APT Vietnam 2018: Tetsuya Tsuchikawa wins the Main Event; Victor Chong among the side winners

The Asian Poker Tour wrapped up a third visit to Ho Chi Minh City this year with APT Vietnam 2018 completing a weeklong event from October 5 to 11 at the highly popular poker room, Pro Poker Club. Many notable players grabbed the headlines. Without a doubt, the biggest catch of the day was Tetsuya Tsuchikawa’s victory at the Main Event. Other big winners were Victor Chong, Dylan Wilkerson, and APT Player of the Series winner, Tetsuya Enoki.

Tetsuya Tsuchikawa lands first-ever APT Main Event career title

Once again, the VND 22,000,000 buy-in APT Main Event drew a huge turnout with 498 runners. This amassed a prize pool of VND 9,661,200,000 (~US$413,900). Shipping in the lion’s share VND 1,638,200,000 (~US$70,200) first prize was Tetsuya Tsuchikawa.

Tsuchikawa is one of the most highly recognized and respected players in the APT circuit. Due to his efforts, a strong showing of Japanese players attend every APT festival. His list of APT achievements date back to 2011 posting many side event victories and Main Event deep runs. Some of his deepest were: runner-up at the APT Asian Series Manila 2012, runner-up at APT-RWM Finale 2014 Main Event, and third place at the APT Kickoff 2016 Main Event. Along the way, he earned a Main Event title at the WPT National Philippines Main Event on October 2014, and a PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack 4 Main Event title on December 2015.

This latest victory is a special one as he can now check it off his bucket list. In the APT winner interview, Tsuchikawa expressed it all in one breath, “finally”.

Road to victory

According to APT reports, Tsuchikawa nearly fell in Day 3. Two spots before the money, he was all in with ace-jack against Zarvan Tumboli’s pocket kings. Two jacks were felted to save him from elimination.

To close out Day 3, Tsuchikawa delivered a double knockout to bring the field down to seven players. He entered the final table second-in-chips to Vietnam’s Quang Nguyen. Two more players fell to him before he me Nguyen at heads up. Tsuchikawa had the chip lead and kept it intact throughout. The event ended in a stunning cooler with Tsuchikawa triumphant on a set over set. Tsuchikawa had , Nguyen , the board completed to with the shoves seen at the turn.

Final 7 payouts

1st Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – VND 1,638,200,000
2nd Nang Quang Nguyen – VND 1,092,130,000
3rd Benjamin Gonzva – VND 762,500,000
4th Teoh Ming Hong – VND 555,030,000
5th Mei San Ang – VND 419,470,000
6th Le Long Stephane – VND 327,860,000
7th Vu Manh Phong – VND 264,060,000

This victory also earned him 3rd place at the APT Player of the Series race. In live tournament earnings, this puts him very close to breaching the million dollar marker.

Long overdue victory for Malaysia’s Victor Chong

Another big winner was produced at the series. After nearly a decade void of any victories, Malaysian pro Victor Chong finally captured his first-ever career live tournament title. Chong overcame the star-studded 33 entry field of the CoinPoker Super High Rollers event and pocketed VND 1,204,870,000 (~US$51,600) in winnings.

Alike Tsuchikawa above, Chong was long overdue for a victory having had many close ones throughout his career. A couple of recent runner-up finishes was at the APT Championships Event both in May this year and in December 2017. His largest career payout continues to be his runner-up finish at the Macau Poker Cup Main Event back in October 2011 for HK$860,800 (~US$110,500).

To seize his first title, Chong had to get past top players that included Daniel Tang, Soo Jo Kim, Tzua Wei Phua, Raghav Bansal, Gao Wenling, Pete Yen Han Chen, and at heads up, American pro Dylan Wilkerson. Chong also cashed at the CoinPoker High Rollers event where he finished 11th.

Payouts
Prize pool: VND 3,201,000,000 – Buyin: VND 107,500,000 – Entries: 33

1st Victor Chong – VND 1,204,870,000
2nd Dylan Wilkerson – VND 741,450,000
3rd Huu Dung Nguyen – VND 485,280,000
4th Chun Tsun Ming – VND 336,250,000
5th Pete Yen Han Chen – VND 245,430,000
6th Wu Kui Song – VND 187,710,000

Dylan Wilkerson awarded CoinPoker High Rollers title

American pro Dylan Wilkerson may have missed the mark at the SHR event but at the
CoinPoker High Rollers, it was the reverse. With more chips, Wilkerson was awarded the title after a heads up deal with Filipino Christopher Mateo closed the event. He collected VND 1,107,750,000 (~US$47,400) while Mateo took VND 1,000,000,000 (~US$42,800)

The two-day event attracted 104 to the tables, and at VND 54,000,000 each, it generated a prize pool of VND 5,044,000,000 (~US$216,000). Among those that earned a piece of the pie were Shyh Chyn Lim (3rd), En Ching Wu (4th), Wenling Gao (6th), Richard Marquez (7th), Linh Tran (9th), Duong Vi Khoa (13th), Huu Dung Nguyen (15th), and Cao Ngoc Anh (17th).

Japan sweeps the APT Player of the Series race

There were several players vying for the APT Player of the Series title. Winning it was Japan’s Tetsuya Enoki for accruing the highest number of points on his two side event victories. Go Mori took 2nd place, and Tetsuya Tsuchikawa 3rd place for an all Japanese sweep.

Article by Tricia David