APT Vietnam 2019: Zhou Jiaping ships the Main Event; Eunho Kwon & Junwoo Oh among early winners

Ongoing in Ho Chi Minh City at the Pro Poker Club is the Asian Poker Tour’s sixth festival of the year. APT Vietnam 2019 has been running since July 3 and is scheduled to conclude on July 14. This is the tour’s second visit of the year with a third one lined up for early November.

The twelve-day series features two highlighted tournaments and 23 side events. Half of the events have already been claimed including the Main Event that witnessed China’s Zhou Jiaping ship it for his first-ever career title and largest live score of VN₫ 1,892,170,000 (~US$ 81,000).

To briefly recap Jiaping’s road to victory, he entered the final 8 sandwiched in the middle. New Zealand’s Oliver Helm led the pack. The host country had odds on winning with five contenders in the lineup. Among them was Nang Quang Nguyen, one of the most decorated players from Vietnam. Last year, Quang finished 2nd at this same event in October then turned a win the next month at the APL Vietnam Main Event.

However, Quang would once again be denied an APT major title falling in 5th place. He was Jiaping’s first of four victims at the final table. Jiaping railed Nguyen Tien Thanh (4th), Oliver Helm (3rd), and to seize the title, he downed Nguyen Nam Duong at heads up in just five quick hands.

Final 8 payouts

1st Zhou Jiaping – China – VN₫ 1,892,170,000

2nd Nguyen Nam Duong – Vietnam – VN₫ 1,261,440,000

3rd Oliver Helm – New Zealand – VN₫ 876,930,000

4th Nguyen Tien Thanh “Terry” – Vietnam – VN₫ 633,930,000

5th Quang Nguyen – Vietnam – VN₫ 473,680,000

6th Nguyen Pham Duy Khanh – Vietnam – VN₫ 365,580,000

7th Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam – VN₫ 290,310,000

8th Tobias Napel Cornelis – Norway – VN₫ 236,520,000

The Main Event ran from July 4 to 9 with 458 entries at VN₫ 22,000,000 (~US$ 950) for a prize pool of VN₫ 8,885,200,000 (~US$ 380,000). The event paid out 46 places. Among the players in the money were: Kannapong Thanarattrakul (10th), David Erquiaga (14th), Hisashi Ogi (27th), Soo Jo Kim (34th), and Cao Ngoc Anh (40th).

Early winners

With the event halfway through, several side events have also been claimed. Koreans had a strong showing. They were among the festival’s biggest early winners.

Eunho Kwon wins the Monster Stack #1

Opening up the festivities was the first of two Monster Stack events. This is a popular one at every APT series. 131 took to the felt at VN₫ 11,000,000 (~US$ 475) each. A prize pool worth VN₫ 1,270,700,000 (~US$ 54,500) was generated with 22 paid. Capturing his first-ever APT win was Korea’s Eunho Kwon along with a healthy payday of VN₫ 308,120,000 (~US$ 13,200).

Final 8 payouts

1st Eunho Kwon – Korea – VN₫ 308,120,000

2nd Stephen Schumacher – USA – VN₫ 205,430,000

3rd Rubin Labroo – India – VN₫ 142,810,000

4th Tobias Cornelis – Netherlands – VN₫ 103,150,000

5th Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam –VN₫ 77,140,000

6th Tan Chong Hwee – Singapore – VN₫ 59,540,000

7th Casper Wong – Singapore – VN₫ 47,280,000

8th Justin Skovholt – USA – VN₫ 38,520,000

Junwoo Oh wins the Super High Rollers

The series schedule offered seven High Rollers events with the Super High Rollers packing the largest punch. 25 signed up at VN₫ 107,500,000 (~US$ 4,700) each for a prize pool of VN₫ 2,425,000,000 (~US$ 104,000). Korean player Junwoo Oh banked the VN₫ 886,520,000 (~US$ 38,000) first prize. This was the single largest payout of the completed side events. It was also Oh’s first-ever live tournament win.

Payouts

1st Junwoo Oh – Korea – VN₫ 886,520,000

2nd You Hewng Youl – Korea – VN₫750,000,000

3rd Le Zhenghua – China – VN₫371,730,000

4th Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 245,150,000

5th Daniel Smith – New Zealand – VN₫ 171,600,000

Other High Rollers champions

In addition to the SHR winner above, three other High Rollers events also completed.

Event #2: High Rollers #1
Prize pool: VN₫ 485,000,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 54,000,000 – Entries: 10

1st Hong Kong Nguyen – Canada – VN₫ 279,000,000

2nd Soo Jo Kim – Korea – VN₫ 151,000,000

3rd Huu Dung Nguyen – Vietnam – VN₫ 55,000,000

Event #8: High Rollers Single Day #1
Prize pool: VN₫ 931,200,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 43,000,000 – Entries: 24

1st Nguyen Manh Hung – Vietnam – VN₫ 455,470,000

2nd Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 244,320,000

3rd Tomokazu Hatanda – Japan – VN₫ 141,980,000

4th Long Ip Seng – China – VN₫ 89,430,000

Event #12: High Rollers Single Day #2
Prize pool: VN₫ 1,319,200,000 – Buyin: VN₫ 43,000,000 – Entries: 34

1st Hiroshi Nishiyama – Japan – VN₫ 501,940,000

2nd Daniel Smith – New Zealand – VN₫ 308,270,000

3rd Chee Keong Teng – Singapore – VN₫ 200,150,000

4th Mark Gruendemann – Ireland – VN₫ 136,890,000

5th Seong Hwang – Korea – VN₫ 98,250,000

6th Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – VN₫ 73,700,000

Article by Tricia David