-shove from Jean Testa to successfully isolate and we go flipping.

A raise and two calls get us to the flop T♦ 8♥ 6♥ with +1 Ronald Haverkamp c-betting 20,000, Zinan Xu tagging along from the button and the BB folding. The turn 5♥ has Ronald Haverkamp check-calling 30,000 and doing the same on the river 8♣, this time for all his chips and showing T♥ 9♥ flush coolered by Zinan Xu's Q♥ J♥ flush.

On a 71,000 four-way turn 8♣ A♠ 3♠ 4♠ that gets checked around to the river J♠ , we see Adrien Berger starting the action from the button, making it 55,000 which is enough to take it down.

Three-way action between +1 Wang Guiyang, SB Louis Bilodeau and BB Aladin Reskallah has everyone all-in with Aladin Reskallah covering and dishing out two eliminations.