Main Event Draws 795 Entries With VND 4.71BN (~USD 185K) Up Top; Vietnam’s Nghiem Xuan Thieu Leads Final 50 Players

APT PHU QUOC 2024 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS | PLAYERS LIST

PHU QUOC, VIETNAM, November 14, 2024 — The numbers are in for the APT Phu Quoc 2024 VND 36M Main Event—run in partnership with VPT at the Corona Theater located within the luxurious Corona Resort & Casino—with the tournament drawing 795 entries (400 unique).

This is a new APT record for the Phu Quoc tour stop, and a sizeable 56 percent increase on the APT Phu Quoc 2023 Main Event, which saw 507 entries compete for a VND 14.75 billion (USD 619K) prize pool, making the APT Phu Quoc 2024 Main Event's VND 25 billion (~USD 1 million) prize pool 46 percent richer than the previous tour offering.

A total of 292 survivors made it through the four starting flights, but with Taiwan's Hsuan-Cheng Lai, South Korea's Jeong Injae, and China's Ning Zhang all making it through twice, their shortest stack was removed from play.

These 289 main event veterans were joined by a further 42 Day 2 entries to bring the remaining field up to 331 players who duked it out over ten 60-minute levels in an attempt to earn a share of the tour's richest Phu Quoc-based tournament prize pool.

It is the VND 4,710,000,000 (~USD 185,430) top prize that all will be aiming for, in addition to the award-winning 24K Gold Lion APT Main Event Trophy and all the accolades that accompany it.

For Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

The man returning in the best of positions to claim this is Vietnam’s Nghiem Xuan Thieu who won a chunky 1-million chip pot from compatriot Nang Quang Nguyen in one of the last hands played to seize the overall chip lead. Thieu will be returning with a stack of 1,703,00 with which to make his play for the title, and while Nguyen is down he is not out.

Do Tien Vu also enjoyed a great day at the tables, with the Vietnamese player bagging the second-largest stack of 1,547,000 after picking off a Mingcong Chen river bluff.

Start-of-day chip leader Jinlong Hu kept his Main Event dream alive and the Chinese player concluded the action with the third-largest stack of 1,523,000.

David “Spade” Erquiaga bagged a top ten stack and the Filipino player will be looking to pad out his tally of 31 live tournament titles and add the one thing missing from his poker resume – an APT Main Event title. A total of 50 players successfully circumnavigated the tournament minefield, with the top ten stacks as follows:

MAIN EVENT DAY 2 TOP TEN STACKS

Other notables still in the running include Japan’s Motoyoshi Okamura (1,703,000), Vietnam’s Van Sang Nguyen (758,000), Australia’s Yita Choong (720,000), Flight D frontrunner Shi Bei (713,000), Vietnam’s Nang Quang Nguyen (648,000), the Philippines’ Charles Pansoy (616,000), and Australia’s Dylan Foster (602,000) to name but a few.

For Main Event Day 2 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Day 2 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Day 3 Draw please CLICK HERE

You can follow all the tournament action via the APT Blog and view action from the feature tables via the Main Event Day 2 Live Stream on the official APT YouTube channel. All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Day 2 tournament page.

All 50 Day 2 survivors have locked up a VND 87,500,000 (~USD 3,445) payout, with Day 3 getting underway at 11am local time (GMT+7) with blinds recommencing on level 21—8,000/16,000 with a 16,000 big blind ante—and will either play ten 60-minute levels or down to the Final Table – whichever comes first. Join us then for more tournament thrills and spills.

Australia’s John Perry Leads Zodiac Classic Day 1

John Perry will be hoping to turn his Day 1 lead into a third career APT title

Outside of the festival’s high roller events, the VND 50M Event #51: Zodiac Classic boasts the largest buy-in on the schedule. With an appetizing VND 2.5 billion (~USD 100K) guarantee, the tournament saw 89 entries (67 unique) anteing up the equivalent of ~USD 1,970 and battling it out at the baize for a share of the VND 3,884,850,000 (~USD 152,945) prize pool.

With only the top 13 places paid and 48 players fighting their way through the eight 40-minute levels played there is still plenty of play remaining until the eventual champion can hoist the trophy and claim the VND 1,019,780,000 (~USD 40,150) top prize.

For Zodiac Classic Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Australia’s John Perry sits at the summit of the chip counts and the two time APT title winner will be returning for the Final Day with a sizeable stack of 260,300 – valued at 260 big blinds when play resumes.

Vietnam’s Le Thong Su is hot on Perry’s heels, and was the only other player to bag up a stack valued over 200K, and will be returning second in the counts with 202,100, with China’s Junqiang Li rounding out the top three stacks. APT Da Nang 2022 Main Event Finalist Toan Chan Truong and Russia’s Natalia Rozova also bagged big, finishing in the leaderboard top ten:

ZODIAC CLASSIC DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS

Recently crowned APT Super High Roller champion Win Meng Tan (106,400) was the only other player to bag a six-figure stack, with other notables still in the running including Singapore’s The Naing (86,100), France’s Adrien Favre (76,900), Taiwan’s Yu Chung “Nevan” Chang (72,500), Taiwan’s Li Ta “Leon” Hsu (45,800), India’s Siddharth Karia (45,000), and South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim (34,500).

For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Zodiac Classic Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

You can follow all the tournament action via the APT Blog. All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic - Day 1 tournament page.

The 48 survivors will return for the Final Day which gets underway at 11:15am on Friday, November 15, with the action resuming on level 9 with blinds recommencing at 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante with the tournament playing down to a champion.