David Erquiaga clinches WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event for US$ 147,408

Asia-Pacific
Live Poker
Rest of the World
08/23/2022

Filipino David Erquiaga was crowned the newest World Poker Tour Prime series Main Event champion after he eliminated the last four players at the final table. Erquiaga won the largest three-way deal cut of US$ 137,008 plus a seat to the WPT World Championship worth US$ 10,400. He also leads the WPT Player of the Festival race where a WPT Passport worth US$ 5,000 to any main tour is up for grabs.

DAC 1034

Winner interview

Back in 2020, Erquiaga came close to his first WPT Main Event victory when he placed 3rd at WPT Philippines. Fast forward to today,Erquiaga is riding a rush at the moment. In late-July, he finished 2nd at the Poker Dream Malaysia Main Event for US$ 75,457, which was briefly his largest score, then won a high roller event at APPT Manila early this month before coming out to WPT Prime Cambodia.

SMP: How does it feel to win the biggest event in Asia?

Erquiaga: Masaya kasi fulfilling yung pakiramdam. Ang tagal natin pinaghandaan ito, tsaka naka ilang tries na kami. So yon. Fulfilling siya.

[Translation: I’m happy, I feel fulfilled. We’ve been preparing for it for a very long time, and we’ve tried several times before. So it’s fulfilling.]

SMP: Fresh from 2nd place in Malaysia and a high rollers win at APPT Manila, what is your winning formula?

Erquiaga: Parang wala naman dahil hindi naman yon madadaan sa ganon. Ano lang, hard work, tsaka keep on improving. Yun lang. Kasi ibang kalabanan, nag-iimprove so kailangan mag-improve din yung game mo.

[Translation: I don’t really have one because you won’t achieve wins that way. Just hard work, and keep on improving. That’s it. Opponents are improving so you have to improve your game too.]

SMP: Coming into the final table, big stacks were far ahead, did you have a strategy?

Erquiaga: Since ICM-wise mauna yung dalawang shorts sa akin, so may idea na kung paano mag-laro yung dalawang big stacks. Most likely nasa midding stack kami so baka i-pressure nila kami so kailangan yun yung iiwasan na maengage sa big stack kasi magka-karoon at magka-karoon ng unnecessary big pots eh. So ie-engage ka nila talaga dahil may ICM pressure. So naiwasan naman natin tapos na-double up kami ng pocket king natapat kaya ok lang.

[Translation: Based on ICM, the two short stacks come before me, so I have an idea how the two big stacks play, and most likely I’ll be mid-stack so they might pressure me and I have to stay away from engaging to avoid unnecessary big pots.]

SMP: Who was your biggest threat?

Erquiaga: Biggest threat is myself because if I don’t play good, I won’t win.

DSC 9541
David Erquiaga

SMP: What would you say was one of your key hands before the three way deal?

Erquiaga: Siyempre yung suck-out Jack-Nine against Ace-King. So yung mga memories ng Jack-Nine puro baccarat … ispirutu ng baccarat puro sama sama, nanalo tayo.

[Translation: Of course Jack-Nine suck-out against Ace-King. Memories of Jack-Nine are all baccarat, the spirits of baccarat got together to make me win.]

SMP: During the hand against Chi Jen Chu, you used up two time banks and called then won it with Ace-Jack. What was going through your mind to make the call?

Erquiaga: May idea na ako na maaring panalo na ako sa hand na iyon so gusto ko lang makita yung reaction ng mukha niya kaya gumamit ako ng dalawang time bank para lang malaman kung talagang good yung hand ko. Pero i ca-call ko talaga siya. Kailangan ko lang ng enough time para i-analyze if tama or mali yung decision making process.

[Translation: I had an idea I would win that hand, but I wanted to see the reaction on his face, that’s why I used two time banks, to confirm if I really had a good hand. But I was really going to call. I just needed enough time to analyze whether my decision making process was right or wrong.

SMP: How will you celebrate your win?

Erquiaga: Maybe I will celebrate inside the airplane. I go home tonight.

SMP: Thank you Dave and congratulations on your big win!

Final table payouts

1st David Erquiaga – Philippines – US$ 147,408*
2nd Chi Jen Chu – Taiwan – US$ 120,980*
3rd Junnie Pamplona – Philippines – US$ 106,482*
4th Jean Patrick Autran – France – US$ 62,060
5th Patrick Soh – Malaysia – US$ 46,820
,6th Kunal Patni – India – US$ 35,690
7th Ankit Jajodia – India – US$ 27,510
8th Ji Jun Xu – China – US$ 21,430
9th Hoang Van Nguyen – Vietnam – US$ 16,880
*Three-way ICM deal

The WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event at NagaWorld Phnom Penh set out to be the largest open event in Asia and it did exactly that with a record turnout of 1,050 entries (Day 1A -246, Day 1B – 364, Day 1C – 440) for a seven figure prize pool of US$ 1,018,500. The money flowed at Day 2 with 129 players hunting down a seat to the Final Table. Two players – Wanki Baik and Ankit Jajodia – were double qualifiers already awarded the first of the US$ 1,810 payouts.

