APT Phu Quoc 2024: Kunal Patni and The Naing Take Final Day Leads

Two days of play have kicked off at the sunny island of Phu Quoc, Vietnam, with the APT Phu Quoc 2024 festivities continuing to set stage at Corona Resort & Casino. The festival’s opening highlight, Vietnam National Cup, has wrapped up its six qualifying rounds on schedule, and sees its 579-entry field whittled down to 84 runners. India’s Kunal Patni stands tall over the Final Day with a massive lead, having dominated the Flight D games. Another key event, APT Super High Roller, is close to crowning a champion with its 55-high roller field down to 13 players, led by Singapore’s The Naing.

APT Phu Quoc 2024 – Schedule

Kunal Patni Holds Massive Lead into Vietnam National Cup Final Day

Six Vietnam National Cup flights were showcased across the felt over the past two days, and attracted a total of 579 entries over its course, upholding its VND 5,000,000,000 (~USD 197,820) guarantee as its prize pool. Each heat played down to the top 14% of its field, with only 84 runners having survived the qualifying games. The fourth starting round, Flight D, racked up the highest count with 183 entries seeing 26 players advance through, led by none other than India’s Kunal Patni.

Patni found himself at the summit across the overall counts, having bagged a commanding lead of 804,000 into the Final Day. A long stretch over opening day chip leader Wipat Udomkanjananan’s 439,000, who has since dropped down to 7th in rank after all the flights have played through. The Indian pro also leaves quite a gap with second in position, Obaidullah Habibi stacking above the 500K mark. Final flight chip leader, Japan’s Shimizu Nozomu, rounds up the top three counts, bringing in a mighty 499,000 stack, five big blinds behind Habibi.

All returning contenders are guaranteed a mincash of VND 15,650,000 (~USD 620), backed by a fighting chance to claim the VND 966,530,000 (~USD 38,050) top prize. Interestingly, Flight C chip leader Manuel Blaschke has made it to both Final Days, and will be shifting back and forth between the Vietnam National Cup and APT Super High Roller games as the day progresses.

Vietnam National Cup Review

• Date/s: November 8-10, 2024
• Buy-in: VND 9,000,000 (~USD 355)
• Guarantee: VND 5,000,000,000 (~USD 197,820)
• Entries: 579 entries (303 unique)
• Prize pool: VND 5,000,000,000 (~USD 197,820)
• ITM: 84 places

By The Numbers

• Flight A: 79 entries, 12 qualified
• Flight B: 92 entries, 13 qualified
• Flight C: Turbo: 15 entries, 3 qualified
• Flight D: 183 entries, 26 qualified
• Flight E: 140 entries, 20 qualified
• Flight F: Turbo: 70 entries, 10 qualified

Vietnam National Cup Top Ten Final Day Qualifiers

The Naing Leads APT Super High Roller Final Thirteen

The heftiest buy-in on schedule, APT Super High Roller, drew in an impressive total of 55 high rollers putting up the VND 120,000,000 (~USD 4,745) buy-in, to easily surpass its VND 3,000,000,000 (~USD 118,690) listed guarantee. Thirteen players remain in contention following sixteen levels of play with The Naing (2,640,000) leading the hunt for the VND 1,728,540,000 (~USD 68,390) top prize. The Singaporean frontrunner is in search for his second APT title, along with previous champions Julian Warhurst (875,000), and Thanisorn Saelor (800,000).

Denmark’s Martin Stausholm stands just ten big blinds behind Naing with 2,340,000, both of which stack nearly double of third in position, Manuel Blaschke (1,195,000). Five more eliminations are yet to be seen with only eight runners due to cut a payday off of the VND 5,761,800,000 (~USD 226,840) prize pool. 

• Date/s: November 9-10, 2024
• Buy-in: VND 120,000,000 (~USD 4,745)
• Guarantee: VND 3,000,000,000 (~USD 118,690)
• Entries: 55 entries (37 unique)
• Prize pool: VND 5,761,800,000 (~USD 226,840)
• ITM: 8 places

APT Super High Roller Final Day Chip Counts

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