APPT Main Event ($1,650)

Hand #134: Nicola Spicher walks.

Hand #135: Trong Hieu Ngo raises 160,000 from utg and Christopher Mateo won't let him take his big blind that easy. At the flop 3♠ 7♥ 6♣ , Trong c-bets 150,000 then faces a check-raise of 500,000, Trong gives it up.

Hand #136: Donghyup Kim looks down at A♦ Q♦ and makes the customary raise, big blind Trong Hieu Ngo won't let it pass without seeing the board 9♥ J♦ 3♥ . Both players check to the turn A♣ where Kim fires 225,000. Trong check-calls and check-calls again on the river 2♥ for 500,000. Kim isn't bluffing and rakes in a hefty pot.

Hand #131: The charging Trong Hieu Ngo is stopped by Christopher Mateo by taking charge in this hand. Facing a 200,000 raise, Mateo three-bets 700,000, Trong flats for a big pot in the middle.

Flop runs 3♦ 4♥ K♠ , Mateo shoots a bet of 300,000 then another 700,000 on the turn 9♣ . Both are called by Trong then they play it safe on the river 7♠ . Mateo flips over K♣ T♠ top pair and collects the pot after Trong mucks.

Hand #132: Christopher Mateo bumps it up to 200,000 and again its him and Trong Hieu Ngo. At the flop K♠ K♣ K♦ , Mateo bets 180,000 and wins the pot uncontested.

Hand #133: Christopher Mateo raises again and is called by two players then they all check the flop 7♣ A♥ Q♣ . The turn 9♣ , it is checked to Mateo who bets 300,000, no takers.

Hand #126: After knocking out David Erquiaga, Trong Hieu Ngo continued to chip up winning multiple pots. The first one saw Trong raise 160,000 preflop then c-bet 130,000 on the flop T♦ K♦ J♠ to which Nicola Spicher folded.

Hand #130: Four hands later, from the button, Trong Hieu Ngo matched up Christopher Mateo's 200,00 raise then they checked the board 8♦ T♥ Q♠ . On the turn 2♠ , Mateo's follow up bet of 200,000 was called again for the river T♣ . Mateo holds back sending the option to Trong who bet 600,000. Mateo folded.

Hand #73: Nicola Spicher three-bets 400,000 and gets David Erquiaga to give it up.

Hand #74: Looking down at A♠ A♥ , Christopher Mateo raises 140,000 and gets some action from Trong Hieu Ngo. On the flop 8♠ Q♥ 3♠ , Mateo continues 100,000 and Trong matches it. Mateo takes a backseat on the turn 2♦ and checks, Trong takes his cue with a 400,000 bet. Mateo calls for a hefty pot in the middle. On the river 4♠ , check again from Mateo but this time, Trong doesn't take the bait. He checks back then mucks to the aces.

Hand #68: Christopher Mateo opens 125,000 from hijack, Trong Hieu Ngo re-raises 350,000, Mateo wants to see the flop and calls. Cards land 7♥ 4♣ 2♥ , Trong continues 200,000 and Mateo calls to keep him honest. On the turn 7♣ , both players check for a free river 4♥ . Mateo switches gears and leads out 575,000, Trong calls then mucks to the 9♥ 9♠ .

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 #59: David Erquiaga raises then folds to Nicola Spicher's 300,000 re-raise.

Hand #60: Donghyup Kim calls 150,000 from the big blind and goes to the flop 4♣ 9♠ Q♦ with small blind Trong Hieu Ngo. Trong continues for 130,000 and Kim calls then action switches on the turn K♦ with Kim taking control sending out a 125,000 bet that Trong calls. On the river A♠ , Trong tries to reclaim control with a 125,000 bet, Kim answers with a 1,000,000 raise that Trong opts not to challenge.

Hand #50: David Erquiaga defends the big blind by calling the flop then lead out on the flop 5♠ 6♥ 9♥ for 75,000 that Christopher Mateo opts not to challenge.

Hand #51: David Erquiaga attempts for another pot by raising 100,000 but is stopped by small blind Nicola Spicher with a 250,000 re-raise.

