APT PHU QUOC SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
PHU QUOC, VIETNAM, March 25, 2023 – The APT Phu Quoc has crowned the first of its marquee event champions, with Morocco's Ahmed Ibrahimi defeating a 196-strong field to claim the Event #1 APT Kickoff title.
Playing out in the Sapphire Conference Room at the luxurious Corona Resort & Casino, just 29 players returned for the second and final day, all guaranteed a share of the ₫1,520,960,000 (~$65,400) prize pool.
It took six 30-minute levels to whittle the 29 Day 1 survivors down to the unofficial nine-handed final table, and a further seven levels to find a champion, with the tournament concluding on the 30th level played.
Ibrahimi, who came into the official eight-handed final table as the third largest stack, defeated Japan's Yashiro Naoki heads-up to take the ₫327,760,000 (~$14,090) top prize.
The 40-year-old – currently enjoying an extended trip travelling Asia – is no slouch at the poker tables, boasting a poker resume dating back to 2010 and career tournament winnings of over $370,000.
An ebulant Ibrahimi now has more funds with which to finance his travels, and thoroughly enjoyed claiming his tenth live poker title and his third APT title.
"There were ups and downs but it was a great tournament," said Ibrahimi in his post match interview.
"Once in a while you have to get lucky and I did when I needed to. I'm happy with the way I played; anybody could have been the champion, but today I'm lucky enough to be the one."
Naoki had to settle for the ₫220,390,000 (~$9,475) on offer for second place, with start of day chip leader Batmunkh Batkhuyag rounding out the podium and cashing in third for ₫155,390,000 ($6,680), with the official eight-handed final table paying out as follows:
APT KICKOFF FINAL TABLE RESULTS
- Ahmed Ibrahimi (Morocco) – ₫327,760,000
- Yashiro Naoki (Japan) – ₫220,390,000
- Batmunkh Batkhuyag (Mongolia) – ₫155,390,000
- Siddharth Karia (India) – ₫125,990,000
- Konstantin Generalov (Russia) – ₫99,670,000
- Minh Tri Phan Huu (Vietnam) – ₫75,680,000
- Erwan Regnault (France) – ₫55,260,000
- Auttaphon Ruensukon (Thailand) – ₫40,400,000
China's Hon Cheong Lee made the unofficial nine-handed final table, but departed just minutes later after clashing in a huge pot against India's Siddharth Karia that saw the latter river the Broadway straight to crack the formers' flopped set of jacks.
Other notables to cash but come up short of the official eight-handed final table included the USA's Robert Schiffbauer (12th for ₫25,230,000), Flight A frontrunner Jose Catela (16th for ₫20,590,000), and India's Paawan Bansal (18th for ₫18,270,000 and Jasven Saigal (25th for ₫15,170,000).
All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.
Mongolia's Anarbayasgalan Sainjargal Leads Record-Breaking Super High Roller
Mongolia's Anarbayasgalan Sainjargal leads the largest Super High Roller in APT history
All the high-octane excitement was not confined to the Kickoff, with the ₫80,000,000+8,000,000 Event #5 APT Super High Roller playing out concurrently and attracting a record-breaking 56-strong (34 unique) field.
This makes it the largest Super High Roller in APT history in terms of field size, and the third largest in terms of the prize pool, with ₫4,345,600,000 (~$186,860) in the purse.
Notables in the running included two two-time former APT Main Event champions in Mike Takayama and Lester Edoc, two-time APT Super High Roller champion Phachara Wongwichit, Singapore's Benjamin Sai, Australia's John "Burt" Perry, China's Yake Wu and the UK's Richard Sheils to name but a few.
Of these, only Takayama and Wu were able to go the distance, with Wu bagging the second largest stack of 2,515,000 after the seventeeen 40-minute levels played out.
However, it is Mongolia's Anarbayasgalan Sainjargal the man who will be returning in the best of positions to make a run at the title and lay claim to the ₫1,303,680,000 (~$56,000) top prize after topping the counts with a stack of 2,780,000.
Sainjargal flew under the radar for the majority of the day, making his play for the top spot as the tournament began to approach the final table, and is something of a dark horse, with no live results on his poker resume.
The Mongolian will be looking to make his first live cash a memorable one.
