Opening day of WPT Prime Cambodia saw a horde of players eagerly awaiting the first event to kick off. Once cards were in the air for the NagaWorld SuperStack 50K, more than six tables were quickly occupied. The pace continued for the rest of the day with players snatching up seats resulting in a large portion of the NagaWorld Ballroom to fill up. Just before 6pm, the festivities heightened with the opening ceremony and the official “Shuffle up and Deal” announcement. This signaled the start of the WPT Prime Opener $150K GTD.
Welcome to Day 1 of the biggest poker event to hit Asia this year.
Glancing around the room, it was unlike most festivals held in the region. Players from nearly all continents were in attendance with many coming out for the first time since the pandemic. Scattered among the crowd were partial/unvaccinated players expressing thrill at being able to play this event; a loyal WPT player traveling all the way from South Africa who will soon be joined by more countrymen in the ensuing days; and a pack of players from Korea and India seen battling it out with a couple of them bagging up the biggest stacks. Aside from the tournament scene, also flourishing were the cash games with several tables running all day.
Here’s a look at the day’s results.
WPT Prime Cambodia Opener – Day 1A sees 7 bag up led by Korea’s Wanki Baik
Day 1A of the WPT Prime Cambodia Opener $150K GTD picked up 54 entries throughout the eight levels of registration. Just before the seventh hour, the bubble burst on a short stacked player with chip leader Wanki Baik landing a victorious one card flush. Also off to a swell start were 2018 WPT Vietnam Main Event champion Dhaval Mudgal and 2019 WPT Cambodia Main Event finalist Jae Kyung Sim aka Simba, both players advancing to Day 2.
Buy in: US$ 550
Guarantee: US$ 150,000
Entries: 54
Survivors: 7 players
End of Day 1A chip counts
| Wanki Baik | Korea | 484,500 |
| Frank Lillis | Ireland | 230,000 |
| Anshul Rajput | India | 213,000 |
| Jae Kyung Sim “Simba” | Korea | 169,500 |
| Jack Leong | Singapore | 121,500 |
| Dhaval Mudgal | India | 94,500 |
| Jie Wei Yang | China | 37,000 |
Chips in play: 1,350,000
Average stack: 192,857
The seven survivors have a couple of days off before returning to action on Day 2 which takes place on Sunday, August 14 at 1pm. Next up is Day 1B on Friday, August 12. Cards in the air at 1pm. Buy in is US$ 550. Starting stack is 25,000 with blinds increasing every 40 minutes. Registration closes at 6:50pm. Players bag up once ITM is reached.
Event 1: NagaWorld SuperStack 50K – Day 1 results
The doors opened with the NagaWorld SuperStack 50K getting everyone excited. According to many, its deep structure was hard to pass up. For most of the afternoon, the floor was buzzing with action that by the close of registration, 183 entered for a prize pool of US$ 49,703. Past 10.5 hours of play, the bubble burst with China’s Wenlong Yuan knocking out a fellow countryman.
With everyone in-the-money, it was bagging time. Two players from India crossed over a million in chips. Akshay Kapoor emerged the biggest stack with 1,140,000 and trailing by 2 BB was Anmol Mehta with 1,110,000.
When the 23 players return on Friday, August 12 at 12pm, they will all be guaranteed US$ 472 but what they will be chasing is the sizable US$ 12,877 top prize and the first side event trophy of WPT Prime Cambodia.
Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 183
Prize pool: US$ 49,703
ITM: 23 places
End of Day 1 chip counts: 23 players
| Akshay Kapoor | India | 1,140,000 |
| Anmol Mehta | India | 1,110,000 |
| Sam | 745,000 | |
| Ashish Munot | India | 620,000 |
| Rungrot Nuannoi | Thailand | 560,000 |
| Eric Wasylenko | Canada | 535,000 |
| Daniel Hinh | Australia | 525,000 |
| Tasuhiko Terai | Japan | 415,000 |
| Trent Fechter | USA | 410,000 |
| Sam Adams | Australia | 400,000 |
| Marcelo Bregoli | Italy | 380,000 |
| Wenlong Yuan | China | 315,000 |
| Tim Seng | 270,000 | |
| Phua Jiun Hoe | Singapore | 260,000 |
| Kim Jong Ha | Korea | 260,000 |
| Hyeokki Lee | Korea | 240,000 |
| Rishab Malik | India | 195,000 |
| Thanakrit Lachaima | Thailand | 150,000 |
| Hong Chang Woo | Korea | 130,000 |
| Ben Abrahams | Thailand | 120,000 |
| Tan Wei Peng Johnson | Singapore | 120,000 |
| Taragon Suksomlert | Thailand | 85,000 |
| Kevin Tang | 85,000 |
Chips in play: 9,150,000
Average stack: 397,826
Final Day opening blinds: 10K – 15K – 15K (Ante BB) – 24 minutes remaining
WPT Player of the Festival
At the conclusion of the first side event, the top 9 players in the money receive points towards the WPT Player of the Festival race. This distinguished title awards the player with the most points accrued at the end of the festival with a WPT Passport worth US$ 5,000 to any Main Tour of choice this year.
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker for the updates on the ongoing WPT Prime Cambodia
WPT Prime Cambodia schedule
WPT Prime Cambodia structures
A Quick Guide to WPT Prime Cambodia
Road to WPT Prime Cambodia
Experience WPT Prime Cambodia
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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