The past few days at NagaWorld Phnom Penh crowned another batch of champions at WPT Cambodia – Passport To The World Championship. Emerging victorious were Seongho Cho, Daniel Stancer, Kyle Bao Diep, Max Menzel, Pannasa Prempluem, Norbertas Popa, Seonggwon Kim, Peter Fanthome, and Yongoh Lim. We’ve got those stories for you.
FESTIVAL RESULTS
PLAYER GUIDE – WPT Cambodia
PHOTOS
NEWS
High Roller
Witching Hour Win for Seonggwon Kim at 5K Challenge
The 5K Single Day Çhallenge got off to a late start and when it took off, 38 pulled up seats for a prize pool of USD 175,085. First to cash in was Australia’s Aaron Lim. Also back at the tables was China’s Guiyang Gang who has won a couple of events in Cambodia the past two years. Gang nearly added another with a 3rd place finish.
This left Australia’s Travis Endersby and Seonggwon Kim battling for the win. Just past the witching hour, Kim overcame the charging Aussie to lift his first ever WPT trophy and the USD 62,248 top prize.
Date: July 17, 2024
Buy in: USD 5,000
Entries: 38
Prize pool: USD 175,085
ITM: 6 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Seonggwon Kim | Korea | $62,248 |
| 2 | Travis Endersby | Australia | $41,499 |
| 3 | Guiyang Gang | China | $27,665 |
| 4 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | $19,210 |
| 5 | Quan Qiu | China | $13,919 |
| 6 | Aaron Lim | Australia | $10,544 |
Kyle Bao Diep Tops Large Field Of Megastack Action Clock
The largest turnout so far for a single day event was the Megastack Action Clock with 233 entries (171 unique). Many fallouts from the 8 Max Survivor Day 2 quickly jumped in to redeem themselves. One such player was Harsh Jhirmiria who went on to reach the final four where a deal was struck. Viet Nam’s Kyle Bao Diep earned the largest pay for his biggest stack. Play continued for the trophy with Jhirmiria and Diep going head to head. Diep prevailed to lift his career second WPT trophy.
Date: July 17, 2024
Buy in: USD 300
Entries: 233 (171 unique)
Prize pool: USD 59,893
ITM: 30 places
*Four way ICM deal
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Kyle Bao Diep | USA | $9,756* |
| 2 | Harsh Dev Jhirmiria | India | $7,651* |
| 3 | Erik Rozhynskyi | Ukraine | $7,446* |
| 4 | Tijmen Johannes | Korea | $8,858* |
| 5 | Lixi Yu | China | $2,884 |
| 6 | Lukasz Jankowski | Poland | $2,390 |
| 7 | Sunghak Lee | Korea | $2,036 |
| 8 | Kai Yat Fam | Singapore | $1,737 |
| 9 | Ari Marlon Kumpumaki | Finland | $1,400 |
Fearless Cho Goes From 2 bb To Champion
In January, Korean player Seongho Cho gave his cash game skill a test at the WPT Cambodia tournaments and scored two titles. Cho is back and emerged victorious once again for his third WPT title. Cho was the last man standing at the Superstack Freezeout, overcoming a field of 110 players. His win however was no easy finish.
At five-handed, Cho tank-called Tijmen Johannes river-shove on a board 
with 
. Johannes was bluffing with 
and was eliminated. Cho proceeded to rail Russell Lim next with pocket Jacks over pocket Sevens to amass a monster stack. Heads up was reached with Will Kwok eliminating Jacson Feng on pocket Sixes over pocket Fives.
Cho’s lead vanished fairly quick when Kwok doubled up with 
over 
with an Ace on the board. This sent Cho down to 10 bb which further dropped to just 3 bb. Sitting on the big blind, and having to pay the bb ante, Cho was all in for 2 bb and avoided elimination on a chop.
He then climbed to 12 bb on two double ups with Kwok at 33 bb. The fearless Cho reclaimed the lead on a board 
with Kwok betting every street then folding to Cho’s check-raise all in. Cho continued to climb and stole the win calling Kwok’s shove with a gutsy 
that landed two pair on a board 
to dust 
.
Date: July 16, 2024
Buy in: USD 250
Players: 110
Prize pool: USD 23,474
ITM: 14 places
Final 9 Payouts
| Place | Players | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Seongho Cho | Korea | $7,041 |
| 2 | Chi Wai Will Kwok | Hong Kong | $4,343 |
| 3 | Jacson Feng | Usa | $2,606 |
| 4 | Ming Yeow Russell Lim | Singapore | $1,702 |
| 5 | Tijmen Johannes Mattheus Groot | Netherlands | $1,315 |
| 6 | Nikesh Vijay Chawla | India | $1,080 |
| 7 | Yatish Yeshwanth Mysorekar | India | $915 |
| 8 | Hong Kit Dennis Pau | Hong Kong | $798 |
| 9 | Daoxing Chen | China | $704 |
Pannasa Prempluem Wins The Ladies Event
A decent turnout of 19 entries for the Ladies Event wrapped up with Thailand’s Pannasa Prempluem outlasting the competition for her first ever live title. Prempluem earned half the pot, turning her USD 200 buy in into USD 1,612.