All eight remaining finalists are already guaranteed a payout of ₫173,820,000 ($7,474) upon returning for the second and final day, with the official final table stacking up as follows:
APT SUPER HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
- Anarbayasgalan Sainjargal (Mongolia) – 2,780,000
- Yake Wu (China) – 2,515,000
- Nguyen Trung Quan (Vietnam) – 2,250,000
- Hon Cheong Lee (China) – 2,180,000
- Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) – 1,675,000
- Mike Takayama (Philippines) – 1,090,000
- Yuhang Chen (China) – 1,030,000
- Shardul Parthasarathi (India) – 630,000
You can read about all the tournament thrills and spills via the APT blog.
All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.
Day 2 plays out at 12:30pm local time (GMT+7) on Sunday, March 26 and the tournament will play down to a champion.
For Event #5 APT Super High Roller Final Table Draw please CLICK HERE
Mystery Bounty Draws 214 Runners; Lester Edoc Tops Counts
Lester Edoc put on a dominating display of power poker to top the Mystery Bounty chip counts
The two opening flights of the third of the series' marquee events – the ₫9,000,000+900,000 Event #5 Mystery Bounty Hunter – are in the books with the tournament drawing a total of 214 runners (134 unique).
The opening Flight A played out concurrently with the Kickoff with action getting underway at 12pm (GMT+7) and drawing 124 entries.
Flight B attracted a further 90 entries to bring the total prize pool up to ₫1,868,220,000 (~$80,330) – which includes ₫642,000,000 in bounties.
All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.
A total of 18 players made the cut from Flight A, with the Philippines' Lester Edoc putting on a dominant display of power poker to top the counts, with the two-time former APT Main Event champion bagging up a stack of 556,000 – putting him in pole position coming into the final day.
Other big stacks from Flight A included India's Alok Birewar (528,000), and fellow countryman Dhaval Mudgal (276,000), Canada's Tyler Warken (270,000), and India's Ritwik Khanna (258,000).
A further 13 players successfully circumnavigated the Flight B minefield, with Japan's Keita Minami bagging up the largest stack of the second starting flight, putting him third in the overall pecking order coming into Day 2.
South Korea's Sungkyu Jeon (323,000) bagged the second largest Flight B stack, with Australia's Gavin Best (315,000), Vietnam's The Anh Nguyen (266,000), and Japan's Kaito Hirai (226,000) rounding out the top five Flight B stacks.
In total, 31 players have locked up a Day 2 berth, with all of them now in the money and guaranteed a payout of at least ₫10,790,000 (~$460), with the top ten returning Day 2 stacks as follows:
MYSTERY BOUNTY HUNTER TOP TEN STACKS
- Lester Edoc (Philippines) – 556,000
- Alok Birewar (India) – 528,000
- Keita Minami (Japan) – 435,000
- Sungkyu Jeon (South Korea) – 323,000
- Gavin Best (Australia) – 315,000
- Dhaval Mudgal (India) – 276,000
- Tyler Warken (Canada) – 270,000
- The Anh Nguyen (Vietnam) – 266,000
- Ritwik Khanna (India) – 258,000
- Ngoc Hai Duy Nguyen (Vietnam) – 234,000
The survivors from the two starting flights will unite for the first time for Day 2, which gets underway at 12:30pm (GMT+7) on Sunday, March 26.
You can read about how all the action played out via the APT Blog.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Day 2 Draw please CLICK HERE
SIDE EVENT ACTION
Thailand's Worawat Kiatponglap Claims Maiden APT Title in Event #3 Turbo – 8 Max
Event #3 Turbo - 8 Max champion Worawat Kiatponglap
The second silverware of the Series was awarded in the ₫15,000,000+1,500,000 Event #3 Turbo – 8 Max which wrapped up in the early hours of Saturday morning with Thailand's Worawat Kiatponglap besting a 35-strong field (28 unique) to claim his maiden APT title.
With a ₫509,250,000 (~$21,900) prize pool up for grabs, it was Kiatponglap the man to grab the lion's share, defeating the Philippines' Jeorge Lagatuz heads-up to claim the ₫188,420,000 (~$8,100) top prize.
Lagatuz received ₫129,860,000 ($5,580) for his runner-up finish, with fellow countryman and APT two-time Main Event champion Mike Takayama rounding out the podium and claiming ₫82,750,000 ($3,560) for third.
A total of five players made the money, with the tournament paying out as follows:
TURBO – 8 MAX FINAL TABLE RESULTS
- Worawat Kiatponglap (Thailand) – ₫188,420,000
- Jeorge Lagatuz (Philippines) – ₫129,860,000
- Mike Takayama (Philippines) – ₫82,750,000
- Enkh-Orgil Battur (Mongolia) – ₫59,840,000
- Joshua Mccully (Australia) – ₫48,380,000
All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.