Hand #52: Christopher Mateo gets a walk.

Hand #53: Christopher Mateo uses his small blind position to have edge on the big blind Trong Hieu Ngo by raising preflop and c-betting 150,000 on 3♠ A♣ 2♥ . Trong defends then tests Mateo with a small 80,000 bet on the turn Q♦ . Mateo gives it up.

Hand #54: Christopher Mateo makes it 150,000 from the button and wins the blinds and ante.

Hand #55: From cutoff, Christopher Mateo continues to get involved by min-raising, get popped to 300,000 by button Trong Hieu Ngo, Mateo calls to buy an expensive flop 5♦ 4♣ 2♦ . Mateo checks to the aggressor Trong who c-bets 150,000, Mateo folds to lose more chips.

Hand #23: Nicola Spicher defends the big blind by calling Trong Hieu Ngo's min-raise and the follow up 80,000 on the flop 5♣ 3♣ 3♥ . Both players check the turn A♦ and river 8♠ . Spicher's 7♦ 7♠ wins the pot.

Hand #24: Ceesvin Abraham gets called by the big blind to be denied the blinds and ante but the 65,00 c-bet on the flop A♠ 2♦ J♣ is enough to earn it right there.

Hand #25: David Erquiaga opens and finds no callers.

Hand #12: Battle of the blinds enter the flop, small blind Trong Hieu Ngo bets 40,000 on the flop 3♠ T♣ 5♣ and 175,000 on the turn Q♥ , Donghyup Kim folds on the turn.

Hand #13: No callers on David Erquiaga's raise again.

Hand #14: Trong Hieu Ngo also finds no callers to his min-raise.

Hand #9: No action for David Erquiaga's button raise.

Hand #10: Trong Hieu Ngo and Nicola Spicher take it the full distance with the latter calling the min-raise from the button. Both players check the flop T♣ 9♦ 4♠ then Trong bets 100,000 on the turn that Spicher calls to see the river Q♠ . Liking what he sees, Spicher fires 275,000 and wins the pot with Trong letting go of his hand.

Hand #11: Nicola Spicher takes down another pot. This time no board was seen. Instead, he opened 80,000, got called by Christopher Mateo, Trong Hieu Ngo three-bet 360,000, back to Spicher who jammed all in pushing his challengers out of the hand.

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.

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.

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.

With 23 fighters left the top spots go to:

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.

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.

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.

With the remaining 71 players all guaranteed at least $2,700 the top stacks are :

Three-bet shoving from SB, Blokhin isolates BB Hieu Ngo, who flips over Q♦ Q♥ against Blokhin's A♦ J♠ . No help on 9♣ K♦ K♥ T♣ 5♠ for Blokhin to lose a third of his stack more with a time bank on top.

The action is opened from the HJ by Paul David Anstice of England for 700 and gets a phalanx of callers in Vietnam’s Hieu Ngo in the CO and the blinds in John Kelly of United Kingdom in the SB and Russia’s Vladimir Litasov in the BB.

The flop is 7♦ 5♠ 9♠ as Kelly checks. Litasov leads out for 1,000 as Anstice folds, buts Hieu makes the call. Kelly also exits. It is heads up to the turn which is the K♦ . Both Litasov and Hieu skip the street. The river card is the 6♥ and this time the Russian fires 3,500. Hieu folds and has his stack dwindle to 11,000. Litasov comes closer to eclipsing the 90,000 chip mark.

Russia’s Vladimir Litasov earlier crippled Hieu Ngo of Vietnam and finds himself defending his BB against a min-raise from the CO of Hieu.

The flop comes J♣ 9♥ 7♥ as Litasov checks. Hieu CBets to 400 and the Russian makes the call. The turn is the 9♣ as Litasov grabs the betting lead and fires 700. Hieu calls. The river is the Q♥ and Litasov slows down to check. Hieu overbets the pot as he goes all-in for his remaining 3,800 and Litasov quickly calls.

Hieu turns over 6♥ 4♥ for a flush on the river while Litasov can only shake his head as he tables 9♦ 4♦ for trips on the turn and allowing his Vietnamese opponent to double up through him.