APPT Main Event

Hand #93-94: David Erquiaga is clawing his way out of danger after claiming two double ups back to back. First one sees him open shove his last 2 bb with Q♠ 8♠ and rivers the winner on a board 2♦ 4♣ 7♠ 5♦ Q♥ to overake Nicola Spichar's J♦ 7♣ pair on the flop.

Next hand Erquiaga shoves again with 2♦ 2♣ and is called by Christopher Mateo with K♥ Q♦ . Mateo misses the board 4♥ 5♥ 8♣ 3♦ 6♥ .

Hand #62: Donghyup Kim opens then gives it up to David Erquiaga's 800,000 reraise.

Hand #63: On a limped pot, small blind David Erquiaga tries to take it down with a 125,000 flop bet on a board K♦ 4♠ J♦ but with big blind Nicola Spicher raising 225,000, he gives up the challenge.

Hand #64: Limped pot, the board is checked to the river 6♣ 4♦ A♠ 7♦ 2♦ . Small blind Nicola Spicher bets 125,000 and gets no action to claim the pot.

Hand #65: Spicher wins another pot by raising preflop then c-betting 100,000 on a board K♣ 6♦ T♦ . Big blind defender Trong Hieu Ngo folds.

Hand #66: David Erquiaga doesn't get his 115,000 raise through with Trong Hieu Ngo shoving his massive stack. Erquiaga folds.

Hand #67: Another three-bet situation with Nicola Spichar raising 100,000 which is wasted on Christopher Mateo's 315,000 three-bet. Spichar dips below a million.

Hand #43: David Erquiaga is back up over a million after some chips from Nicola Spicher who opened the action with a min-raise. Defending his big blind, Erquiaga flated and they check it to the river 4♦ 3♠ Q♠ K♠ 5♥ . Erquiaga overbets 300,000, looking like a steal, Spicher calls and sees the dominating Q♦ Q♥ set.

Hand #28: Battle of the blinds, Sven McDermott opens 220,000 from the small blind and is challenged back by big blind Ceesvin Abraham with a 500,000 re-raise. McDermott doesn't bite.

Hand #29: David Erquiaga gets a walk.

Hand #30: David Erquiaga opens a large 300,000 from the small blind and again wins the pot easy.

Hand #31: David Erquiaga limps from the button and so does the small blind Nicola Spicher as the big blind Christopher Mateo checks for a cheap flop of T♦ 4♥ T♠ . Mateo takes the reins for 50,000, Erquiaga raises 125,000, Spicher gets out of the firing line and Mateo does the same to award Erquiaga the pot.

Hand #15: Sven McDermott joins the action with a three-bet of 200,000 that's called by open raiser Christopher Mateo. McDermott maintains aggression at the flop J♠ K♠ 6♣ for 155,000 that's called again, then they check the turn 3♠ . Wasting no time counting, McDermott announces all in, Mateo gives it up.

Hand #16: David Erquiaga from the small blind and big blind Nicola Spicher call the button raise by Ceesvin Abraham and take it to the flop 3♥ K♣ J♥ . Sending the action to Abraham, a 100,000 bet is slid out front. Erquiaga check-raises 285,000 and it's enough to induce two folds.

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.

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.

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♥ .

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.

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.

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

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

This time we have David Erquiaga answer a raise with a 139,000 all-in against big stack Christopher Mateo's min-open-call from CO.

The final flight of the third annual APPT Cambodia Main Event wrapped up with 219 entries, bringing the total to 518 across all starting days. This turnout not only shattered the guarantee but also set the stage for an exciting Day 2 wherein 71 out of the 93 remaining players will walk away with a piece of the US$ 746,153 prize pool. By the end of the schedule 15 rounds of play, only 42 players remained, earning their spot at Day 2.

One player with a high chance of reaching ITM is Singapore's Curtis Lim who bagged the biggest at Day 1C of 377,000 (94 bb). Lim surged late in the day with a big blind special 2♦ 3♦ improving to a full house.

Locking up second and third rank are Aladin Reskallah and David Erquiaga, both players also making late day strides to bag hefty stacks. Reskallah hot streak continues having already won a side event at the series. And further down the leaderboard is Sha Chengchun who finished 3rd at the Mystery Bounty event.

The 42 remaining players now join the 51 others that survived the previous heats into Day 2. The money bubble is close at hand with 71 players paid. The minimum payout is US$ 2,700 while way up top is US$ 147,500. This is the largest top prize to be awarded to an APPT champion in Cambodia.

Read up on the Day 1C action below.

David Erquiaga looks down at A♠ K♣ and gives it a mini bump, big blind Yinfei Xiao defends his big blind and it’s off to the flop Q♥ A♣ K♠ . Pairing both of his cards, Erquiaga continues for 4000, Xiao check-calls then both pass on the turn 2♣ . When the river 5♦ lands, it’s another check from Xiao, Erquiaga bets 16,000 which is enough for Xiao to see Erquiaga’s hand. Xiao mucks.

Looking down at 3♦ 3♣ , David Erquiaga raises 1400 and Nevan Chang defends his big blind. At the flop J♠ 2♣ 3♥ , Erquiaga improves to a set and c-bets 1000, Chang check-raises 3000, Erquiaga three-bets 6000, Chang flats then both knock the turn 6♠ . Back to betting on the river Q♠ with 13,000 out front from Erquiaga, Chang calls then mucks to the set.

Following a raise from David Erquiaga, cutoff player Ferdinand Lu makes it 6100 only to get repopped to 17,500 by small blind Yuan Fred Bensasson. Back to Erquiaga who opts to get out of the way while Lu calls to go post flop.

Dealer felts 8♣ A♦ 5♣ , Bensasson continues for 7000, Lu calls again, then both check the turn 9♣ and river 2♣ .

Bensasson shows Q♠ Q♥ but still behind Lu's K♥ K♦

John Kelly of the United Kingdom opens from the HJ for 1,200 and gets a call from David Erquiaga of the Philippines on the D.

The flop comes K♠ J♥ 6♥ as Kelly continues barreling for another 1,200. Erquiaga proceeds to raise it to 4,000 and Kelly decides to call. The turn is the 5♣ as Kelly this time checks. The Filipino keeps the pressure on by betting 11,000. Kelly walks away.