APPT Cambodia: Sven McDermott Tops Main Event Day 1A; Anton Poliakov, Artem Vezhenkov Rule Key Events

today at 8:00 AM

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour‘s headliner will once again take center stage at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh as Day 1B of the APPT Cambodia Main Event kicks off at 12pm local time, Friday, November 22, 2024. In partnership with Connaissance Management Group, a larger guarantee of US$ 500,000 has been advertised for the third annual festival and is well on its way to breaching it with the opening heat drawing 128 entries and more expected for the last two flights.

APPT Cambodia Main Event

The Main Event will run a total of 15 levels today. The buy in is US$ 1,650 with registration closing at the start of Level 11 at 6:40pm. Players begin with a deep starting stack of 30,000 and blinds at 100-100 ante 100. Blinds increase every 40 minutes.

Following this flight, players have one more chance at qualifying to the next round with Day 1C taking place on Saturday, November 23, 2024. From there, all the qualifiers will merge for the big showdown on November 24, 2024 where only 9 players will progress to the final day.

Sven McDermott Sets The Bar High At Day 1A

Sven McDermott tops APPT Cambodia Main Event Day 1A — Sven McDermott leads APPT Cambodia Main Event Day 1A

On November 21, 2024, Day 1A wrapped up with 22 players remaining out of the 128 entry field. At the top of that list was Irish player Sven McDermott with a commanding 544,000 stack, equivalent to 136 bb at the end of day. This was 59 bb more than the closest finisher Ceesvin Abdulla with 306,000 (77 bb). Rounding out the top three was another Irish player, Frank Lillis with 265,000 (66 bb).

Also finding a bag were APPT Manila Championship winner Trong Hieu Ngo of 167,000 (42 bb), Mike Takayama (248,000 – 62 bb), Armon Van Wijk (87,000 – 22 bb), and Jinlong Hu (82,000 – 21 bb). The remaining players return on Day 2 in an attempt to reach the money round and further on to the final table.

Recap and Live Updates can be found via the SMP Live Updates.

Other News

Artem Vezhenkov wins the APPT Super High Roller

In other news, two big winners were crowned at the festival. Russia’s Artem Vezhenkov crushed the final day of the APPT Super High Roller to ship the US$ 66,000 top prize and his first ever PokerStars shard trophy.

“I am very happy! This was the most expensive event, $10,000 buy in so I am very happy to win it.”

When asked about the last hand where he called with a small pair, the champ shared,

“I was thinking he has a wide range and after he made a small bet on the turn and he insta-push on the river. If he hit the queen on the turn, he should think about the river but he didn’t so for me, it’s a bluff. But it is still not an easy call for me that’s why I used my time banks.”

APPT Super High Roller Review

Date: November 20 to 21, 2024
Buy in: US$ 10,000
Entries: 14
Prize pool: US$ 131,726
ITM: 3 players

Payouts

Place	Player	Payout in USD
1	Artem Vezhenkov	66,000
2	Yu Chung Chang	39,500
3	Mike Takayama	26,226

Recap and Updates can be found via the SMP Live Updates.

Anton Poliakov wins Mystery Bounty — Anton Poliakov

Over at the Mystery Bounty, 341 signed up across three flights with 52 advancing to the ITM rounds. After ten hours of play, Russia’s Anton Poliakov defeated China’s Xiaosheng Zheng in a dramatic cooler of Aces versus Kings to win the Mystery Bounty title. This was Poliakov’s first ever live win.

“I feel really good! It’s my first time to win! I played aggressive. When heads up began, I feel I was the tougher player.”

Poliakov bulldozed at heads up, winning pot after pot. Along with the iconic PokerStars spade trophy, Poliakov earned an ICM payout of US$ 18,518 plus US$ 4,450 in bounties to lock up the largest event cash of US$ 22,968. Prior to this event, Poliakov reached the final table of the NagaWorld Kick Off, finishing in 8th place. He also reached 5th at Win The Button.

Tetsuya Tsujisaka spins for biggest bounty

Also needing mention is Tetsuya Tsujisaka who spun the PokerStars wheel and drew the coveted big bounty worth US$ 11,500. Tsujisaka finished in 17th place and walked away with a top 5 payout.