APPT Main Event ($1,750)

After seven levels of scheduled play, Day 2 of the APPT Cambodia Main Event wrapped up with 24 players remaining led by Vietnam's Le Ngoc Minh with a commanding 91 bb stack. To compare, Minh's closest challenger was Belarusian Ivan Karatayeu with 71 bb. Rounding out the top three was South Africa's Edgar Antezana with 66 bb.

Helping the leader Minh reach those heights was by taking down Jakkapong Sreprasom with Q♦ 9♦ full house on the flop that crushed K♠ K♥ . From there, Minh grinded steadily into the top spot.

Also making the cut were Yuanning Wu - 2023 APPT Manila Main Event - with a decent stack of 33 bb, Huu Dung Nguyen who finished 16th at this event in 2023 however he has his work cut out with just 6 bb, and Filipino Mike Takayama who came close to an APPT title back in 2019 with a third place finish, he is in good shape with 50 bb.

On the flip side, Day 2 was brutal for many with 121 returning out of the 643 entries and the money starting at 95th place. None had it as bad as Yuan Yu who bubbled on a bad beat against Quang Trinh Do. Yu was all in with A♣ K♣ , Quang had A♥ Q♠ . Yu jumped further ahead on the flop K♦ 7♥ 2♣ , then was stunned by the runner runner T♠ and J♠ for a straight to Quang.

On the last hand of the day, Hoa Thinh Nguyen opens 40,000 and is called by two players that also want to pad up before bagging. At the flop 6♥ 3♦ J♣ , it is check check to big stacked Le Ngoc Minh who sends 50,000 to the betting line and with no one willing to tango, he wins the final pot with ease.

In another three-way limped pot, Yunsheng Sun, Edgar Antezana, and Felix Von Rahden check it to the turn J♠ Q♥ K♣ 2♦ . On small blind position, Antezana takes a stab for 75,000, Von Rahden folds while Sun flats to complete the board A♣ river.

Antezana returns to checking, Sun's turn to test the waters for 70,000, Antezana gives up his hand.

Having just doubled up with aces, Edgar Antezana collects another pot albeit a smaller one. In a limped pot that brings a flop 5♣ Q♠ K♥ , Antezana bets 20,000 that gets Abhishek Paul to fold while Hai Ha Tran continues to the turn 3♣ . Both players check then it is back to betting on the river 4♣ with Antezana dropping 60,000. Tran folds.

Soma's kicker is ahead and stands at the runout 2♥ turn and K♠ river to boot Hirukawa.

With only 7 levels scheduled for Day 2, the APPT Cambodia Main Event has just entered its last hour of play. 27 players remain across four tables.

Yunsheng Sun opens the hand for 32,000 and find a caller in Edgar Antezana, then big blind Leo Soma defends with a big three-bet of 125,000. Action back on Sun, he four-bet shoves and covers both players that opt to fold.

From under the gun, Cheng Zhang makes it 32,000 and gets two players to join to the flop 5♠ K♥ 5♣ . Zhang continues for 24,000 to lose one player while Abhishek Paul pays to see the turn J♣ . Both players check and check again on the river T♥ . Zhang shows A♥ J♥ for the win.

Leo Soma sees Q♦ T♠ and raises 32,000 from under the gun. Beside him, Abhishek Paul calls, joined by Takashi Hirukawa on the big blind. When the flop comes Q♠ 4♦ 5♦ , they all hang back then Soma resumes betting on the turn T♠ for 60,000. Paul answers with a shove that pushes out Takashi while Soma calls for all of his chips.

Paul shows K♠ J♠ open-ended. The river 5♥ doesn't meet Paul's hope for Soma to drag in a reload.

Somashekhar Sanampuri opens 35,000 that gets a call from Huidong Gu in the small blind. On the flop 5♠ 8♣ 3♣ , Sanampuri fired a 40,000 c-bet, only to be met with a check-raise to 150,000 from Gu. Sanampuri moved all in, and Gu snap-called, showing A♣ 4♣ for a nut flush draw and gutshot.

