WPT Vietnam Main Event Day 1A closes with Indian players Yasheel Doddanavar & Eka Vedantham on top

Asia-Pacific
03/19/2019

The first starting day of the WPT VietnamMain Event – came and went with 117 unique players pouring in at Pro Poker Club for an early start at the races. Of that number, 19 re-entered for 136 entries total. While there were many countries represented, a large contingent of Indian players could not be missed which included the attendance of defending champion Dhaval Mudgal and WPT India defending champion Nikunj Jhunjhunwala.

However by the end of the scheduled 14 rounds, instead of the two Indian champions making waves, a different set of Indians were the day’s star performers. Closing Day 1A as the chip leader was Yasheel Doddanavar with 333,000 trailed closely by Eka Vedantham with 323,500.

Yasheel Doddanavar
Yasheel Doddanavar

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to track Doddanavar’s rise to the top however we did catch the action that helped send the second chip leader Vedantham right alongside. During Level 12, Vedantham delivered a double knockout, railing a short-stacked player with 8h9h and above average stacked Xiao Yin He with JdJs. Vedantham held AsKs that improved on the board AdQs8c10hAc.

ENZ 4457
Eka Vedantham

Also making it through were a couple of highly decorated local pros Quang Nguyen (181,000) and Linh Tran (135,000). The lone player from the Philippines, Richard Marquez, represented his country well with 181,000 bagged. Other big names were Jack Salter (78,500), Louis Salter (38,000), Alan Lau King Lun (114,000), Natalie Teh (86,500), Hung Sheng Lin (150,000), and Kilian Loeffler (150,600). Jhunjhunwala also advanced after doubling up on the last hand of the day. As for Mudgal, he will have to secure his spot on the next starting day.

Quang Nguyen
Quang Nguyen

Day 1A chip count

Yasheel Doddanavar 333,000
Eka Vedantham 323,500
Tuan Pro 303,500
Richard Marquez 181,000
Quang Nguyen 180,000
Hu Jin Long 154,000
Kilian Loeffler 150,600
Lin Hung Sheng 150,000
Linh Tran 135,000
Neel Joshi 132,000
Nguyen Nam Duong 125,000
Khanh Con 119,000
En Ching Wu 115,000
Alan King Lun Lau 114,000
Xiaosheng Zheng 109,500
Nguyen Ba Cuong 92,500
Kush Kataria 90,000
Natalie Teh 86,500
Kmen 82,500
Mr Dang 82,500
Ni Xiangxiang 81,500
Andy (Sunghwan) Lim 80,500
Nam Phan 79,500
Jack Salter 78,500
Nikunj Jhunjhunwala 78,000
Pham Duy Hung 76,500
Khum Phan 69,000
Tung Nguyen 65,500
Phachara Wongwichit 58,000
Lau King Sing 57,500
Tran Thanh Dat 53,500
Alok Birewar 49,500
Francis Garson 46,000
Andre Vettau 38,500
Louis Salter 38,000
Le Tam Viet 37,000
Nga Huynh 31,000

All of the day’s survivors will have a two-day break before returning on Friday, March 22 for Day 2 at 12pm. Prior to that, Day 1B gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday March 20 followed by Day 1C on Thursday, March 21. Buy-in is VND 25 Million (US$1070). Cards in the air at 1pm.

From our observation, by the looks of today’s numbers, there is a very strong chance that not only will the VND 8 Billion (US$344,800) guarantee be dusted but last year’s 679 attendance will be surpassed.

Somuchpoker will continue to be onsite throughout the festival. Main Event live updates will run daily. You can read up on the Day 1A action via the link below.


More: Day 1A Live Updates


Author:Kaiwall