Alexander Puchalski crowned first ever APPT Cambodia Main Event champion

Canada’s Alexander Puchalski was crowned the first ever APPT Cambodia Main Event champion after besting a field of 378 entries. He captured the coveted PokerStars shard trophy and the $96,028 top prize. Read up on his race to victory via the Live Updates.

“I feel good. I’ve won an event before but just for 10K, this one is way bigger, and bigger field.

At three-handed, Puchalski was asked if he wanted to look at the numbers, he turned it down saying he wanted to play. So we thought we’d ask him about it.

“I felt I am the better player and I was in the zone so I didn’t want to deal.”

The new champion has no plans of resting on his laurels, instead he will attempt for another trophy in the coming days.

“There are plenty of tournaments so I will go to Manila next week”.

A 27-year old Ontario, Canada native, Puchalski has been in Asia for nearly one year. He plays poker professionally, mainly online cash games for eight years. He currently resides in Thailand. APPT Cambodia was his third major live tournament series of the year in Asia.

Main Event review

The $1,500 Main Event (repechage) ran from November 10 to 13 with three starting days amassing a 378 entry field. This ballooned the $400K GTD prize pool to $494,991 with the top 55 places paid.

APPT Cambodia 2022 Main Event FULL PAYOUTS

During the bubble round at Day 2, Alexander Puchalski risked all his chips on a flop and doubled up with set over top pair. From there, he collected pot after pot to become one of the leaders and eventually reached the final table running 3rd in chips.

The final table kicked off with short stacks on the move. APPT Korea 2018 Main Event champion Michael Soyza hoped to match his title but fell short in 9th place to chip leader Nevan Yu Chung Chang. Same result for Huy Phan who got it all in with top pair then fell in 8th place to Puchalski’s rivered flush.

Dinh Nguyen had better luck, doubling up through Akshay Kapoor but not as lucky as Renniel Galvez who was down to 9 BB when he doubled up four times. On his third one, Galvez cracked Markus Garberg’s pocket Aces with pocket Tens, then on his fourth, got a full boost for his turned quads Nines beating Chang’s full house.

While Galvez enjoyed a shower of love from the poker gods, Garberg’s unlucky streak continued paying off two more double ups. His brutal run ended in 7th place with pocket Sevens dusted by Galvez’s runner runner flush. Galvez took command of the chip lead.

Next to go was Christopher Backhouse in 6th place with Puchalski earning his second final table bust out. Chang also earned his second elimination, cleaning out Nguyen in 5th place. Four handed still had Galvez up top however he couldn’t match the aggression to see his stack dwindle.

Kapoor’s stack had the wildest swings going from shortest to chip leader to mid stack when he banged heads with Puchalski. During the hand, Kapoor folded to Puchalski’s shove on the river on a board . For several minutes after, Kapoor tried to drag out Puchalski’s hand, even just one card, but the Canadian was not giving out any free information. Despite not getting what he wanted from Puchalski, he regained the chip lead by railing Chang in 4th place.

At three-handed, Kapoor proposed to look at the numbers. Galvez was interested but Puchalski turned him down. The game continued with Galvez draining further until a three way showdown sent him out in 3rd place as Puchalski zoomed to the top with pocket Jacks improving to a set to survive Kapoor’s pocket Queens.

Heads up started off lopsided with Puchalski ahead 127 BB to Kapoor’s 14 BB. Kapoor doubled up twice but with blinds escalating, his stack drained fast. The final hand arrived with Kapoor betting on a board , Puchalski shoved. Kapoor called for his tournament life then fell to full house over trips.