Date: July 17, 2024
Buy in: USD 200
Entries: 19
Prize pool: USD 3,225
ITM: 3 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Pannasa Prempluem | Thailand | $1,612 |
| 2 | Sophal Yon | USA | $968 |
| 3 | Woraruethai Thanaphat | Thailand | $645 |
First International Win For Newcomer Peter Fanthome
On his WPT Cambodia debut, India’s Peter Fanthome turned his USD 300 buy in into a five figure USD 11,922 payday for his victory at the Deepstack. Fanthome was nearly out with 5 bb just before bubble time. However a lucky string of hands kept him alive to reach the final table. In a brief conversation with the champion, he was ecstatic,
“I can’t believe it! I didn’t even think I was going to make it past the bubble round. When I got to the final table, I was also almost out with Ace-King against pocket Aces. I completed a straight. So lucky. Then I won with pocket Kings against pocket Queens. I had so many chips at heads up.”
The final hand was dominating on a dry board. The victory was India’s third at the festival following Karan Sitlani and Somashekar Nahadeva.
Buy in: USD 300
Entries: 179
Prize pool: USD 46,012
ITM: 23 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Peter Hubert Fanthome | India | $11,922 |
| 2 | Akshat Verma | India | $7,995 |
| 3 | Van Xuan Nguyen | Viet Nam | $4,716 |
| 4 | Avinash Royan Tauro | India | $2,869 |
| 5 | Andrew Helfman | Usa | $2,215 |
| 6 | Wing Kei Chan | United Kingdom | $1,836 |
| 7 | Hyunhak Jung | Korea | $1,564 |
| 8 | Eric Alexandre Ceret | France | $1,376 |
| 9 | Khayal Abbasov | Azerbaijan | $1,192 |
Turbo Event Winners
Daniel Stancer Wins Bomb Pot Turbo
The Bomb Pot Turbo drew 54 runners for a prize pool of USD 9,167. By three-handed, Daniel Stancer was backed by a fortress of chips making it hard for his opponents to catch up, especially with the format as ante only. At heads up, Hyet Yin Mying Htet trimmed the gap down to 10 bb deficit with a lucky river catch against 
on a board 
. But no further. The final hand was Stancer 
, Htet 
, board 
.
Date: July 16, 2024
Buy in: USD 200
Entries: 54
Prize pool: USD 9,167
ITM: 7 places
| Place | Players | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Daniel Stancer | UK | $3,393 |
| 2 | Hyet Yin Myint Htet | Myanmar | $2,017 |
| 3 | Shinya Nakai | Japan | $1,237 |
| 4 | Song Hau Pham | Viet Nam | $871 |
| 5 | Anirban Kundu | India | $687 |
| 6 | Gagandeep Singh Malik | India | $550 |
| 7 | Jhon Hendri | Indonesia | $412 |
Norbertas Popa Wins First WPT Trophy at Short Deck Hyper Turbo
The Short Deck Hyper Turbo clocked in at just five hours with Norbertas Popa overcoming the wild hands for his first ever WPT win. This was Lithuania’s first win at the ongoing festival. Popa pocketed the USD 3,141 top prize and claimed one of the trophies on the mantle.
Date: July 17, 2024
Buy in: USD 200
Entries: 50
Prize pool: USD 8,488
ITM: 7 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Norbertas Popa | Lithuania | 3,141 |
| 2 | James David Butler | Ireland | 1,867 |
| 3 | Jeongyeol Yu | Korea | 1,146 |
| 4 | Armon Van Wijk | Australia | 806 |
| 5 | Taruli Asima Aritonang | Indonesia | 637 |
| 6 | Pratibh Saluja | India | 509 |
| 7 | Abhishek Ramesh | India | 382 |
Max Menzel Wins Hyper Turbo 15 Sec
Since 2018, German player Max Menzel has been a regular in the Asian live circuit however he still had not won a WPT event. That all changed at the Hyper Turbo 15 Sec event where Menzel topped the 33 entry field, defeating Panitan Poopasdri at heads up. Menzel turned his USD 800 buy in into a healthy payout of USD 9,646.
Date: July 17, 2024
Buy in: USD 800
Entries: 33
Prize pool: USD 23,527
ITM: 5 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Max Menzel | Germany | $9,646 |
| 2 | Panitan Poopadsri | Thailand | $5,882 |
| 3 | Perri Marco | Australia | $3,529 |
| 4 | Xin Yuan | China | $2,588 |
| 5 | Oleg Urusov | Russia | $1,882 |
Youngoh Lim Awarded Superstack Turbo Win After Heads Up Deal
It was a sure win for Korea at the Superstack Turbo with the final two players waving the same flag. The event drew 161 runners for a prize pool of USD 27,330. Out of top 21 that dipped in the money jar, Yongoh Lim claimed the largest share of USD 6,721 and the trophy after a heads up deal with Jaejong Cho. This was Korea’s fifth win. Also running well in this event was Ladies Event champion Pannasa Prempluem from Thailand with a 5th place finish.
Date: July 18, 2024
Buy in: USD 200
Entries: 161
Prize pool: USD 27,330
ITM: 21 places
*Heads up deal
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in USD
|
| 1 | Yongoh Lim | Korea | $6,721 |
| 2 | Jaejong Cho | Korea | $5,300 |
| 3 | Chak Hei Chan | Hong Kong | $2,804 |
| 4 | Parikshit Dhall | India | $1,707 |
| 5 | Pannasa Prempluem | Thailand] | $1,317 |
| 6 | David Longmate | $1,092 | |
| 7 | Siddharth Chetanbhai Karia | India | $946 |
| 8 | Pau Sanroma Igesias | $834 | |
| 9 | Minku Kim | Korea | $726 |
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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