APPT National ($1,000)

The 4th Annual APPT Cambodia taking place at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh, concluded its second of three flights to its featured APPT National with 179 runners added to the 61 Flight A entries to crack the $150K guarantee with another flight yet to complete.

When the bubble burst, Vietnam’s Manh Tuong Ha emerged as chip leader among the final 27 players, bagging a commanding 516,000. Ha climbed steadily throughout the day, capitalizing on short stacks at his table to claim the top spot in the Day 2 cumulative counts.

Hot on his heels was Mystery Bounty crusher Hao Lin, who kept the momentum going with a 497,000 stack. Also advancing with healthy stacks were notables Donghyup Kim — last year’s APPT Cambodia Main Event runner-up — and 2023 APPT Manila Main Event champion Yuanning Wu.

Players return to action on Wednesday, May 7 at 11:30am for the next stage in the chase for the title. Each one is now guaranteed a payout, easing the pressure as they continue their climb.

From under the gun, Quang Trinh Do opens to 6,000 and gets one caller in Ping Soon on his immediate left. When the flop comes 6♦ J♥ 4♠ both players check for a free 9♦ turn. Quang takes the lead with a 6,000 bet, which Soon calls. On the river A♣ , Quang follows through with a larger 12,000 bet, and it's enough to force a fold and take down the pot.

Four players called He Zhou's 2200 three-bet for a five-way to the flop 8♠ 6♣ 6♠ which was checked around. On the turn 3♠ , big blind Jee Kin Lim led out 1500, only Manuel Javier called then both checked the river 5♥ . Lim showed A♠ K♠ which was good to claim the pot.

Craig Jones became the first casualty of the day, going down in two hands. First one saw him raise from hijack that found a caller on the button then big blind Ping Shen Soon three-bet 3000. Action back to Jones who fired a four-bet of 11,000, only Soon called after tanking.

At the flop 9♥ T♣ 9♠ , Soon checked, Jones shoved 21,000, Soon tanked again then risked his 18,800 stack. Soon flipped open Q♣ Q♥ and was ahead of Jones's A♠ K♠ . The turn 3♦ and river 9♦ secured the win for Soon to double up while Jones plunged to 1600.

A few hands after, Jones was all in with A-9 and busted to a player with 7-8 that paired on the river.