Sanampuri was ahead with 6♦ 6♠ but the runout had other plans. The J♦ on the turn changed nothing, but the 2♠ on the river gave Gu the straight, eliminating Sanampuri.

Action packed preflop with Yan Wee Yee looking down at A♣ A♠ and raises to 24,000. A♠ the orbit completes, Somashekhar on the big blind has J♥ J♠ and three-bets 60,000. Yee answers with a four-bet of 180,000 and still doesn't shake Nahadeva who tames the action with a call.

When the flop brings a J♦ , Yee bets a light 175,000, Nahadeva raises 400,000 for his set, Yee shoves and Nahadeva snap-calls.

Yee sees the bad news and hopes for it on runout but the turn and river are blanks. With about similar in stack, the count is made and it's a huge double up for Nahadeva.

Harsh way to go for Jakkapong Sreprasom who looked down at K♠ K♥ and three-bet 53,000 from the button. Initial raiser Le Ngoc Minh defended from hijack with Q♦ 9♦ to take the bout to the flop.

The dealer fanned Q♠ 9♣ 9♥ instantly giving Minh the full house which he bet for 40,000. Sreprasom raised to 100,000 and Minh called. At the turn 6♣ , Minh bet 140,000, this time Sreprasom went all in for 235,000, Minh called.

With Sreprasom behind, the river 3♥ offered no help to send him out in 37th place.

With the river landing 5♠ , Sanampuri pays up as Chiu goes down to Wutikrai's cowboys.

An action-packed hand kicked off with Leo Soma raising to 25,000 from late position, picking up a call from Arjun Dhingra. On the button, Hai Ha Tran turned up the heat with a three-bet to 85,000, Soma answered with a four-bet to 210,000, prompting Dhingra to fold, while Tran tanked before making the call.

After the heavy preflop exchange, both players pumped the brakes on the flop 6♠ 9♠ 5♥ and checked. On the turn T♣ , Soma fired 200,000, and once again, Tran called after a short pause. The river 6♣ saw no more action as both players checked it down.

Soma had K♥ Q♠ , Tran showed J♥ J♠ to win the pot.

Donghyup Kim will not be hoisting this year's APPT Cambodia title having busted to Chun Chieh Liu . Hand opens with a raise of 25,000 from Liu who then calls Kim's 80,000 three-bet. When the flop comes 3♣ 5♣ Q♥ , Kim checks, Liu sends out 60,000, Kim goes over the top jamming 220,000, and Liu calls.

Liu shows J♦ J♥ , Kim is behind with A♣ K♦ , the flip doesn't go Kim's way with the turn 7♠ and river T♥ .

With Q♥ 7♥ in the cutoff, Renji Mao opened the action with a raise, only to be called by Chun Chieh Liu in the big blind. The flop came 2♣ 3♦ 7♣ , giving Mao top pair. Liu checked, and Mao continued with a 16,000 c-bet, which Liu called.

The turn 4♠ brought more tension as Mao ramped up the pressure with a sizable 70,000 bet, only for Liu to shove all in. Mao went deep into the tank before calling for his tournament life.

Liu tabled K♠ K♦ , and with no help from the 3♠ river, Mao's deep run came to an end in 44th place.

Yan Wen Yee eliminated Guy Taylor on a flip with AQ pairing the ace on the board to dust pocket Jacks.

Xin Yuan initiates for 16,000 in early position and nearly steals the blinds and ante but stopped by the big blind Donghyup Kim who makes the call. The flop comes 5♥ 8♣ 8♠ . Yuan bets 12,000, Kim check-raises to 36,000, Yuan tanks then lets Kim have it.

Walking around the room, Somashekhar Nahadeva is now sitting with a massive 940,000 in chips. We asked for the action that got him there and Nahadeva told us he eliminated two short stacks that included Jo Seng Mok.

No action before the blinds sees Xin Yuan limp in from the small blind and gets to see the flop cheap with big blind Kien Tat Heng checking.

