WPT Prime Cambodia: Fabio Oka and Micheal O’Neill win trophies; Benjamin Mun tops Main Event Day 1A; Norietis leads PLO final six

Day 8 of WPT Prime Cambodia Season XXI opened with Day 1A of the $500,000 guaranteed Main Event lighting up the tournament floor. Running alongside were the Bounty Event with 31 players resuming the title chase, the 10K Super High Roller Single Day Challenge, and the PLO. At night’s end, WPT Global Japan brand ambassador Fabio Oka and Ireland’s Micheal O’Neill emerged victorious while Latvia’s Roland Norietis bagged the PLO chip lead. We’ve got those results down below.

WPT Prime Cambodia – Festival Results

MAIN EVENT: Day 1A closes with 28 survivors, Benjamin Mun bags the lead

As expected, players poured in for the festival’s star attraction, the $500,000 guaranteed Main Event. The four and a half hours of registration drew 218 entries (190 unique, 28 re-entry) with bagging time at ITM of 28 players. At the twelfth hour, it was reached with India’s Abhishek Goindi eliminated in brutal fashion by fellow compatriot Shardul Parthasarathi. Short stacked Goindi was all in with , Shardul had , the board ran for a straight to Shardul on the river.

Goindi will return for Day 1B. As for his slayer Shardul, he finished third in chips with 509,000 (63 bb). Shardul is behind pack leader Benjamin Mun who bagged up 578,000 (72 bb) in chips and Ireland’s Frank Lillis with 563,000 (70 bb).

The Day 1A survivors await the results of Day 1B and Day 1C before returning to action on Sunday, March 19 at 1pm. Here are the top 10 in chips. Click the link provided for the full list.

Top 10 in chips

WPT Prime Cambodia – Main Event – Chip Counts
WPT Prime Cambodia – Main Event – Live Updates
WPT Prime Cambodia – Event Schedule

Fabio Oka dominates 10K Super High Roller Single Day Challenge

WPT Global Japan ambassador / vlogger Fabio Oka, was a force to reckon with at the 10K Super High Roller Single Day Challenge. For a majority of the race, Oka was backed by a big stack, if not the biggest. One of the players he railed was WPT brand ambassador Brad Owen whose trips on a board fell to his flush. Another bust was Gary Lin whose pocket Sevens ran into Oka’s pocket Kings.

The bubble burst on WPT ambassador, Andrew Neeme, with not improving againstRoman Hrabec‘s . Entering ITM, Oka led and surged. He eliminated the last three players – Hrabec (4th), Vincent Huang (3rd), and Lun Loon in 2nd place to seize his first WPT title and a six figure US$ 109,500.

Read up on the action via ourLIVE UPDATES.

Buy in: US$ 10,000
Entries: 31
Prize pool: US$ 291,679
ITM: 5 places

Micheal O’Neill wins the Bounty Event

The two-day Bounty Event was highly popular with a hungry 244 pulling up seats to generate a prize pool of US$ 170,410. Day 1 closed at ITM with Pratibh Saluja serving the bubble with standing solid against .

Resuming the following day, the 31 returnees were led in by Rajneesh Katoch who went on to reach the final table as one of four players from India in the lineup. However, the crew were unable to take it all the way. Katoch exited in 5th place while Raju Jaruplavath held on but only reached 3rd place.

The title came between Korea’s Woojin Kim and Micheal O’Neill, the lone Irishman in the round. O’Neill closed it out with pairing the Queen on a board to dust and bust Kim’s . O’Neill pocketed his largest live tournament cash of US$ 25,358 and his maiden live title.

Buy in: US$ 800
Entries: 244
Prize pool: US$ 109,410
Bounty pool; US$ 61,000
ITM: 31 places

*Bountiy prizes not included

Event 18: PLO – 6 players remaining led by Rolands Norietis

Only 47 runners took interest in Event 18: Pot Limit Omaha for a prize pool of US$ 32,825. It was a 12 hours race to ITM of 6 places. Bagging up the chip lead was Latvia’s Rolands Norietis of 443,000, equivalent to 37 bb. Also in the lineup was India’s Deep Raina who was on his third final table in this series. Action resumes at 1pm on Friday, March 17 for the title and the US$ 12,803 top prize.

Buy in: US$ 800
Entries: 47
Prize pool: US$ 32,825
ITM: 6 places

Chips in play: 1,305,000
Average stack: 235,000
Day 2 blinds: 6K-12K, 12K ante (15:16 time remaining)

Payouts

Player of the Festival – update after 16 events

Kiale Matthews

After 16 completed events, Australia’s Kiale Matthews maintains his Player of the Festival lead with 800 points. Matthews reached three final tables with his deepest a 3rd place finish. Ireland’s Micheal O’Neill moved up to second rank with 675 points after his victory at the Bounty Event. Sharing the third spot are RIchard Marquez and Joshua McCully, both players with 650 points.

Still plenty of events to conquer and earn points including the Main Event which is underway. The player with the most points at the end of the festival will win a WPT Passport worth $5,000 to any WPT Main Tour of Season XXI.

Top 10 in POF points

Season XXI WPT Prime Cambodia

WPT Prime Cambodia, in partnership withConnaissance Management, runs from March 9 to 21 atNagaWorld Integrated Resortsin Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A total of 30 tournaments are scheduled and US$ 1 Million in guarantees. To date, sixteen players have walked away victorious. Only 14 trophies up left.

The Main Event $500,000 guaranteed is underway. With Day 1A completed, two starting days left to join the race. It runs from March 16 to 20. Buy in is US$ 1,100. By the looks of it, it will easily breach one thousand entries with the potential to surpass current Gold Coast record of 1,224 entries.

WPT Prime Cambodia – Player Guide
Breakdown of WPT Prime Cambodia schedule
WPT Prime Cambodia – Festival Payouts

For added enjoyment, there are ample cash games running daily and theCash Game Bonanza.

Reminders:

• NO TAX on winnings
• Event photos can be found in theSomuchpoker Facebook page and in Somuchpoker IG page.

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates of WPT Prime Cambodia from start to finish.