Christopher Mateo Leads The APPT Cambodia Main Event Final 9 Players

Another intense yet thrilling day came to a close at the record breaking APPT Cambodia Main Event with the Day 2 field reduced to the last 9 players. Taking place at the Nagaworld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh, the finalists return on Monday, November 25 ,2024 for one last dash to claim the coveted title and the US$ 147,500 top prize.

APPT Cambodia Main Event

Kicking off on November 21, the third annual APPT Cambodia Main Event witnessed each flight increase in numbers resulting in 518 entries building a prize pool of US$ 746,153. This set a new record for an APPT Main Event in the country.

At Day 2, 93 players returned in hopes of earning their spot in the money round. Three hours in the bubble burst and the final 71 payouts were spoken for. Another seven rounds later, the final 9 players was established.

Main Event Review

• Date: November 21 o 25, 2024
• Buy in: US$ 1,650
• Guarantee: US$ 500,000
• Entries: 518
• Prize pool: US$ 746,153

Christopher Mateo Leads Final 9 Players

Earning their spot at the final table was not an easy task for the finalists. Down to 10 players, blinds were high, pots were big, and playing short handed saw the chips move rapidly. The hatchet came down on Sunghak Lee,  calling all in for his tournament life then getting outdrawn by Christopher Mateo. In turn, Mateo bagged up the largest stack of 3,275,000 (81 bb).

At Mateo’s tail is  Nicola Spicher, who was heard saying he fired eight bullets. With a minimum payout of US$ 13,953 guaranteed to all the finalists, Spicher is now in the black. He finished the day with 68 bb.

Running third rank is none other than Trong Hieu Ngo, the champion of the APPT Manila Championship that took place just last month. Hieu has been running well at the festival with a trophy already captured at the Megastack High Roller. Hieu is looking to be the first player to win the APPT Main Event in back to back tours.

Entering Day 2, Sven McDermott led the chase and became the first player to amass a million in chips very early on. McDermott caught Alexsandr Blokhin bluffing to bring about the bubble round. Speaking of the bubble round, after several attempts, the bubble burst on Jeremy Jehanne who was forced all in on the big blind and fell to small blind caller Noyan Slamiya.

Others down the lineup are the highly decorated David Erquiaga who is on a hot streak this year, Ceesvin Abraham, Vaicheslav I, and well known cash game slugger Donghyup Kim.

Standing out of that star loaded final 9 lineup is USA’s Ziad Zebib, who is already looking at a substantial profit having won his seat via one of the flip out events for just US$ 165.

When the final 9 players return they are each guaranteed US$ 13,954 while awaiting the champion is a life-changing US$ 147,500. The remaining payouts are as follows:

Blinds continue for just over 2 minutes at Level 25. At the completion, Level 16 onwards will have blinds increase every 75 minutes.