APL HCMC: Main Event Day 1B ends with Norbert Koh in command

The APL Ho Chi Minh City Road Series Vol.3concluded another Main Event starting day at Pro Poker Club with 22 players out of the 88 total entries surviving the 14 scheduled rounds. Navigating his way to the top with a dominating 209,200 stack is a player we know all too well in the live Asian circuit, Singaporean pro Norbert Koh.

Days ago Koh was in the headlines for amassing one of the largest stacks at the festival kickoff DeepStack Open event. He eventually finished 5th to earn his 15th cash in Vietnam this year alone. At the Main Event, Koh claimed one of the most impressive pots of the day. He went toe-to-toe with a player at every street and won by calling with just ace high.

Day 1B kicked off with a high number of pros from different nations scattered around the room. Lim Yohwan aka Boxer, Jaeheung An, Shyh Chyn Lim, Le Ngoc Khanh, Pham Bao, David Hsing Tai, and even a rare Sim Jae Kyung were just some of those in attendance. All of these players missed the mark but among those making it through and with big stacks were Bobby Zhang, Iori Yogo, and En Ching Wu.

For Yogo, he staged a late-game run railing a few players including Korean pro SJ Kim. Wu did the same to Natalie Teh halfway through the day. Luckily for the fallen, there are still two flights to get back in the game and have a chance at the VND 8 Billion Guaranteed prize pool.

Closing out the day was an exciting three-way showdown between three Vietnamese players, Minh Le, Hai Chuot, and Tuan Anh. Minh held , Hai, and Anh with . The board ran for a triple up to Minh, the side pot to Anh, and the rail for Hai.

Day 1 B Chip Counts

1 – Norbert Koh – 209200

2 – Hwan Young Kim – 168100

3 – Bobby Zhang 155900

4 – Nicholas Niel Burgers – 152000

5 – Iori Yogo – 150000

6 – Minh Le – 143300

7 – The Anh – 124400

8 – En Ching Wu – 121000

9 – Willy Doorman – 111600

10 – Le Long Stephane – 87500

11 – Nguyen Chi Thanh – 85300

12 – Cuong Trinh – 84500

13 – Du Ngoc Tuan Anh – 84000

14 – Desmond Yow Jiqwei – 83100

15 – Ting Shum Kwok – 80600

16 – Julian Tran – 74200

17 – Phan Trong Linh – 64400

18 – Nghiem Quang Huy – 56600

19 – Kim Ki Nam – 50000

20 – Steffen Endres – 46700

21 – Hwang Sang Yeon – 33900

22 – Wei Cheng Yin – 28700

The Main Event resumes on Tuesday, November 20 for Day 1C. Cards in the air at 1pm local time. Buy-in is VND 16.5M with registration open until the start of Level 10. There are currently a combined 170 entries with 46 into Day 2.

You can read up on the action of the past two starting days in our Live Updates. Somuchpoker is on-site and will continue to bring you full coverage of the festival so stick with us for all the stories.

More: APL HCMC Main Event Day 1B – Live Updates

Article by Tricia David