DAC 0360

Dates: August 18 to 22
Buy in: US$ 1,100
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
Total entries: 1,050 entries
Prize pool: US$ 1,018,500
ITM: 131 players

Within the first three levels, 2019 finalist Jae Kyung Sim aka Simba was eliminated in 109th place while Erquiaga chipped up from 68th rank to one of the chip leaders after a double knockout with pocket AcAd. Unbeknownst to all, this was the beginning of his rise to the top. As the final table neared, Erquiaga eliminated Louis Bilodeau (22nd), Minjung Kim (17th), and Sam Ath Lor (15th). By the 11th hour, the final table was formed at the fall of WSOP bracelet champion Abhinav Iyer in 10th place to Taiwan’s Chi Jen Chu aka Justin with AcAs dominating QsQd.

DAC 0469
WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event Final Table Bubble

Chu carried in the mightiest stack to the final table of 107 (BB). Also with an impressive large stack was India’s Kunal Patni who entered the day as chip leader and maintained it to bring in 83 BB. Erquiaga was wedged in the middle with 36 BB.

DAC 0868
Chi Jen Chu

Final table recap

DAC 0503
WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event Final Table

Final table action was thrilling from the start as players hustled for chips. The first to risk it all was short stacked China’s Ji Jun Xu (7 BB) with a fast double up to build enough to rail Vietnam’s only hope, Hoang Van Nguyen in 9th place. Despite the boost in chips and confidence, Xu followed next in 8th place. Both players pocketed a career high live tournament score.

DSC 9560
Hoang Van Nguyen

France’s Jean Robert Autran was another early mover at the final table, rising incredibly fast to steal the top spot from Chu. Bumping Chu down further was Erquiaga who claimed his first of six final table busts in India’s Ankit Jajodia with KdKh staying ahead of AdQs. As the blinds increased, India’s hopes were crushed by Filipino Junnie Pamplona who cleaned out Patni in 6th place with AcKc over Ah10c.

DSC 9538
Kunal Patni

Down to five players, Erquiaga denied Malaysia’s Patrick Soh a third double up and nearly sent Chu out of the running with AcJd dominating Kh9c until two Nines and a King turned up. On the pair’s next big face-off, Chu won that round again with a straight over mid-pair to regain the chip lead. Despite the drop to just 13 BB, Erquiaga stayed aggressive to drag in multiple big pots, including a lucky double up against Autran with a Jd9c outdrawing AcKd on a board 6c5c2d7s8d. The lengthy four-handed round ended with Erquiaga besting Autran again, to send the Frenchman out in 4th place. Autran walked away earning the largest payout of his career.

DAC 0882
Jean Robert Autran and his rail

Following the bust, the final three players struck an ICM deal that guaranteed each player six figures and Erquiaga the largest cut. Set aside was the WPT Main Event trophy, the WPT World Championship US$ 10,400 seat, and US$ 24,000.

With the deal in place, Pamplona didn’t last long. He shoved with As7c and was outdrawn by Erquiaga’s KdQc, Queen on the flop. As one of the final table underdogs, Pamplona pocketed the largest payout of his career totaling US$ 106,482.

A bit of background on Pamplona, in Day 2 he was down to just 8 BB, doubled up twice, then eliminated WPT India Main Event champion Ashish Munot in 31st place. During the bubble round to the final table, Pamplona briefly sat in the leader’s seat after muscling Chu out of a big pot. In a battle of the blinds, with a board that completed 2s2d9hQd6c, Pamplona check-raised the flop and jammed the river.

DAC 0765
Junnie Pamplona celebrates railing Kunal Patni

Heads up between Chu and Erquiaga was also quite quick. Chu lost the first few pots to fall below 10 BB. He then pushed with KdJs that was outdrawn by Erquiaga’s Jh10d on a final board of 10h8s8d3d8h. Erquiaga shipped a total of US$ 137,008 in cash plus a seat, accommodation, and flight to WPT World Championship in December. Runner up Chu had to settle for a payout of US$ 120,980. Both players earned their largest known live tournament payout.

DAC 0971

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates on the ongoing WPT Prime Cambodia at NagaWorld Phnom Penh. For pics, head to theSomuchpoker FB page.

WPT Prime Cambodia – Main Event Day 1A; Mike Takayama wins the SHR Single Day
WPT Prime Cambodia – Main Event shatters $500K guarantee at Day 1B; Somashekar Kurkhepally, Aun Jian Wong, Martijn Gerrtis win events
WPT Prime Cambodia – Main Event breaks barriers! Record turnout 1,050 entries and $1M+ prize pool

WPT Prime Cambodia schedule
WPT Prime Cambodia structures
A Quick Guide to WPT Prime Cambodia
Road to WPT Prime Cambodia
Experience WPT Prime Cambodia
WPT Prime Cambodia – Shuffle up and Deal`
WPT Prime Cambodia – Day 1 recap
WPT Prime Cambodia – Ashish Munot wins the SuperStack
WPT Prime Cambodia – Opener Day 1B and Deepstack Freezeout
WPT Prime Cambodia – Younghoon Joo and JK Sorn triumph
WPT Prime Cambodia – Semen Kapitonov wins the Opener for $35K
WPT Prime Cambodia – Anand Kumar and Kunal Patni win trophies
WPT Prime Cambodia – Trong Hieu Ngo, Akshay Kapoor, Zarvan Tumboli win trophies
WPT Prime Cambodia – Shardul Parthasarathi, Richard Mari, and Ms. Asmiati win trophies

Tags:
Live Poker
News
Author:triccia

Best Poker Sites

CoinPoker
150% up to $2,000
WPT Global
100% up to $1500 & Free Tickets
1Win Poker
Up to 50%
Ignition Casino
150% up to $3,000
Bodog
100% up to $1,000.