APPT Cambodia: Kickoff Event brings 133 entries; large Chinese presence brewing; Japan’s Takaaki Arai wins the first spadie
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is back at the Kingdom of Wonder with eleven days of games running from May 5 to 15 at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in capital city Phnom Penh. In partnership with Connaissance Management, doors opened with the Kickoff Event featuring a US$ 50,000 guaranteed prize pool. This was the first of three events backed by guarantees totaling US$ 550,000 with the largest of US$ 400,000 marked for the upcoming Main Event.
By the end of registration the turnout was promising with 133 entries (106 unique, 27 re-entry) for Day 1A. Players of varying nations were represented with the strongest showing from China. According to Chinese International Poker Team (CIPT), their group alone will field in up to 50 players. Among the attendees was two-time WSOP bracelet champion Wei Guo Liang however he missed the mark, unlike countryman Guiyang Wang who delivered the bubble and topped the end of day chip counts.
With 20 players advancing to Day 2, at bubble time, Wang was head to head with Australia’s Armon Van Wijk for the chip lead until Wang’s 
eliminated a player with 
on a board 
. Here is the list of Day 1A survivors.
Buy in: US$ 350
Guarantee: US$ 50,000
Day 1A entries: 133 (106 unique, 27 re-entry)
End of Day 1A – 20 players
| Guiyang Wang | 554,000 |
| Armon Van Wijk | 426,000 |
| Emil Ukalaev | 335,000 |
| Xinshuo Xuo | 304,000 |
| Yuwen Pan | 279,000 |
| William Bolton | 260,000 |
| Yu Ogusu | 231,000 |
| Jihao Feng | 226,000 |
| Raj Dharmarajan | 205,000 |
| Cheng Zhang | 202,000 |
| Thomas Walters | 180,000 |
| Tom Maguire | 154,000 |
| Andrew Kim | 136,000 |
| Chengbei Li | 107,000 |
| Jounghun Kim | 95,000 |
| Oleg Voshchinin | 84,000 |
| Jiyang Gan | 83,000 |
| Amit Kaushik | 75,000 |
| Dave Labrecque | 60,000 |
| Rodolphe Mathias | 49,000 |
The next two starters are on Saturday, May 6, 2023. Day 1B kicks off at 1pm and closes at 6:20pm, and Day 1C Turbo hits the felt at 7pm and closes at 9:50pm.
Japan’s Takaaki Arai wins festival’s first spade trophy at the evening Turbo
The first PokerStars APPT Cambodia spade trophy was captured by Japan’s Takaaki Arai at the Turbo Re-Entry event. Arai bested a field of 49 runners (38 unique, 11 re-entry), defeating Korea’s Seongmin Lee at heads up with 
set over 
on a board 
.
This was Arai’s first recorded live victory which also came with a payout of US$ 2,695. As for runner up Lee, it was a strong return to the felt as he came close to winning another trophy to match the APPT Cambodia National shard trophy that he scored last year.
Buy in: US$ 200
Entries: 49 (38 unique, 11 re-entry)
Prize pool: US$ 8,555
ITM: 7 places
| 1 | Takaaki Arai | Japan | US$ 2,695 |
| 2 | Seongmin Lee | Korea | US$ 1,946 |
| 3 | Aayush Arya | India | US$ 1,241 |
| 4 | Zuxiong He | China | US$ 941 |
| 5 | Karma Darwa Sherpa | India | US$ 727 |
| 6 | Aike Ing | Myanmar | US$ 556 |
| 7 | Pheeratham Lerdthammatavee | Thailand | US$ 5449 |
