APPT Main Event ($1,650)

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

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

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.

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

With 23 fighters left the top spots go to:

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♥

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♥ .

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.

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

From mid position, Noyan Slamiya opens 17,000, down the orbit big blind Michael Kim Falcon three-bets 41,000 sending the action back to Slamiya who calls. On the flop 8♠ K♠ 3♠ , Falcon c-bets 30,000, Slamiya buys the turn 5♦ . With his massive arsenal, Falcon shoves sending Slamiya deep in the tank. Slamiya eventually folds and shows A♠ . Falcon flips over A♥ K♥ and scoops up the pot.

Noyan Slamiya opens 13,000 +1 and finds two callers. A 23,000 c-bet on 9♦ A♥ 2♣ eliminates the BB and we go to the turn heads up. Check-calling a massive over shove by Michael Falcon on the 8♣ has Slamiya lose a time bank, but secure a double up with A♠ Q♦ against Falcon's J♣ 9♥ when the river gets revealed as the K♣ .

The 2024 APPT Cambodia Main Event wrapped up Day 1B at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh with 29 players surviving the 15 rounds of scheduled play. Early in the heat, Denmark's Michael Kim Falcon stormed to the top and parked there all day, bagging up the largest stack of 491,000.

Out of the many pots Falcon accumulated today were numerous eliminations that included Adam Lawler, Oliver Schulze, Hwang Choong, and David Erquiaga. One of his biggest pots was up against Nicola Spicher whose Q♠ 8♠ two pair on the turn could not push out the Dane's A♦ 7♦ drawing hand that completed a flush on the river Q♦ 3♠ J♦ 8♣ 3♦ . Falcon is running red hot at the festival. Just days prior, he finished second at the APPT National.

Down the Day 1B rung, also surviving were NagaWorld Kick Off champion Itsuki Homma, APPT Cambodia Super High Roller runner up Nevan Yu Chung Chang, 2007 APPT Philippines runner up Ira Blumenthal, Chinese players Yunsheng Sun, Xiaosheng Zheng, Guiyang Wang, and Team Cimitarra's Yannick Leonard.

The survivors have a couple of night's off before heading back for Day 2 on November 24, 2024 where they will be hunting down a piece of the US$ 500,000 advertised prize pool.

In partnership with Connaissance Management Group, the Main Event has now drawn a combined 299 entries with 51 advancing to Day 2.Up next is Day 1C which is the last flight to enter. For those planning to attend, get there early as this will likely attract the biggest crowd. Flight kicks off at 12pm on November 23, 2024.

For a buy in of US$ 1,650, players start with 30,000 which is 300 times the opening blinds. All Day 1 heats play 15 levels of 40 minute blinds which increases to 60 minutes at Day 2 and 75 minutes on the final day.

Read up on the Day 1B action down below.

Yannick Leonard opens 8000 then goes head to head with chip leader Michael Kim Falcon who calls from the big blind. Both check the flop J♠ Q♥ J♣ . Falcon bets 10,000 on the turn 9♥ and Leonard calls. The river T♣ , Falcon fires again for 16,000, Leonard tests with a 55,000 raise, Falcon gives up his stake on the pot.

Big blind Michael Kim Falcon is dealt Q♥ Q♦ and just calls small blind Itsuki Homma's 6000 raise. On the flop 6♣ 4♦ 7♠ , Falcon takes charge, leading out 10,000, and another 20,000 on the turn 7♦ . Homma calls both and with the river A♠ . They both check. Homma shows 3♦ 3♥ and is way behind Falcon's red hot ladies.

The river 3♦ is just what Falcon wanted, the flush, to send Spicher to the rail.

Pound for pound between Roman Shcherbakov and Michael Kim Falcon kicks of with Shcherbakov raising 3000 and Falcon calling from the big blind. On the flop 4♦ J♣ Q♥ , Falcon seizes control with a 5000 bet that Shcherbakov calls. The turn8c , Falcon fires 10,000, Shcherbakov raises 25,000, Falcon calls. Both players check the river. Falcon has Q♣ 8♥ two pair, Shcherbakov wins the pot with 9♣ T♦ straight.

Button player Ngoc Thai Huynh drives the pot with a 2500 raise, big blind Michael Kim Falcon pressures with a 7200 three-bet, Huynh answers back with a 17,500 four-bet, Falcon calls to slow down the action. On the flop 2♣ 2♠ 3♠ , Falcon comes out firing 12,000, Huynh calls. Falcon fires again for 40,000 on the turn 7♣ . Huynh tanks then lets it go.