When the flop runs 5♦ 5♥ 3♣ , Yuan checks to Heng and an 8000 bet falls. Yuan calls. Repeat action on the turn 6♥ with 12,000 check-called by Yuan. When the board completes Q♦ , Yuan jumps out for 24,000, Heng considers then calls. Yuan shows a rivered pair with K♥ Q♠ and wins the pot.

Shankui Li is already sitting on a big stack and pumped in a bit more against Chris Shebat who limped in from the small blind. Li raised it to 23,000 from the big blind and was called to see a flop T♠ Q♥ 5♠ . Li continues for 22,000 and that's enough to win the pot uncontested.

At a separate table, Neng Zhao opens 16,000 and is called by button Abhijith Cheruku. At the flop J♥ 5♦ 6♠ , Zhao lays out 20,000 and wins the pot.

Phraikhieo Wutikrai opens and big blind Jean Testa defends. When the flop runs 5♠ J♥ K♥ , Wutikrai puts another bet out of 8000 and Testa fold while showing 3♥ 3♠ .

With no action before him, Mike Takayama raises on the button and big blind Somashekhar Sanampuri won't let him have the blinds that easy and calls. Takayama continues for 12,000 at the flop A♥ Q♣ K♥ and again Sanampuri defends. They then proceed to check on the turn Q♠ and river 2♠ .

Sanampuri shows T♠ 7♦ , Takayama wins the pot with K♣ 8♥ .

With two levels down, players now enter Level 18 with blinds at 4000-8000 ante 8000. There are 71 players remaining. Game continues until the end of Level 22.

Phraikhieo Wutikrai opens then calls Sanjeev Kapoor's three-bet shove. Wutikrai is ahead 8♦ 8♥ over A♠ 2♠ and it holds on a board 3♥ T♣ 9♣ 7♥ 6♥ to eliminate Kapoor in 72nd place, denying him a payjump.

Eliminations galore with short stacks shoving and falling immediately after the bubble burst.

The bubble has burst at the APPT Cambodia Main Event! Taking the hard fall was Yuan Yu who first faced a raise from Quang Trinh Do. Looking down at A♣ K♣ , Yu three-bet to 32,000. Quang answered with a shove that covered Yu who risked his 109,000 stack.

Upon showing, Yu's hand was ahead of Quang's A♥ Q♠ . When the board ran K♦ 7♥ 2♣ , Yu jumped further ahead with pair however a scare came on the turn T♠ for a gutshot draw for Quang. The river J♠ was exactly what Yu did not want to see to end his title hopes on the bubble.

Premium hands at bubble time with Shankui Li dealt J♣ J♠ which he raises to 12,000. Several spots down on the big blind is Yao Liu who looks down at A♠ A♣ . Action back on Li with a four-bet jam that's snap-called by Liu. With the board running Q♦ 2♣ 8♦ 8♣ K♣ , Liu happily survives the bubble round showdown.

Yan Wen Yee opens 12,000 from cutoff, and gets action from Bo Su who calls from the big blind. Both players proceed to check the flop 2♦ 8♣ J♣ then Bo takes the reins for 16,000 that Yee calls. On the river 3♣ , Bo fires 55,000 sending Yee tanking who then raises 125,000. Action back on Bo, he uses up four time banks before letting go of his stake in the pot.

Just under an hour a half and the 121 field has trimmed to 96 players which means it is bubble time! Only one bust to the money.

Bien Mai took a stand with pocket Tens but was outdrawn by bigger stacked Bo Su whose AK found a king on the board.

Upon revealing, Taylor is way ahead and is further ensured the win on a board running A♦ A♣ 8♠ 4♥ 5♦ for quads aces.

Yunsheng Sun raises 10,000, Hoa Thinh Nguyen challenges with a 40,000 three-bet, Sun answers with a 248,000 four-bet shove, Nguyen tanks then tosses his hand to the muck.

Aladin Reskallah's 10,000 open from hijack finds two callers then all three check it to the turn 3♦ 2♥ T♣ J♦ where Reskallah lays out 25,000. Hamid Siddiqui and Methavee Taveekitvatee tank then fold.

When the flop ran K♥ 7♣ 5♣ , Soma quickly improves and with the turn 7♠ and river T♠ , he doubles up.