APPT Cambodia 2022 Main Event: Nam Hyung Kim bags the lead again; Gary Thompson dominates SHR; Daniel Westerholm wins PLO Bounty

11/10/2022

Unbelievable! Topping the headlines once again was Korea’s Nam Hyung Kim who closed out Day 1A of the Main Event as chip leader with 410,000 in chips, which was equivalent to 103 BB entering Day 2. Kim has been an absolute crusher at the inaugural APPT Cambodia 2022. He racked up massive stacks at four prior tournaments which turned into four final table cashes. He is now on his way to #5.

The APPT Main Event ran its first starting day on Thursday, November 10, and despite its slow start, it eventually brought 93 players with 20 of them re-entering. A couple of the early risers were South Africa’s Marc Joseph and USA’s Yu Qi Zhao however both were unable to get through the last rounds. Also bumping the rail were two time WSOP bracelet winner Hoyt Corkins, newly minted APPT National champion Seongmin Lee, and 2019 APPT Manila Main Event champion Florencio Campomanes who fell to the silent but deadly Nam Hyung Kim. On the flip side, this win catapulted Kim to the top where he parked for the rest of the day.

Read up on the Day 1A highlights via the LIVE UPDATES.

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Kim has been a total beast since the start of the festival. At the NagaWorld Kickoff, Kim carried in the second largest stack to Day 2 and proceeded to finish 9th. At the APPT National, Kim entered Day 2 as the overwhelming chip leader then placed 5th. He also finished 3rd at the PLO Knockout, and at the $2K buy in Mini High Roller, Kim was chip leader until Michael Soyza got the best of him to settle for 2nd place.

In addition to Kim, other strong finishers were Singapore’s Tzai Wei Phua who was one of the day’s late entries. He knocked out Korea’s Hwany Lee with quads over two pair. WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Smiljkovic jumped in after busting out of the Super High Roller and closed with a healthy 39 BB stack.

The 21 survivors have a day’s wait before returning to action on Saturday, November 12. Up next is Day 1B and Day 1C (Turbo), both taking place on Friday, November 11 at 1pm and 9pm. Buy in is $1,500 featuring a guarantee of $400,000. Make sure to check the schedule for all the details.

Buy in: $1,500
Guarantee: $400,000
Day 1A: 113 entries

Chips in play: 3,390,000
Average stack: 161,428
Day 2 opening blinds: 2000-4000-4000 BB Ante

Top 5 in chips

Player	Chips	BB
Nam Hyung Kim	410,000	103
Renniel Glavez	347,000	87
Chris William Backhouse	289,000	72
Tzai Wei Phua	279,000	70
Masamichi Hayashi	246,000	62

APPT Main Event – CHIP COUNTS

GARY THOMPSON crushes the SHR final table to seize $47,045

After a one day delay, the Super High Roller got underway with a star studded lineup of 9 players and one needing a second bullet for a total of 10 entries. With buy in at $10,000 a piece, it sent the prize pool to $94,090 with the top 3 places paid. Ireland’s Gary Thompson crushed the final table, eliminating the last four players to lift the coveted PokerStars shard trophy and seize the $47,045 top prize.

This was Thompson’s career first APPT tournament win however he did come close in 2019 at the APPT Manila High Roller where he placed 2nd. To bag the win, Thompson first eliminated Vincent Huang two spots before the money, then on the bubble, he cleaned out APPT Open Taipei Main Event champion Zong Chi He with set over two pair on a board .

Sitting pretty with the biggest stack, Thompson faced off against Pete Chen, the player who denied him a first ever WSOP bracelet at the GGNet Online Series two months prior. This was payback. Thompson flushed out the Taiwanese pro with getting lucky against , hitting the flush on a board .

Entering heads up against recently crowned Michael Soyza, it was a lopsided match with Soyza dropping to 6 BB before doubling up. On the next showdown, Soyza’s was outdrawn by Thompson’s 10d , with a Seven on the river.

Buy in: $10,000
Entries: 10 (9 unique, 1 re-entry)
Prize pool: $94,090
ITM 3 places

Payouts

1st	Gary Thompson	Ireland	$47,045
2nd	Michael Soyza	Malaysia	$28,227
3rd	Pete Chen	Taiwan	$18,818

DANIEL WESTERHOLM dominates the PLO Knockout

The second Pot Limit Omaha event was double the buy in of previous costing $1,000 to enter. After six hours of play, England’s Daniel Westerholm came out victorious, knocking out three of his nine contenders. One of the fallen was Kamran Suriya whom he faced at heads up. By then, Westerholm had built an intimidating stack. Suriya announced all in with , Westerholdm called with 10h , the board was for a winning two pair. This was Westerholm’s first ever win which came with a spade trophy and $3,701. Westerholm also earned an extra $800 in bounties for a total of $4,501.