APPT Cambodia Main Event Final 9 players; Junnie Pamplona leads the race; hot running Bien Mai in the lineup
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Main Event is entering its final stage at the luxurious NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The action will resume at 1pm today, May 15, 2023 with the final 9 players vying for the prestigious title, the PokerStars shard trophy, and the US$ 120,300 top cash prize.
| Seat | Player | Flag | Stack | BB |
| 7 | Junnie Pamplona | Philippines | 3,015,000 | 101 |
| 1 | Eric Tsai | Taiwan | 2,960,000 | 99 |
| 9 | Jimmy Torres | Colombia | 2,725,000 | 91 |
| 5 | Chao Ting Cheng | Taiwan | 1,825,000 | 61 |
| 2 | Evgenii Nekrasov | Russia | 1,080,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Curtis Lim | Singapore | 850,000 | 28 |
| 6 | Kien Tat Heng | Singapore | 795,000 | 27 |
| 8 | Hua Wei Lin | Taiwan | 600,000 | 20 |
| 4 | Bien Mai | Vietnam | 410,000 | 14 |
Final 9 players
Junnie Pamplona from the Philippines will lead in the pack with a towering 101 big blinds. Pamplona is no stranger to final tables at NagaWorld, as he finished third at the 2022 WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event. Pamplona will be aiming to improve on that result and claim his first major title.
Close behind Pamplona is Eric Tsai from Taiwan with 99 big blinds. Tsai is one of three Taiwanese players in the final 9, along with Chao Ting Cheng (61 bb) and Hua Wei Lin (20 bb).
Another player to watch is Jimmy Torres from Colombia with 91 big blinds. Torres is the only South American player in the field. He delivered a couple of big knockouts; he eliminated reigning champion Alexander Puchalski, and to close out Day 2, he did the same to Philip Tan in 10th place to form the Final Table. Torres will be looking to make history as the first Colombian APPT champion.
Singapore will be represented by two players: Curtis Lim (28 bb) and Kien Tat Heng (27 bb).The lone Russian player in the mix is Evgenii Nekrasov with a decent 36 big blinds. And the shortest stack belongs to Bien Mai from Vietnam, with 14 big blinds. Mai has been running red hot since last year. Three months ago, he placed runner-up at the WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event. He also has one side event title in this series.
Remaining payouts
| 1 | 120,300 |
| 2 | 75,795 |
| 3 | 54,290 |
| 4 | 42,670 |
| 5 | 33,597 |
| 6 | 26,242 |
| 7 | 19,759 |
| 8 | 13,775 |
| 9 | 10,908 |
Main Event Day 2 recap
Dates: May 12 – 15, 2023
Buy in: US$ 1,500
Guarantee: US$ 400,000
Entries: 476
Prize pool: US$ 623,322
ITM: 71 places
The festival highlight kicked off on May 12 with three flights attracting 476 entries for a guarantee crushing prize pool of US$ 623,322. A total of 133 players returned for Day 2 with the money starting at 71st place. After 12 hours of play, the final 9 players emerged. Read up on the action via the SMP Live Updates.
Day 2 opened with 133 players racing to the money round. Three and a half hours in, Adrien Tantaro eliminated WSOP bracelet holder Abhinav Iyer on the bubble with pocket Queens dominating pocket Jacks.
From there, it was a shove fest with fast eliminations as a result. The event slowed significantly as it reached 11 players with only nine moving to the next round. It was during this stage when Pamplona scored a big pot with 
top pair on a board 
against Philip Tan’s 
air.
Pamplona went on to eliminate Jun Lai in 11th place, then one hour later, Day 2 ended with Torres cleaning out Philip Tan in 10th place.
LIVE UPDATES
FESTIVAL RESULTS
FESTIVAL PHOTOS
APPT CAMBODIA PLAYER GUIDE
Payouts 10th – 71st
| 10 | PHILIP | TAN | $9,038 |
| 11 | JUN | LAI | $9,038 |
| 12 | LI XUE YAN | ANDY | $7,729 |
| 13 | LUKASZ | JANKOWSKI | $7,729 |
| 14 | ASISH | GHOSH | $6,732 |
| 15 | LEV | KYDATOV | $6,732 |
| 16 | HUU DUNG | NGUYEN | $5,984 |
| 17 | JUN YOUNG | PARK | $5,984 |
| 18 | ASHISH | MUNOT | $5,361 |
| 19 | BO | JIN | $5,361 |
| 20 | HAO | TIAN | $5,361 |
| 21 | YANNICK | JOBIN | $4,737 |
| 22 | MIAKISHEV | ILIA | $4,737 |
| 23 | JIN WOO | KIM | $4,737 |
| 24 | YUHAN | LIU | $4,114 |
| 25 | CHENG | ZHANG | $4,114 |
| 26 | ADRIEN | TANTARO | $4,114 |
| 27 | HAL OSCAR | ROTHOLZ | $4,114 |
| 28 | MAURICIO | SANCHEZ | $3,615 |
| 29 | YUNSHENG | SUN | $3,615 |
| 30 | FENG | QU | $3,615 |
| 31 | JIA YI | LOW | $3,615 |
| 32 | SEBASTIAN | MULLER | $3,117 |
| 33 | VISHAL | OJHA | $3,117 |
| 34 | MINWOO | KANG | $3,117 |
| 35 | SEUNGHUN | KO | $3,117 |
| 36 | ROMAIN | MORVAN | $3,117 |
| 37 | YEN-HAN | CHEN | $3,117 |
| 38 | YU-CHUNG | CHANG | $3,117 |
| 39 | ANIL | ADIANI | $3,117 |
| 40 | GRANT | GARDNER | $2,680 |
| 41 | GUOLIANG | WEI | $2,680 |
| 42 | QUAN | QIU | $2,680 |
| 43 | WEI | XU | $2,680 |
| 44 | THANH DUY | PHAM | $2,680 |
| 45 | MARTINS | IVANOVS | $2,680 |
| 46 | ROMAN | KOLOTIUK | $2,680 |
| 47 | SUNGROCK | JUNG | $2,680 |
| 48 | ALEXANDER | PUCHALSKI | $2,680 |
| 49 | THOMAS | CARLIN | $2,680 |
| 50 | DYLAN WAYNE | FOSTER | $2,680 |
| 51 | JEREMY | JEHANNE | $2,680 |
| 52 | XIAOHUA | FU | $2,680 |
| 53 | DAOXING | CHEN | $2,680 |
| 54 | JAESHIE | KIM | $2,680 |
| 55 | MOHIT | BOHRA | $2,680 |
| 56 | TIMUR | KHAMIDULLIN | $2,369 |
| 57 | JENNIFER | CASSELL | $2,369 |
| 58 | RIKI | YOKONO | $2,369 |
| 59 | YONG CHEONG | FOO | $2,369 |
| 60 | HAO | GU | $2,369 |
| 61 | LESTER | EDOC | $2,369 |
| 62 | FENG JI | CHUA | $2,369 |
| 63 | LEONID | POLES | $2,369 |
| 64 | ERIC D | WASYLENKO | $2,369 |
| 65 | SIARHEI | CHUDAPAL | $2,369 |
| 66 | WILLIAM | BOLTON | $2,369 |
| 67 | ZONG-CHI | HE | $2,369 |
| 68 | YANG | YUAN | $2,369 |
| 69 | VINAY | BOOB | $2,369 |
| 70 | GUY | TAYLOR | $2,369 |
| 71 | JENAM | YU | $2,369 |
