APPT Cambodia Closes With Mike Takayama, Francis Garson, Anton Poliakov Among Winners

Plenty of celebrations on the final day of APPT Cambodia as the last of the PokerStars shards and spades were claimed. Taking place at the world class NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh from November 15 to 25, 2024, the festival wrapped up with Christopher Mateo emerging as the tour’s newest Main Event champion. Eight other players were also minted, that included Mike Takayama at the APPT High Roller, Francis Garson at the APPT Mini Main, and Anton Poliakov becoming the only player to win two trophies.

In partnership with Connaissance Management Group, the 2024 APPT Cambodia paid out over US$ 2.7 Million in prizes with the Main Event setting a new brand record in the country. Here are the final numbers and highlights.

APPT Cambodia Review

• Date: November 15 to 25, 2024
• Venue: NagaWorld Integrated Resorts, Phnom Penh
• Trophy Events: 42
• Festival Prize Pool: US$ 2,660,854
• Record Main Event Prize Pool: US$ 746,153
• Biggest Earner: Christopher Mateo – UA$ 126,500
• APPT Super High Roller Winner: Artem Vezhenkov
• APPT High Roller Winner: Mike Takayama
• APPT National Winner: Hyeonsik Yun
• APPT Mini Main Winner: Francis Garson
• Multi–Winner: Anton Poliakov – Mystery Bounty and Last Chance Super Hyper Turbo

Final Key Event Highlights

Mike Takayama Wins APPT High Roller

Returning from a runner up finish at the Megastack High Roller, Mike Takayama made sure to take it the full distance at the APPT High Roller to capture the last PokerStars shard trophy. Takayama outlasted the 51 entry field for a sweet payout of US$ 75,600. In a post win interview, Takayama shared,

[Translated by Blaise De Leon from Tagalog]

“I am very happy, I had fun, everyone was trying to win this trophy and they were all very competitive. At heads up, I was playing him mostly post flop. I felt confident against other players because I can easily read them when it comes to the flop.”

Recap

At four-handed, Takayama’s massive arsenal fattened up further after he outkicked William Lius. It took some time for heads up to come as the short stacks proceeded to shave down Takayama’s towers. Jeremy Jehanne avoided he rail twice with A♠K♦ doubling up over A♣{th} and K♦J♦ spiking the Jack on river to survive Takayama’s A♣K♠.

However, for the swinging Wooseok Kim, a second trophy was not to be with 10♥K♠ given hope on the board only to vanish at the runout 7♥8♣9♥4♣3♣. Kim fell in 3rd place to Takayama’s K♥J♠.

At heads up, Takayama continued to dominate and controlled the action and the pots. One big hand was a limped pot with Takayama betting the flop and river and getting called, the board was 4♣Q♥2♣6♣5♥. Jehanne called and mucked to 4♥4♠ set.

Another hand had Jehanne limp then three-bet with Takayama calling. Jehanne continued on the flop J♠6♦A♥ but after checking the turn 8♣, the river 8♥ saw Takayama take charge with a jam that pushed out Jehanne. When asked why he shoved with Jehanne displaying some aggression, Takayama said,

“I had an ace and I knew he would call if he had kings or queens.”

It was all over on the next hand with both players in on the flop that completed 9♥J♠7♣Q♣3♦. Jehanne’s J♦2♦ was way behind Takayama’s J♥9♣.

Francis Garson Wins APPT Mini Main

Grueling finish at the APPT Mini Main with Francis Garson outdueling Justin Geronimo at heads up to claim the last trophy on the mantle and the US$ 11,628 top prize.

With tables all packed up by the time Garson expressed exhaustion despite having just won the grueling heads up battle.

“I am tired. My strategy heads up was to let him be aggressive, call low variance, and wait for good spots, positions.”

When asked about the quads over full house final hand, Garson said,

“I placed him on the Jack or Four so I shoved. I expected he would not fold. He is a fast players so I just tried to find good spots against him.’

Recap

A crowd of 137 hopefuls turned up at the APPT Mini Main for a prize pool of US$ 46,777 with 21 players earning their respective share.

During the bubble round, Yannick Leonard was all in holding 3♠3♣ straight on a board 6♦9♥5♠4♥2♦ to double up through Yadi Yao’s 9♦9♠ set. Also surviving was Lei Zhang who called for his tournament life on a board 7♥9♣3♠{4a}4♠ holding 6♥4♥ trips that denied the pushers K♣8♠ bluff. The bubble then burst with Yinfei Xiao railing Siavasch Dastmalchi with K♣K♦ dominating 10♣10♠.

Leading up to the end, Leonard carried his chips all the way to 3rd place, falling with A♦2♠ against Geronimo’s A♠5♠. This gave Geronimo the chip advantage entering heads up against Garson however, it flipped on a showdown that awarded the Frenchman a double up with A♥6♠ over A♦2♥ on a board 6♦9♦5♥4♣9♥.

Despite Geronimo’s efforts, he could not recover the lost chips as Garson kept him at bay. The final hand was nothing short of a shocker with Q♦2♦ quads on a board 2♥J♣2♠4♦2♣ crushing Geronimo’s J♥J♦ full house. Both checked the flop, Garson bet the turn then jammed the river.

Links:

APPT Cambodia – Schedule
APPT Cambodia – Live Updates
APPT Cambodia – Festival Results
APPT Cambodia – Photo Gallery

Next up for PokerStars LIVE

Players have one last chance to try to win PokerStars spades at the upcoming PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack 20 taking place at Okada Manila, Philippines. The event runs November 29 to December 8 featuring a Main Event guarantee of ₱20,000,000 (~US$ 340,000).