APPT Cambodia: Itsuki Homma Wins NagaWorld Kick Off; Hieu Ngo Among Side Winners

On just the second day of poker action at the third annul APPT Cambodia, four new champions claimed PokerStars spades, leaving the awards mantle even lighter. Held from November 15 to 25 at the world-class NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh, the festival’s biggest winner of the day was Itsuki Homma for his first career live title. Joining him on the podium were recently crowned APPT Manila Championship winner Trong Hieu Ngo, Arun Godiyal, and Jiaofang Duan.

Over at the multi-day events, the APPT National wrapped up its first of three flights with Hyeonsik Yun bagging the largest of the 15 ITM qualifiers. The two-day Superstack was a crowd favorite with the 156 runners down to the final 9.

Day 2 At The 2024 APPT Cambodia

While a large crowd gathered outside for the National Water Festival, inside NagaWorld cards were flying and chips were shuffling all day with players filling up the room as six events took flight. Here are the highlights.

Itsuki Homma Wins NagaWorld Kick Off

The NagaWorld Kick Off event set the pace for the annual festival as it gave a glimpse of what is to come during the 11-day series. Players from around the world quickly pulled up seats attracting 254 entries across two flights. With buy in of US$ 400, it smashed the guarantee for a richer prize pool of US$ 86,726.

On the final day, Itsuki Homma surged during the final five, going from the runt to champion to capture his first ever live title. Due to an even chop at heads up, Homma pocketed US$ 14,350, which was also a career high payout along with his first PokerStars spadie.

Read up on the action via the SMP Live Updates or the brief recap just below.

Event Recap

The final day opened with 39 players back on the beat, each one secured the minimum payout of US$ 590. Overnight chip leader Li Qi continued from where he left off and stayed within the upper ranks joined by players Sejun Park, Romain Bailleul, and Emad Zarghami. For the latter Zarghami, his swinging stack crashed one spot before the final table.

One player battling hard to stay afloat was Hironori Yamada, seen mostly in the lower ranks. However, multiple double ups gave him hope to reach the final table. Yamada even laddered up to 7th place just after Anton Poliakov (8th) and Lei Zhang (9th).

After a failed push out bet, Bailleul followed out in 6th place with the highly decorated Xiaosheng Zheng scooping up his chips. Zheng continued to dominate, railing Li Qi in 5th place and Jean Testa in 4th place.

However, it was at three-handed where Zheng could not catch a break, losing five big hands that sent him plunging out in 3rd place. The final two players – Itsuki Homma and Sejun Park – quickly struck an even chop deal on the remaining cash. After a couple of quick hands, it was all over. Homma had all the chips to claim his first ever live win.

Final 9 Payouts

Trong Hieu Ngo Wins Megastack High Roller

While the mid-ranged buy in events attracted the masses, only 8 players took interest in the Megastack High Roller. With buy in at US$ 2,500 a pop, it built a prize pool of US$17,848. Two Asian titans battled it out for the title and in the end it was Trong Hieu Ngo defeating Mike Takayama to lock up an early trophy and the US$ 8,924 top prize. Runner up Takayama earned US$ 5,354 and also padding up the pocket was Ceesvin Abdullah in 3rd place for US$ 3,570.

Arun Godiyal Running Hot, Wins Bubble Rush

The fun Bubble Rush event drew 40 runners and out of the top 6 finishers, it was India’s Arun Godiyal who claimed the coveted spade for his first tracked live win. You can say it was redemption having missed victory at opening day’s Turbo event where he finished in 2nd place. From a prize pool of US$ 8,536, Godiyal pocketed the US$ 2,533 top payout.

Jiaofang Duan Holds Head High At Super KO Turbo

The Super KO drew 58 head hunters, each one ponying up the US$ 500 buy in for a prize pool of US$ 10,254. Standing tall at the finish line was Jiaofang Duan to lock up US$ 3,054 and a PS spade to match.

Hyeonsik Yun Tops APPT National – Flight A

The first key event of the festival kicked off as well with the APPT National drawing 80 entries. By the end of regulation, only 15 players advanced  to Day 2 and are one step closer to earning from the US$ 150,000 guaranteed prize pool. Having the best chance is Hyeonsik Yun who bagged the chip lead with a towering 120 bb stack.

Read up on the action and view the chip counts via the SMP Live Updates.

Superstack Day 1 Bags Up At Final 9

The two-day Superstack was a crowd favorite with 156 runners contributing the low buy in of US$ 300. This generated a prize pool of US$ 39,948 with the top 24 claiming a piece. Ten hours in, the bubble burst on Peter Erdos with A♣Q♦ unable to get past Matuphoom Pangsriviniji’s A♥K♥. Another two hours later, Li Lu fell in 10th place with 10♣10♠ losing the flip against Jussi Rintalahati’s A♦K♦. This earned Rintalahati the chip lead entering Day 2.

Final 9 Players

Links:

NagaWorld Promos
APPT Cambodia – Schedule