After a preflop betting war that sees utg Michael Kim Falcon call button Sha Chengchun's 4000 raise, they check it down until the river 4♣ 6♦ 7♦ 4♦ 3♠ . Falcon bets 17,000, Sha tank-folds. Falcon reveals his 7♥ 4♥ full house.

Schulze dominates throughout to land a double up.

With a straight on the river fo Falcon, Lawler goes down in a nasty way.

Michael Kim Falcon brings it up to 5000, Anshu Zheng thinks more and makes it 14,000, Falcon calls. At the flop 8♥ A♦ K♣ , Falcon bets 12,000, Zheng raises again and makes it 24,000, Falcon calls. On the turn 5♣ , Falcon passes to the aggressor Zheng who announces all in and pushes Falcon out of the pot.

With the turn pairing up Falcon, he is awarded a full reload.

Sven McDermott heads to to the flop with two callers to his 3500 raise. He continues for 1500 on the flop 2♣ 2♥ K♠ , Michael Falcon check-raises 3500, Meerwais Hussaini begs off and McDermott calls. The turn T♠ has Falcon leading out 10,000, McDermott drives it up to 25,000, Falcon calls and both head to the river 8♦ . Falcon leads out again for 29,000, and again McDermott raises, this time putting it all on the line, Falcon folds giving up more than half of his stack.

In another preflop raising war that saw all the chips go in the middle, Michael Falcon of Denmark is fighting for his tournament life against Russian monster stack Dmitrii Belikov.

Falcon turns over 9♥ 9♦ while Belikov shows he’s ahead with J♣ J♠ .

The flop is a safe one for the Russian: 7♠ A♦ T♦ , However, the turn is the 6♣ and the river is the 8♦ giving the Danish player a miraculous backdoor straight to not only extend his tenure in the Main Event, but to make him breach the 100,000 chip mark for the first time. Belikov has momentarily lost his chip dominance.

Michael Falcon of Denmark is once again in the news as his raise to 1,200 from the CO is met with a 3-bet in the BB to 6,700 by China’s Zheng Xiaosheng. The Danish player makes the call.

The flop is J♦ 7♥ 4♣ as Zheng checks. Suddenly, Falcon goes all-in and gets the call from the Chinese player for remaining 17,100.

Falcon shows K♥ J♥ for top pair on the flop while Zheng has A♦ 7♠ for second pair on the flop.

The last two community cards did nothing to help Zheng’s cause: 3♠ 2♥ .

Zheng hits the rail and Falcon is still hovering above the 50,000 chip mark.

Australia’s Danny Huynh open from UTG for 1,100 and gets calls from Michael Flacon of Denmark and Brit John Kelly.

The flop is 6♦ T♥ J♦ as Huynh continues for 1,300. Falcon calls, but Kelly steps aside. The turn is the T♠ and this time, Huynh checks. Falcon takes the betting lead for 3,500 and the Australian makes the call. The river is the T♦ as Huynh checks again. Falcon now fires 6,000 and is quickly called by his opponent.

Falcon shows A♠ 9♦ while Huynh tables Q♥ Q♣ for a full house on the river and withstanding the Danish player’s aggression.

The Philippines’ David Erquiaga announces his arrival by raising from the +2 to 1,100. He gets calls from Danny Huynh of Australia in the D and Denmark’s Michael Falcon.

The flop comes Q♣ T♣ 6♠ as Falcon checks. Erquiaga CBets to 2,800 and gets called by Huynh. Falcon, however, goes for a check-raise to 6,800 and eventually gets calls from both his opponents. The turn card is the 4♠ as now the Danish player declares he is all-in for his remaining stack of 15,800. Erquiaga and Huynh decide to fold.

Denmark’s Michael Falcon has the action folded to him in the SB and he raises to 1,200. Oliver Schultze of Germany is in the BB and makes the defense.

The flop is 5♦ 6♥ 3♦ as both check. The turn card is the Q♠ and Falcon bets 1,000. The German still makes the call. The river is the A♣ as both check.

Falcon shows 7♠ 4♠ for the nut straight on the flop and somehow came up short in extracting more value from Schulze, who mucks his hand.

Denmark’s Michael Falcon limps in from UTG and gets raised by Alan Turabayev of Russia in the +2 and 3-bet by another Russian in Dmitry Nemirovsky in the HJ. The action folds back to Falcon who calls from the worst position. Turabayev also joins.

The flop is Q♠ 3♦ 4♠ as all decide to skip the street. The turn is the T♦ and this time Flacon leads out for 2,000. To his surprise, both Russians fold to his single bet.