Days Away From Won Poker Cup II; Find Out Who Is Attending

11/21/2024

Live poker tournaments in Cambodia now have more options to pick from with the addition of the Won Poker Cup in Sihanoukville. Word has spread among poker enthusiasts from near and far after the first edition took place in the coastal city this summer, and several notable pros of the region will be making their way to the Kingdom of Cambodia from November 24 until December 2, 2024.

Who Will Be At Won Poker Cup

Perhaps the most notable confirmed pros are David Erquiaga and Mike Takayama from the Philippines. Takayama is not only decorated with numerous titles all over the Asian circuit, he also brags a WSOP bracelet. For Erquiaga, he has been a force to reckon with since his victory at the WPT Cambodia Main Event in 2022.

South Korea’s Sumin Jang only has a short flight to Cambodia and boasts nearly half a million in live poker cashes, most of which have come from home soil. His biggest score also came in 2022 when Jang took down a massive 1,000-entry field Asia Poker League event in Seoul for $95,922.

Also from South Korea is WSOP bracelet winner Jiyoung Kim who has confirmed attendance. Kim found success at the inaugural Won Poker Cup with two final tables, nearly winning the Mini High Roller in 2nd place.

Trong Hieu Ngo follows not far behind that and will be on the verge to cross half a million USD in live cashes very soon if the recent results on the live poker circuit are any indication of things to come. In May 2022, Ngo finished second in a WPT Prime Hanoi Super Star Challenge Invitational for $43,990 and final-tabled the Super High Roller as well.

A few months later, Ngo came third in the WPT Prime Cambodia Super High Roller for $38,050 and won a USOP Mini High Roller in Da Nang one year ago. However, the far biggest score of Ngo was not long ago when he took down the APPT Manila Championship in the Philippines for a massive payday of PHP 11,610,000 (~USD 200,936).

The UK’s Grant Gardner has been calling Asia his home base for several years now and along his resident rapper and presenter duties for the Poker Dream brand, the Brit has also racked up nearly $300k in cashes. Many of the scores have come after he relocated as there is a seven year gap from the early beginnings to plenty of deep runs in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.

However, the largest score came from none other than Sin City this past summer when he ran deep in a $2,200 Mystery Bounty Event at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Gardner finished in sixth place for $125,770, the accumulated bounties will be his secret.

One player that needs little introduction in the Asia-Pacific region is one of the dark horses in Vietnam: Hai Nam Hoang. His first recorded live poker MTT result only came in June 2022 and since then, he boasts nearly $900k in cashes. This includes three six-figure USD deep runs on home soil one year ago. During the USOP Hanoi in September 2023, he won the Superstar Challenge and the Super High Roller Event within a few days for more than $250,000 combined.

He has six victories under his belt and another four runner-up finishes to his name. During the inaugural Won Poker Cup in July earlier this year, Hoang reached the money in the Main Event and finished in 23^rd place out of 404 entries. That deep run can certainly improved in the second edition, which is set to take place in a few days from now.

Speaking of the inaugural $1,100 Won Poker Cup marquee event, several international players finished in the money. Among them, runner up Armon Van Wijk has confirmed attendance and will be looking to take it to the finish line this time. Very likely return to Sihanoukville includes Alex Lindop, Adrien Berger, and Cambodia based Erik Rozhynskyi.

Whether or not defending champion Hong Ke will be back in action remains to be seen. The triumph in the summer was his only recorded live poker cash and he certainly entered with a bang. Several poker enthusiasts from China are however expected to make the trip to Cambodia, as the Kingdom has been a very popular destination for them in the past few years.

What To Look Forward To

What can players from near and far expect from the upcoming second edition? There are a total of 14 tournaments and 12 satellites scheduled from November 22 until December 2, 2024. The festival boasts more than $1 million in guaranteed prize pools of which $600,000 are reserved for the flagship Main Event.

Below are the key details of the marquee events.

Event	Date	Buy-In	Guarantee	More Details
Warm-Up	Nov 24 – 25	$565	$80,000	Three Day 1, Play to 15% ITM
Mystery Bounty	Nov 25 – 27	$565	$100,000	Two Day 1 to ITM, Bounties Day 2
Main Event	Nov 26 – Dec 2	$1,200	$600,000	Seven Day 1 play to ITM, Day 2 to FT
W High Roller	Nov 28	$5,000	$150,000	8-Handed, 40-minute levels
Single Day HR	Nov 29	$2,300	$100,000	8-Handed, 30-minute levels
Mini Main Event	Dec 1 – 2	$340	$50,000	Two Day 1 play to ITM, 30 min Day 2