World Poker Championship sees full house on opening day; Kick Off Event Day 1A registers 129 runners; Nguyen Trung Ha and Nguyen Khac Quang claim first two trophies

Off to a smashing start, the World Poker Championship festivities currently running at Grand Loyal Poker Club, Hanoi, saw its ballroom fill up quickly with dozens of players from all across the region. The WPC in partnership with South East Asian Poker Tour (SEAPT) welcomed hundreds of runners to three events on schedule – Kick Off Event Day 1A, High Roller Single Day, and the Bounty Hunter tournament, for its opening day.

Scroll down below to see the day’s results.

WPC-SEAPT Kick Off Event Day 1A records 16 players through the Final Day

The first flight of the series’ Kick Off Event closed in with 129 entries in total collected through eight levels of registration. 12.5% of the field was set to claim a minimum payout which meant only 16 runners qualified through the Final Day this coming Sunday, September 18th.

After more than nine hours of play, the field dwindled down to the last two tables led by Day’s chip leader Nguyen Tuan Anh. Nguyen shot to the top following a massive preflop all-in with against Trinh Cong Duy’s . Luck definitely wasn’t on Trinh’s side as he finished a few hands right after losing a flip with to Trent Fechter’s on a board to exit in 17th place.

Bubble time flew by fairly fast as the pressure of the blinds continued to increase. At the end of the day, Korea’s Yu Je Nam locked in the final 16 players to the money having busted a short stack with . Among the top stacks is local runner Nguyen Quy Quyen who maintained his lead throughout the last four tables even after losing with a rivered boat on the big blind against the button’s better full house. Korea Mind Game Members’ Lee Seok Young also made the qualifying list after nursing a short stack through the final tables.

Buy in: VN₫ 8.8 Million (~US$ 372)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2.5 Billion (~US$ 105,695)
Entries: 129
Qualifiers: 16 players

Kick Off Event Day 1A Qualifiers

Chips in play: 3,225,000
Average stack: 201,562

Event #2: High Roller Single Day: NGUYEN TRUNG HA – VN₫ 436,940,630 (~US$ 18,467)

An astonishing turnout was recorded for the festival’s opening High Roller tournament paving the way for undoubtedly, four more successful high roller events to follow within the next few days. Today’s High Roller Single Day smashed its VN₫ 500 Million (~US$ 21,139) guarantee by a mile as the 82-entry field swelled the prize pool close to 5x in value. Seven hours of play concluded before the bubble burst with Nguyen Trung Ha in the middle of the swing of things. After losing a huge pot to eventual final table chip leader Ashish Munotwith a turned straight against Munot’s better rivered straight, Nguyen quickly recovered following two eliminations just in time to bust the bubble.

It took roughly two hours before the first casualty of the livestreamed final table was seen with Nguyen stacking off Malaysia‘s Tan Zi Xuan with a better Ace. India’s runners Ankit Jajodia and Munot then found themselves in a head to head battle with all the chips in the middle on the turn. Munot (42bb) began the hand with an open from the hijack with and Jajodia (15 bb) calling on the button with . After a checked flop, Munot proceeded all in on the turn and was met with a call from top pair Jajodia. The river completed Munot’s flush, ending Jajodia’s run in 7th place.

Four-handed play lasted for over an hour before stacks evened up and a four-way deal was struck. All four received fairly even payouts with Nguyen slightly ahead, and the trophy going towards the overall champion. Munot was the first to go after finding himself in a terrible situation following an preflop all-in with that slammed right into Nguyen Trung Ha’s . The eliminations continued within the next ten minutes as Nguyen’s card rush continued, picking up against Dinh Tien Thanh who defended on the big blind. The flop drew , Dinh check-jammed against Nguyen’s continuation bet to find himself behind. No help came on the turn and river and Nguyen headed into heads up play with a 4:1 advantage against once sitting with 3.5bb and Bubble Time survivor Teddy Pham.

While Pham managed to tighten the gap, the final hand showed Nguyen defend against Pham’s raise with . The flop came and Nguyen check-called Pham’s continuation bet. The turn came , driving the action for Nguyen to check-raise Pham’s second barrel. Pham made the call and the river sealed the victory for Nguyen after he moved all-in and Pham called behind. The win awarded Vietnam’s Nguyen Trung Ha the top payoutfor a well-fought battle and one of the first trophies to start the series.

To relive the final table gameplay, viewers can turn to Grand Loyal Poker Club’s official Facebook page for the recorded livestream.

Buy in: VN₫ 33,000,000 (~US$ 1,395)
Guarantee: VN₫ 500,000,000 (~US$ 21,139)
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,386,200,000 (~US$ 100,883)
Entries: 82
ITM: 10 places

Full Payouts

*Denotes deal was made

Event #3: Bounty Hunter Event: NGUYEN KHAC QUANG – VN₫ 111,190,000 (~US$ 4,700)

Those failing to make it through the Kick Off Event qualifier found themselves another chance at a trophy with the day’s concluding VN₫ 6.6 Million buy-in Bounty Hunter tournament still open for action. The last event on schedule attracted a total of 103 entries with the remaining 13 players making the money. On the winning end of the bubble hand was Jeon Hyeongjin’s up against . The board however, revealed , favoring Hyeongjin for the win and all the rest a guaranteed payout of VN₫ 14 Million.

The final table kicked off with Nguyen Nhu Toan as the chip leader and a number of short stacks –Hyeongjin (less than 1 bb) and Hoang Thanh Son (2.5 bb), exiting in ninth and eighth place not long after. Second in the running Park Jae Hyung who held the most number of bounties (12) throughout, eventually rose to the top and dominated the remaining players all the way to heads up play against Nguyen Khac Quang. With a slight advantage for Park, the two agreed to an ICM deal with the trophy going to the eventual champion.

All it took was one hand to shift the direction towards Nguyen who scored a massive double up with against Park’s . The final hand saw Nguyen move all-in with and Park commit his crippled stack with . The board left Park drawing thin and Vietnam’s Nguyen securing the first trophy of the day along with VN₫ 95,190,000 (~US$ 4,024) in top prize and an additional VN₫ 16 Million (~US$ 676) in bounties for a total of VN₫ 111,190,000 in winnings.

Buy in: VN₫ 6,600,000 (~US$ 279)
Prize pool: VN₫ 599,460,000 (~US$ 24,860)
Entries: 103
ITM: 13

Full Payouts excluding Bounties

*Denotes deal was made

WPC-SEAPT Schedule & Structures
Event Photos

Lined up for later today, Saturday, September 17th are two more flights for the VN₫ 2.5 Billion (~US$ 105,695) guaranteed Kick Off Event and a Hyper Turbo event to cap off the night.

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker for more on the ongoing World Poker Championship at Grand Loyal.

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