WPT Prime Cambodia: Leo Soma defies odds for Super High Roller title; Tuomas Urtti, Ivan Ermin, Anna Lee win trophies
The French contingent celebrated a big win at Day 7 of WPT Prime Cambodia Season XXI with their very own Leo Soma taking down the Super High Roller. Soma won four consecutive showdowns to climb out of the hole and into the winner’s seat. The incredible comeback earned Soma his first victory of 2023 and US$ 91,520.
Also joining Soma in the exclusive list of winners were PLO champion Tuomas Urtti (Finland), Short Deck’s Ivan Ermin (Russia), and Anna Lee (Korea) who claimed the Ladies NLH title. Impressively, all of these winners earned the first title for their flag in this series.
WPT Prime Cambodia – Festival Results
Leo Soma defies odds to win the Super High Roller
The two-day Super High Roller attracted 51 runners at US$ 5,300 each for a prize pool of US$ 247,350. Sixteen players returned in Day 2, each one gunning for the US$ 91,520 top prize. After six hours of intense play, it concluded with France’s Leo Soma overcoming a huge deficit at heads up to deny Filipino Florencio Campomanes the title.
Recapping the race, among the nine players that fell without pay were entering chip leader Vincent Huang, and on the bubble, Czech Republic’s Roman Hrabecwho fell to Soma with 
two pair at the flop burned on the river by 
higher kicker on a board 
.
With the money intact, the pace was quicker. Brandon Hsien Ren Koh was ousted in 7th place with 
outdrawn by Gary Yongja Lin’s 
that improved to trips-Jacks. Mini High Roller champion Joshua McCully followed, also booted by Lin with Ace-King dominating Ace-Queen throughout. Taiwan’s Justin Chi-Jen Chu fell next in 5th place with 
dusted by Soma’s 
flush on a board 
.
Down to four players, Campomanes doubled through Lin with pocket Aces ahead of pocket Sixes. The momentum carried leading to the end of Shardul Parthasarathi in 4th place and Lin in 3rd place. Against Shardul, Campomanes check-called throughout a board 
, Shardul shoved on the river with 
bluff, Campomanes called with 
second pair. To eliminate Lin, it was all in at the flop 
. Lin 
, Campomanes with 
. The turn 
was no help to Campomanes but the river gave him the flush.
This kicked off heads up with Campomanes ahead 70 bb to Soma’s 53 bb. Despite the deep stacks, it didn’t take long for Campomanes to drain down Soma, at one point to as low as 5 bb, but Soma recovered with a double up. In total , Soma doubled up three times before the final hand was tabled.
On the first win, Soma’s set beat 
on a board 
. Next one was two pair on the turn to stay ahead of 
mid-pair. The third showdown, Campomanes had 
, Soma with 
, a Queen dropped on the flop and held.
With Soma slightly ahead in chips, the pair engaged in a pre-flop war that ended with Soma’s five-bet shove tank-called by Campomanes. Soma dominated with over 
, the board ran 
.
Buy in: US$ 5,300
Entries: 51
Prize pool US$ 247,350
ITM: 7 places
| Rank | Player | Flag | Payouts |
| 1 | Leo Soma | France | $91,520 |
| 2 | Florencio Campomanes | Philippines | $54,417 |
| 3 | Gary Yongja Lin | China | $33,392 |
| 4 | Shardul P | India | $23,498 |
| 5 | Justin Chi-Jen Chu | Taiwan | $18,551 |
| 6 | Joshua McCully | Australia | $14,841 |
| 7 | Brandon Hsien Ren Koh | Malaysia | $11,131 |
Tuomas Olavi Urttiwins the PLO event
The first non-Texas Hold’em event was tabled with 116 taking interest for a prize pool of US$ 30,380. It was a fast race to the final table, and even faster to reach heads up, then it slowed. Both players – Tuomas Olavi Urtti and Byoung Soo Lee – wanting the trophy. In the end it was Urtti’s day, capturing the win and the US$ 8,000 top prize. Urtti became the first player from Finland to reach the top at the series.
Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 116
Prize pool: US$ 30,380
ITM: 15 places
| 1 | Tuomas Olavi Urtti | Finland | $8,000 |
| 2 | Byoung Soo Lee | Korea | $6,505 |
| 3 | Kevin Kupferschmid | Switzerland | $3,311 |
| 4 | Ankit Jajodia | India | $2,127 |
| 5 | Deep Raina | India | $1,610 |
| 6 | Brad Owen | USA | $1,337 |
| 7 | Nicholas Williams | Australia | $1,154 |
| 8 | Gyula Ryan Revai | Canada | $1,018 |
| 9 | Mitsuru Sano | Japan | $896 |
| 10 | Armon Van Wijk | Australia | $790 |
| 11 | Niko Mykkanen | Finland | $790 |
| 12 | Pratibh Saluja | India | $790 |
| 13 | Jimi Hyvonen | Finland | $684 |
| 14 | Martin Kanaker | Sweden | $684 |
| 15 | Martins Ivanovs | Latvia | $684 |
Ivan Ermin wins Short Deck
Buy in: US$ 200
Entries: 85
Prize pool: US$ 14,429
ITM: 11 places
| 1 | Ivan Ermin | Russia | $4,654 |
| 2 | Martin Kanaker | Sweden | $2,814 |
| 3 | Wah Meng Tan | Singapore | $1,749 |
| 4 | Seongdo Heo | Korea | $1,183 |
| 5 | Younghwi Cho | Korea | $902 |
| 6 | Vitalii Borodin | Russia | $721 |
| 7 | Nicholas Williams | Australia | $599 |
| 8 | Norbertas Popa | Lithuania | $505 |
| 9 | Kentaro Mori | Japan | $465 |
| 10 | Minkyu Kim | Korea | $433 |
| 11 | Alexis Reyes Lim | Philippines | $404 |
Anna Lee wins the Ladies NLH
Buy in: US$ 200
Entries: 17
Prize pool: US$ 2,886
ITM: 3 places
| 1 | Anna Lee | Korea | $1,443 |
| 2 | Maon Oroku | Japan | $866 |
| 3 | Hua-Wei Lin | Taiwan | $577 |
Player of the Festival – update after 11 events
After 14 completed events, the Player of the Festival race has a new leader. Australia’s Kiale Matthews is now the player to catch with 800 points. Matthews reached three final tables with his deepest a 3rd place finish. He is trailed by Mystery Bounty champion Richard Marquez with 600 points, and NagaWorld Millions champion Maggie Chien Chih Weng has been bumped down to third rank.
Still plenty of events to conquer and earn points including the Main Event which kicks off on Thursday, March 16 and runs through March 20. The player with the most points at the end of the festival will win a WPT Passport worth $5,000 to any WPT Main Tour of Season XXI.
| 1 | Kiale Matthews | 800 |
| 2 | Richard Marquez | 600 |
| 3 | Chien-Chih Weng | 550 |
| 4 | Duc Thanh Nguyen | 525 |
| 5 | Joshua Mccully | 525 |
| 6 | Bien Mai | 500 |
| 7 | Tyler Suansrakaew | 450 |
| 8 | Fung Kong | 450 |
| 9 | Vikaash Shah | 425 |
| 10 | Deep Raina | 425 |
| 11 | Huyen Duc Luu | 400 |
| 12 | Brad Owen | 400 |
| 13 | Leo Soma | 400 |
| 14 | Rolands Norietis | 350 |
| 15 | Lucas Tae | 340 |
| 16 | Sameer Agarwal | 325 |
On Season XXI WPT Prime Cambodia
WPT Prime Cambodia, in partnership withConnaissance Management, runs from March 9 to 21 atNagaWorld Integrated Resortsin Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A total of 30 tournaments are scheduled and US$ 1 Million in guarantees. To date, fourteen players have walked away victorious. More trophies up for grabs including the upcoming Main Event $500,000 guaranteed which runs from March 16 to 20. Buy in is US$ 1,100. By the looks of it, the headliner will easily breach one thousand entries with the potential to surpass current Gold Coast record of 1,224 entries.
WPT Prime Cambodia – Player Guide
Breakdown of WPT Prime Cambodia schedule
WPT Prime Cambodia – Festival Payouts
For added enjoyment, there are ample cash games running daily and theCash Game Bonanza.
Reminders:
- NO TAX on winnings
- Event photos can be found in theSomuchpoker Facebook pageand in Somuchpoker IG page.
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you updates of WPT Prime Cambodia from start to finish.
