The largest poker tournament Vietnam has ever seen wrapped up with Singapore’s Lew Yin How winning the Asia Poker League Main Event. Last night, Lew Yin How withstood the final 9 round to emerge as champion and capture the VND 1,476,360,000 (~US$64,700) first place prize money.
Ever since tournament poker opened up to local players in Vietnam, one of the most popular venues to play has been the Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh City. This club has been the site of the APL Road Series Vietnam ongoing for 11 days until June 4. The highlight was the Main Event which saw a record-breaking 864 entries pony up the VND 11M entry fee for a prize pool of VND 8,380,800,000 (US$367,500). Out of this nice chunk of cash, only 108 players earned a cut.
As expected, the Vietnamese came out in full force, dominating the field day after day including the final table with 3 out of the 9 players from the host country.
Seat 1: HAN SANG YONG 1.275.000- KOREA
Seat 2: LEW YIN HOW 2.995.000- SINGAPORE
Seat 3: MACARON TRAN 2.590.000- VIETNAM
Seat 4: NA WEI SEGON 2.410.000- AUSTRALIA
Seat 5: FREDERIC BOLLIET 4.020.000- FRANCE
Seat 6: LE NGOC KHANH 360.000- VIETNAM
Seat 7: FENG BUI 950.000- CHINA
Seat 8: DANG XUAN CANH 5.000.000 -VIETNAM
Seat 9: TAN WAH MENG 1.910.000- SINGAPORE
Final table recap
Entering the final table, the eventual champion Lew Yin How ranked 3rd in chips bested only by Dang Xuan Canh (chip leader) and Frederic Bolliet (2nd in chips). Action saw the Frenchman take command, knocking out two players within the first hour to charge into the leader’s seat. Feng Bui took 9th and Tan Wah Meng out 8th.
Not much action was yet seen from Lew Yin How other than a successful all in that doubled up him through Dang Xuan Canh. From there, Lew laid low again and watched as players fell around him. Han Sang Yong eliminated Le Ngoc Khanh (7th) and Dang did the same to Macaron Tran (6th) leaving Dang as the only Vietnamese carrying the flag.
The five-handed round saw Australia’s Natalie Wei Segon, the only female fighter at the felt, gamble her Q-10 preflop and win against Frederic Bolliet’s A-K. This crippled Bolliet but he managed to stay in the game after a triple up and a follow up double up. Still, his hands were numbered with Segon eventually giving him the boot in 5th place.
Han Sang Yong played steadily all day, at one point prior shipping in a massive pot against Boillet, but his run would end in 4th place. Han would be the first victim of Lew Yin How. In a battle of the blinds, Han shoved on the small blind and was called by Lew on the big blind. Han had 4-4 and Lew with A-10, the ace spiked and that was as far as Korea went.
With his massive stack, Lew continued to dominate, extending his intimidating wall of chips. After Segon doubled up through Dang, Lew took the rest of Dang’s chips to enter heads up far ahead of Segon. Ten minutes in, Lew shoved with an open ended flush draw and Segon called for her tournament life with top pair. The river completed the straight and Lew became the first APL VIetnam Main Event champion.
For Segon’s efforts, she earned a decent chunk of the prize pool, taking home VND 1,034,530,000 (`US$45,300).
Among the 99 other players in the money were notables Harry Duong, Florencio Campomanes, Huy Pham, Huu Dung Nguyen, and SJ Kim.
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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