Van Dan Nguyen Tops Day 1A of WPT Cambodia Passport To WC Championship
The second half of the year for poker in Asia has started strong, with the World Poker Tour hosting the Passport To The World Championship at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh. In partnership with Connaissance Management Limited, six days of pre-games kicked off the festivities with the Passport Championship, taking center stage on July 18, featuring a USD 500,000 guarantee.
The headliner drew a total of 175 entries for Day 1A. This was the first of three opening flights scheduled. By the end of regulation of 14 levels, 22 players survived. Viet Nam’s Van Dan Nguyen bagged up the chip lead of 644,000, equivalent to 129 bb.
You can read up on the action via the Day 1A Live Updates.
Van Dan Nguyen Rise To The Chip Lead
For most of the day, Van Dang Nguyen wasn’t in radar due to his short stack. Instead, it was the two big stacks at his table – Oleg Titov and Anh Bui Le – that were being closely watched. Down to 8 bb by Level 12, Nguyen caught a lucky break when he doubled up with 
against Le’s 
. The celebration continued on the next hand with 
set on the river againstDavid Chiv’s 
set on the flop.
One level later, Nguyen landed a third double up with 
over Titov’s 
that missed. As the end of Day 1A approached, Nguyen catapulted to the chip lead with his full house dusting William Luis’ flush. Nguyen was one of six players from Vietnam to advance. The most by any flag.
Another strong finisher was Japan’s Takuya Shimabukuro with 642,000 stacked, just one big blind behind the leader. Unlike Nguyen, Shimabukuro was seen grinding all day. Early on though, he was nearly eliminated until his lower pair spiked the two-outer. Towards the end of Day 1A, Shimabukuro claimed a pot holding a one-card straight.
In addition to the leaders, several players held the chip lead as well for some time. Howard Appledorf had a controversial hand against NagaWorld Superstack Jungsup Yun champion that ballooned his stack. William Lius also sat up top for a time. One of the biggest names to advance was Singapore’s Alex Lee who fared much better on his second bullet.
Day 1A ended with Haisheng Qiudown and out in two hands. His aces were first cracked by Chengchun Sha then lost his last 8 bb to Lius.
WPT Cambodia Passport Championship – Day 1A
Date: July 18, 2024
Buy in: USD 1,300
Guarantee: USD 500,000
Day 1A: 175 entries / 22 survivors
End Of Day 1A Chip Counts
| Van Dan Nguyen | Viet Nam | 644,000 |
| Takuya Shimabukuro | Japan | 642,000 |
| Chengchun Sha | China | 611,000 |
| Howard Barry Appledorf | USA | 503,000 |
| Chi Ling Tsang | Canada | 464,000 |
| Manh Cuong Le | Viet Nam | 415,000 |
| Kah Yew Teng | Malaysia | 400,000 |
| Trung Ha Nguyen | Viet Nam | 355,000 |
| Daniel Peter O’Leary | United Kingdom | 350,000 |
| Ngoc Quoc Bao Pham | Viet Nam | 322,500 |
| Ilya Firstov | Kazakhstan | 300,000 |
| Nikesh Vijay Chawla | India | 296,000 |
| Xiang Wei Lee | Singapore | 240,000 |
| Raj Vardhan Bagaria | India | 223,000 |
| Anh Tuan Bui | Viet Nam | 208,000 |
| William Lius | Indonesia | 203,000 |
| Jin Xiong Lee | Singapore | 193,000 |
| Jayden Anthony Zalac | Australia | 157,000 |
| Dich Khanh Nguyen | Viet Nam | 143,000 |
| Junjian Yu | China | 136,000 |
| Nicholas John Woodward | United Kingdom | 108,000 |
| Andrei Budykin | Russia | 86,000 |
Up next is Day 1B which takes place on July 19, 2024 starting at 11:30am. Players start with 40,000 stack which is 200 times the starting blinds. For the first nine rounds, blinds increase every 40 minutes then 60 minutes for the duration.
Day 1B: Friday, July 19, 2024
Day 1C: Saturday, July 20, 2024
Day 2: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Day 3: Monday, July 22, 2024
Somuchpoker is on-site to bring you live updates on the action from start to finish.
