APPT Main Event ($1,650)

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 #109: Nicola Spicher opens 120,000, called by Trong Hieu Ngo from the button, then Spicher barrels down the streets on a board 9♥ 2♣ 4♥ 4♣ 8♥ . Spicher bet 100,000, 225,000, and 450,000. Trong called the flop and turn, on the river he raises 1,600,000, Spicher folds giving up nearly 900,000 in chips.

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 #83: Trong Hieu Ngo defends his big blind by calling hijack Ceesvin Abraham's 150,000 raise. Both see a flop 7♥ Q♣ 2♦ . Abraham continues for 100,000 and takes it down easy.

Hand 84: Action packed preflop opens with Ceesvin raising 120,000, cutoff Nicola Spicher three-bets 250,000, big blind Donghyup Kim four-bets all in, only Spichar calls. Both players flip open K♣ Q♠ and K♦ Q♦ , and proceed to chop the pot on a board 2♥ J♣ 7♠ 5♣ T♣ .

Hand #85: Ceesvin Abraham gets a walk.

Hand #86: Christopher Mateo walks.

Hand #87: David Erquiaga open shoves and wins the blind and ante.

Hand #88: Nicola Spicher limps in from the small blind and big blind Christopher Mateo checks. The flop Q♦ 5♦ J♦ sees Spicher c-bets 125,000, gets called, then take it to the turn A♥ . Both players check it to see the river Q♣ . Mateo leads out 150,000, Spicher calls then mucks to Q♠ T♦ trips.

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 #56: Christopher Mateo raises 125,000 and goes to the flop 3♣ 5♣ J♣ with big blind defender David Erquiaga. Mateo c-bets 100,000 and that's all it takes to win this one.

Hand #57: On a flop 6♣ T♦ 8♦ , Trong Hieu Ngo c-bets 125,000 and Donghyup Kim folds.

Hand #58: Action folds to the small blind Nicola Spicher who limps for a cheap look at the flop A♣ J♦ 6♥ with big blind Christopher Mateo checking. Spicher continues to charge with a 125,000 c-bet, and 225,000 on the turn 4♥ . Mateo calls both then they play it safe on the river J♠ with checks. Mateo shows A♥ 9♥ for the pot.

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 #37: Trong Hieu Ngo and Nicola Spicher call Christopher Mateo's min-raise and see a flop Q♣ 6♠ 3♥. . Following two lazy checks, Trong takes the opportunity to bet 100,000 and it's enough to drag in the pot.

Hand #38: On a limped pot, big blind Christopher Mateo takes control on the flop 3 4♣ Q♦ for 150,000 and fires another 225,000 on the turn 3♥ . Small blind Nicola Spicher folds on fourth street.

Hand #39: Sven McDermott min-raises then checks the flop with caller Trong Hieu Ngo in defense of the big blind. At the Q♥ turn , McDermott resumes for 130,000 and it's an easy score with Trong folding.

Hand #40: Three players in a raised pot check down to the river 9♠ K♦ Q♦ 5♥ 5♠ . Small blind Trong Hieu Ngo test bets just under pot for 300,000, no takers.

Hand #41: Christopher Mateo finds no callers to his cutoff raise.

Hand #42: David Erquiaga bets a third of his stack amounting to 200,000 and no one gives him action.

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 #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.

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.

Hand #7-8: Raiser Christopher Mateo is joined by the blinds to the flop A♦ K♣ T♣ with only Ceesvin Abraham continuing to the turn A♥ by calling Mateo's 100,000 c-bet. Both players check for a free river 4♥ . Abraham tests the waters with a 150,000 bet then believes Mateo has it by folding to the massive 1,000,000 raise.

Following the hand, Mateo rakes in the next one which he kicks off with another min-raise. Big blind Nicola Spicher defends and the bring the bout to the flop 5♣ 3♣ 5♦ . Mateo c-bets another light 80,000 and it's enough for Spicher to pay to see the turn 5♥ . Mateo barrels a third time for 150,000, Spicher gives up the challenge.

Hand #1: Opening hand of the APPT Cambodia Main Event saw everyone fold to the small blind Nicola Spicher who limped and checked by the big blind. On the flop A♦ 7♥ 3♠ , Spicher led for 50,000 and got called. Both player proceeded to check the turn 2♠ and river A♥ . Zebib showed 3♦ 6♥ two pair to claim the pot over Spicher's K♦ 5♦ .

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.

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.

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.

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♦ .

With 23 fighters left the top spots go to:

Lei Zhang slides his last 22,000 in the middle and gets called by Nicola Spicher and Sun Yunsheng. The flop 5♠ 4♦ J♦ has Nicola Spicher bet-call in a hurry when Sun Yunsheng jams for 178,000.

Getting to the action on a 9♦ 7♣ 2♦ flop with 65,000 in the pot we see Nikolai Zhivoderov lead with 15,000, called by Nicola Spicher, who later jams against Sun Yunsheng's rasie of 65,000, who decides to let it go.

Homma Itsuki's 47k shove from BU gets called by BB Nicola Spicher.

Last hand of the day and again it is Erik Rozhynskyi seen in the hand up against Nicola Spicher. Defending from the big blind Rozhynskyi check-raises from 7000 to 19,000 on the flop 5♥ A♥ 5♠ . Spicher calls and they both slow down on the turn 7♥ . When the river 2♥ completes the board, Rozhynskyi sends out 12,000, Spicher wants to see his hand. Rozhynskyi has it showing 4♠ 5♣ trips.

At the showdown, Kuwahata is drawing dead. The river T♠ is of no consequence.

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

Nicola Spicher is seen packing up after getting booted by Sha Chengchun. Chengchun has been running hot at NagaWorld with a recent 3rd place finish at the Mystery Bounty and a victory at WPT Cambodia Passport last July.

We missed the action, only catching Jacson Feng shipping in a pot of 64,000 against Nicola Spicher who dropped to 12 bb.