WPT Cambodia: Choi Hun Tae leads final 7 of Championship Warm Up; Bien Mai bags big at Mystery Bounty Day 1A
Day 4 at World Poker Tour (WPT) Cambodia saw the Championship Warm Up trim down to seven players with Choi Hun Tae bagging the chip lead. At the Mystery Bounty, the opening flight drew 146 entries with 19 at bagging time led by Vietnam’s Bien Mai. Scroll down for the recap and highlights.
WPT Cambodia – News Coverage and Results
WPT Cambodia – Player of the Festival standings
WPT Cambodia – Player Guide
WPT Cambodia – Photos
Choi Hun Tae leads final 7 of Championship Warm Up
Day 2 of the Championship Warm Up saw 103 players return to action, each one aiming for a piece of the USD 340,518 prize pool. Just over two hours in, Ilya Firstov delivered the bubble, ensuring a payout for the remaining 62 players. From there, the race raged on as players hunted down a seat to the final table.
After 11 hours of play, the official WPT final table of six wasn’t reached, instead seven players remained led by Korea’s Choi Hun Tae with a strong 60 bb. Choi was a grinding machine all day, often seen raking in chips to hold top rank for quite some time.
Running second in chips was Philippine player Jonald Garcia with 43 bb. Garcia was also seen up top for several levels. Dropping down at the final 9, Garcia picked up a couple of pocket Aces to surge back up, eliminatingDiego Uechi in 8th place.
Yuwen Pan and Koen Breed were next down the rung, both players struggled with short stacks for most of the day, Pan was nearly out in 15th place but a lucky river Queen saved his 
against Laury Vanlerberghe’s 
.
Day 1 chip leaders, Samuel Adams (Day 1A) and Marc Joseph (Day 1C) followed in chip rank. Joseph maintained a mid-stack all day, Adams was at risk of elimination at the final table with 
, but like Pan, he spiked the river card for a pair to survive against 
.
To round out the pack is Xin Zhao who was a strong force all day. He carried the second largest stack into the final 9 until several bad bouts against Choi sent him down to 23 bb.
The final 7 players return on January 21, 2024 at 11:30am to chase down the title and the hefty USD 66,029 top prize.
Buy in: USD 800
Guarantee: USD 150,000
Entries: 489 (289 unique)
Prize pool: USD 341,518
ITM: 62 places
Chips in play: 24,450,000
Average stack: 3,492,857
Opening Day 3 blinds: 50K-100K ante 100K
Final 7 players
| Seat | Player | Flag | Stack | BB |
| 1 | Jonald Garcia | Philippines | 4,275,000 | 43 |
| 2 | Samuel Adams | New Zealand | 2,525,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Koen Breed | Netherlands | 3,375,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Xin Zhao | China | 2,250,000 | 23 |
| 5 | Yuwen Pan | China | 3,425,000 | 34 |
| 6 | Choi Hun Tae | Korea | 6,000,000 | 60 |
| 7 | Marc Joseph | South Africa | 2,600,000 | 26 |
Remaining payouts
| Place |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | $66,029 |
| 2 | $43,960 |
| 3 | $32,338 |
| 4 | $24,046 |
| 5 | $18,073 |
| 6 | $13,732 |
| 7 | $10,543 |
The Championship Warm Up drew 489 entries over three entry flights for a prize pool of USD 340,518. Day 1B pulled in the largest of 217 entries. 103 players advanced to Day 2
Day 1 results
Day 1A entries: 123 entries (107 unique)
Day 1B entries: 217 (135 unique)
Day 1C (Turbo): 149 entries (47 unique)
India’s Amit Kaushik carried in the chip lead and bowed out in 12th place. In mid-day, Vietnam’s Dao Minh Phu built a fortress until a four-bet shove with Jack-Ten cost him a chunk and eventually the rest against Martin Gonzales‘s pocket Aces. At three tables remaining, Philippine’s Christopher Mateo and France’s Adrien Berger drove their stacks to the top and finished in 11th and 10th place to form the unofficial final table of 9 players.
You can read up on some of the action via the WPT Cambodia – Daily Updates. We will have the payouts for you once it has been made available.
Mystery Bounty – Day 1A
The Mystery Bounty attracted 146 runners to the tables with 19 making the cut into the next round. Vietnam’s Bien Mai enjoyed a late game surge to zoom to the top and bag a dominating 862,000 stack (86 bb). In second rank was Canada’s Thomas Lee with 64 bb, and to round out the top three was Slovakia’s Andrej Desset who delivered the bubble to close with 53 bb.
Mai’s fast rise happened in two big hands against Taiwan’s Chao Ting Cheng. The first hand saw the board complete 
with a pot of 175,000 brewed. Mai checked, Cheng fired 85,000, Mai shoved, Cheng tank-folded.
The second hand was about the same. On a board that completed 
and 240,000 in the middle, Cheng bet 100,000, Mai check-raised all in again, Cheng tank-folded. Shortly after, Andrej Desset railed a player with 
standing firm against 
to burst the bubble and wrap up Day 1A.
Date: January 20, 2024
Buy in: USD 800
Guarantee: USD 200,000
Day 1A: 146 entries (119 unique)
ITM: 19 players
Day 1B: January 21, 2024 at 11:30am (30 min blinds)
Day 1C: January 21, 2024 at 4pm (25 minute blinds)
End of Day 1A – 19 players
| Rank | Player | Flag | Stack |
| 1 | Bien Mai | Viet Nam | 862,000 |
| 2 | Thomas Lee | Canada | 646,000 |
| 3 | Andrej Desset | Slovakia | 536,000 |
| 4 | Renji Mao | China | 453,000 |
| 5 | Mr. Fendy | Indonesia | 395,000 |
| 6 | Oleg Titov | Russia | 350,000 |
| 7 | Dmitrii Gnusaev | Russia | 318,000 |
| 8 | Sean Joseph Keeton | United Kingdom | 277,000 |
| 9 | Eike Soren Strub | Germany | 267,000 |
| 10 | Anthony Cierco | France | 249,000 |
| 11 | Chao-Ting Cheng | Taiwan | 237,000 |
| 12 | Rolands Norietis | Latvia | 236,000 |
| 13 | Conor Mark Berry Grimsley | United Kingdom | 235,000 |
| 14 | Maximilian Detlef Horst Von Nolting | Germany | 192,000 |
| 15 | Bin Yang | China | 158,000 |
| 16 | Younghun Moon | Korea | 131,000 |
| 17 | Ville Jyrki Santeri Pohjalainen | Finland | 109,000 |
| 18 | Chul Woong Joo | Korea | 101,000 |
| 19 | Yoay Ram | Israel | 97,000 |
WPT Cambodia
WPT Cambodia is the first Main Tour in Southeast Asia currently taking place at NagaWorld Phnom Penh. The games opened on January 17 and runs through January 30, 2024. Games have been heating up players continuously flocking in preparation for the big one.
The WPT Cambodia Championship takes place on January 25 to 29 featuring a USD 1 Million guarantee. The champion will be forever memorialized on the iconic Mike Sexton Champions Cup! Already seen in action are WPT champions Hoyt Corkins, Mel Judah, and Masato Yokosawa.
*Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you daily updates of WPT Cambodia from start to finish.
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