Championship Warm Up ($600)

Thomas Eychenne opened to 150,000 and was met with a 325,000 three bet from Ali Hassan on the button. Eychenne responded with an all-in for 2,300,000 (30 BB), called by Hassan to put him at risk.

Drawing slim, Hassan was in luck to catch his two outer on board K♣ 7♠ J♥ 5♦ 4♥ , sending Eychenne out as the first casualty of the day.

The WPT Cambodia Championship Warm Up games is due to crown its champion today with its 527-entry field whittled to the final eight. While initially set to narrow down to six, all remaining players agreed to wrap up yesterday's Day 2 following ten levels of play.

Leading the charge for the lion's share of the $274,943 prize pool is UK's Robert Sherwood with 4,275,000 (57 BB), having claimed a last minute double up right as the day closed. Trailing just six big blinds behind are both Ali Hassan and Ilya Firstov, to round up the top three counts.

A ton of play however, is left on the table with all the remaining contenders stacking above the 30 big blind mark. Still anyone's game, each runner has a fighting chance to claim the $52,383 top prize along with a seat to WPT Prime worth $1,100, all while guaranteed $7,122 in winnings as they return to the felt for the final battle.

Play resumes at 11:30 local time, with 46 minutes left on the clock at Level 26: 50,000 / 75,000 ante 75,000. Stay tuned for updates as SMP brings you all the latest directly off the floor!

Championship Warm Up

Date/s: February 7-10, 2025

Buy-in: USD 600

Guarantee: USD 150,000

Entries: 527

Prize pool: USD 274,943

ITM: 66 places

Final 8 Chip Counts

The WPT Cambodia Championship Warm Up wrapped up Day 2 at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh with the field trimmed from 113 players down to just eight finalists.

Sitting at the top of that lineup is Robert Sherwood with a stack of 4,275,000 (57 bb). Sherwood was chip leader for a large portion of the day then dropped down with 12 players left. He reclaimed the lead on a double up off Thomas Eychenne with A♦ Q♦ over K♠ T♠ just before they called it a day.

Sherwood is closely trailed by Ilya Firstov with 3,850,000 (51 bb) and rounding out the top three is Ali Hassan with 3,800,000 (51 bb). While the leaders have an edge over the rest, it is still anyone's game with the shortest sitting on a healthy 31 bb.

The remaining players are now guaranteed a minimum $7,122 payout while awaiting the champion is a hefty $52,383 along with a seat to WPT Prime worth $1,100.

The Championship Warm Up opened Day 2 with 113 players out of the 527 entries returning to action. Two levels in, the bubble round arrived with 67 players remaining. In a gutsy showdown, Pham Tien Dung's aggression was finally challenged by Ireland's Frank Lillis, calling a preflop shove by risking 30 bigs holding Ace-King. It paid off with a big double. Immediate following the win, Lillis delivered the bubble to the ailing Jingyi Wang with 8♠ 3♠ flush dusting A♥ J♠ . Lillis went on to finish in 47th place while Pham fared better in 34th place.

The players raced down for a spot at the final table. India's decorated Ankit Ahuja seesawed throughout the day and was grounded in 23rd place. Fellow countryman Dhaval Mudgal finished notches higher in 12th place. For Vietnam, Mai Bien also saw his stack swing and emptied out in 16th place. Their final hope was Thanh Ha Duong who just missed the unofficial final table in 10th place. The day ended shortly after the fall of Shane Pearce in 9th place.

Somuchpoker returns tomorrow for the final dash to the title. Stick with us for all of the action.

The aim for Day 2 was to play down to the official WPT final table of six players however with ten hours of play, the game was stopped at the final 8. Action resumes at 11:30 tomorrow, February 10, 2025.

Day 3 blinds resume at Level 26: 50,000-75,000 ante 75,000 with 46:24 remaining in the clock.

Here are the finalists:

Robert Sherwood is on a downward spin having lost another pot, this time to Thomas Eychenne. During the hand, Sherwood raised preflop then both checked it to the turn 6♠ 6♣ A♠ 5♠ . Eychenne bet 125,000 then bet another 190,000 on the river 3♦ . Sherwood called both then mucked to the 7♣ 6♥ trips.

Patrik Demus looked down at J♠ J♣ and pushed his last 690,000 to send the action back to open raiser Thomas Eychenne. With A♣ K♥ on hand, Eychenne instantly called.

When the board came down 6♣ Q♣ 3♣ T♣ Eychenne turned the nut flush to oust Demus into 14th place.

Cutoff player Thomas Eychenne raised then went down the streets with caller Ilya Firstov on the big blind. When the dealer spread K♦ J♣ 2♣ , Firstov Eychenne c-bet 40,000 and got a check-call from Firstov. Both players checked on the turn A♣ for a free river T♣ . Firstov jumped out with a bet of 215,000, Eychenne tanked then called for Firstov to show his T♠ 9♥ bluff. Eychenne took it down with a Q♦ J♥ straight.

Three players in a raised pot see a flop land A♣ 8♣ Q♦ . Action is checked to the preflop raiser Jiazhi Zhong who continues for 70,000. Thomas Eychenne calls it while big blind Tom Maguire check-raises 300,000. This was enough to induce a fold from Zhong but not from Eychenne who calls to see the turn 9♠ . Maguire checks his option again, Eychenne fires 220,000 sending Maguire into the tank. After the call is made, both check the river 8♥ .

Maguire shows K♣ Q♥ pair, Eychenne scoops up the pot with J♠ T♠ straight.

Thomas Eychenne kicks off the hand with a 50,000 raise from hijack, next to him on cutoff Dhaval Mudgal three-bets 150,000. After the rest fold, Eychenne drives it further to 310,000, Mudgal tanks then decides to give up his hand.

On a board showing A♦ 7♦ 3♠ 8♠ and 340,000 in the pot, Tom Eady announced all in and Thomas Eychenne snap-called while showing his set 7♠ 7♥ . Eady had a draw with T♦ 9♦ that failed to connect on the river 2♥ .

With the money close, action tightens up until it the small blind Thomas Eychenne tries to exploit with a raise of 125,000. Big blind Ko Isayama calls answers with a three-bet shove of 175,000.

Eychenne can easily afford and does so then shows a meek T♠ 7♣ . Isayama is way ahead with K♥ K♣ . The board runs 5♦ 5♠ Q♦ 3♥ 3♣ for a double up to Isayama.

Eychenne flipped open a made hand that quickly flopped quads to drag in a huge double up to around 77 bb.