WPT Cambodia Championship Day 1A soars past USD 1M, Punnat Punsri bags the chip lead

SMP Editor
SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief

Five years ago in 2019, the World Poker Tour made its debut in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, marking the start of what would eventually evolve into the brand’s most significant event in the Asian region – the first WPT Main Tour in Southeast Asia.

main event day1a 4
main event day1a 4

On January 25, 2024, the inaugural WPT Cambodia Championship, in partnership with Connaissance Management, kicked off at world class NagaWorld Integrated Resorts featuring a 1 Million USD guarantee. Mid-way through Day 1A, the player count surged to 313 entries to instantly breach the guarantee. The momentum continued and the heat closed at a fiery total of 373 entries for a prize pool of USD 1,193,973. With Day 1B yet to play out, confidence is high that the pot will soar past USD 2 Million.

Punnat Punsri
Punnat Punsri

At the end of 11 levels, it was bagging time. Thailand’s top player and back-to-back GPI POY National champion Punnat Punsritopped the counts with 528,500 (176 bb). Punsri was already one of the big stacks during the last break of the day when he took the lead on a player’s six-bet shove with Ace-rag falling to Punsri’s pocket Kings.

Trung Ha Nguyen
Trung Ha Nguyen

First time outside of home turf, Viet Nam’s Trung Ha Nguyen aka Hasagi was also seen rising up the ranks during the last level of play to take second rank with 489,000 (163 bb).

Amit Kaushik
Amit Kaushik

To round out the top three was India’s Amit Kaushik who had been consistently running deep at numerous events the past week. Kaushik has two cashes under his belt, 12th at the Championship Warm Up and 3rd at the Megastack Action Clock. He grinded up to 403,000 (134 bb). Another shaker at Day 1A was Denmark’s Michael Falcon, racking up four starting stacks very early in the day and maintained to close in the top 10 with 329,000 (110 bb).

Masato Yokosawa
Masato Yokosawa

Other players down the rung were WPT Champions Club members Japan’s Masato Yokosawa (111 bb) and USA’s Tony Dunst (72 bb).

Top 10 in chips

1

Punnat Punsri

Thailand

528,500

2

Trung Ha Nguyen

Viet Nam

489,000

3

Amit Kaushik

India

403,000

4

Vitalii Polikarpov

Russian Federation

366,000

5

William Lius

Indonesia

351,000

6

Hwang Wei Choong

Malaysia

348,500

7

Masato Yokosawa

Japan

334,000

8

Michael Kim Falcon

Denmark

329,000

9

Sriharsha Doddapaneni

India

295,000

10

Avi Cohen

Israel

293,000

WPT Live Updates – Day 1A
Day 1A – chip counts

Other links:

WPT Cambodia – Daily updates

WPT Cambodia – News Coverage and Results
WPT Cambodia – Player of the Festival standings
WPT Cambodia – Player Guide
WPT Cambodia – Photos

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About the Editor

SMP Editor

The SMP Editor covers international poker and iGaming for SoMuchPoker, providing news, tournament coverage, and industry insights. With a focus on accuracy, clarity, and relevance, the editor helps readers stay informed about developments across the global poker community.