APT Main Event - VND 10,000,000,000 GTD Flight A (60 mins)

Wanghee Lee

The opening Flight of the ₫30,000,000 + 3,000,000 APT Main Event saw 172 entrants, (124 unique) battle it out to progress to Day 2. A total of 66 players made it through, though all have the option to play future flights in a bid to bag a bigger stack.

Wanghee Lee dominated the field in the first flight of the APT Main Event here in Phu Quoc. South Korean Lee took the chip lead in level four and never relinquished that position as he ended the day with 379,600 chips.

Behind Lee is India's Deepak Bothra who comes through the first Flight with 298,700. Bothra made steady progress throughout the day with a late surge to finish the day second in chips.

In sixth is Japan's Nobuaki Sasaki with 198,900. Sasaki won the Single Day High Roller event yesterday for ₫785,700,000 ($33,000) and will be looking to add to his already impressive record. Nobuaki Sasaki

Ahmed Ibrahimi, who has already won two titles during this current series, also made it through to Day 2 with 70,700 chips. Ibrahimi is a force to be reckoned with and eyes will be on him to make a deep run into the Main Event.

All four ladies that entered today's Flight made it through the day which is fantastic for the women's game. They were Yukina Oza with 141,800, Monika Zukowicz with 120,700, Jennifer Cassell with 66,700, and finally Guo Meng with 39,000.

Other notables that made it through are John Perry with 153,700, and Jeorge Lagatuz with 125,000.

The field also featured two two-time former Main Event champions in Mike Takayama and Lester Edoc both of whom made it through with sizable stacks, Takayama bagging 114,100, and Edoc concluding play with 101,800 in chips.

The Main Event operates a 'Best Stack Forward' policy meaning anybody who makes Day 2 can enter a second flight in an attempt to accumulate a larger amount of chips.

Join us tomorrow for Flight B, which will kick-off at 12 pm local time, and will have slightly faster 45-minute levels than today's Flight A.

Trung Vu Tuan Khanh

Truong Vu Tuan Khanh opened to 2,500 pre-flop and was 3-bet by Naoto Takeya to 14,000. Khanh made the call and the players saw a flop of K♣ 9♥ 6♥.

Khanh checked it over to Takeya who bet 18,000. Khanh called and we went to a turn.

The turn came a board-pairing 9♦ and Khanh checked once again only for Takeya to bet 24,000. Khanh counted his chips out and realized he had around 35,000 remaining. Was it an all-in or fold spot for the Vietnamese player? Nope. Khanh called leaving just 11,000 behind.

The river card came a T♠ and Khanh moved his last 11,000 into the middle and Takeya quickly called.

Unbelievably, Khanh turned over Q♥ J♠ for a rivered gutshot. Takeya could not believe his eyes as he turned over A♦ K♠ for top pair-top kicker.

Khanh fist-bumps the air as he doubles up in the last hand of play to around 135,000.

With fifteen minutes left on the tournament clock the timer was paused with the tournament director announcing that four more hands would be played before Flight A of the APT Main Event would conclude.

Dong Chen

In a 4-bet pot between Dong Chen and The Anh Nguyen we saw a flop of 7♦ T♣ 3♦.

Nguyen open-jammed the flop for around 58,000 chips before Chen, who looked displeased with the action, called.

Chen had no reason to be unhappy as he held K♣ K♥ whilst Nguyen turned over Q♣ Q♥. Nguyen needed one of the last two remaining queens to win the pot or else he would be eliminated towards the end of level 10. Pocket queens had been lucky for Nguyen so far today as he hit a Royal flush with the same hand earlier.

The turn came a 2♦ which helped nobody as neither play had a diamond in their hand.

An 8♣ fell on the river to secure the pot for Chen and send his stack up to around 170,000.

Lester Edoc

Filipino Lester Edoc has built up a healthy-looking stack of around 90,000 chips.

The sixteen-time APT title winner narrowly missed out on a seventeenth trophy yesterday as he finished runner-up in the Mystery Bounty Hunter.

It started with an under-the-gun open to 2,700 from Bui Tuan Hoang and he was called by Benjamin Sai, Jacque Patrick Ramsden, and Thai Quang Thinh. The big blind was Julian Ek Salvesen and despite all of the action in front of him, elected to squeeze to around 11,000. All four players called and we saw a flop.

A♥ 6♠ 8♥.

Given the pre-flop action it was surprising to see that all five players checked their option and we went straight to a turn card.

The turn was the T♥ and Salvesen led for 11,200 forcing Hoang. Sai, and Ramsden to fold. Thinh, on the button, called the 11,200 and we went to a river card.

4♣.

Salvesen was first to act and committed the rest of his chips of around 40,000 which was more than enough to put Thinh all-in.

This is where the drama begins. During Thinh's decision he was conversing with Hoang who had folded his cards on the turn. Other players at the table explained to the dealer that they should not be talking and asked to know what was discussed between the two Vietnamese players.

The dealer tried to explain that Hoang had said to Thinh that he thinks Salvesen has pocket kings. A few minutes passed before Thinh made the call by pushing his stack of yellow-colored chips forward. Both hands were tabled and as it happens, Salvesen did have pocket kings, and Thinh showed A♣ 3♣.

The floor were immediately called and the action was recited to the tournament director. The players, dealer, and floor staff went back and forth until they finally called the VP of Live Poker Operations for the APT, Lloyd Fontillas, over to make a decision. The hand was then explained once again with Mr. Fontillas coming to a conclusion.

Salvesen's river bet would be deemed invalid and put back into his own stack. Thinh would be awarded the pot with both Vietnamese players being penalized with a one-round penalty. Thinh seemed to accept this with grace but Hoang was furious at the decision and argued with the tournament staff. Hoang and Thinh were ordered to stand from the table in order to serve their penalties and play resumed.

After losing a big pot to his countrymate in the previous hand, Sugimoto Satoshi put his last 17,200 chips into the middle and was called by India's Aditya Agarwal.

We were off to the races as Satoshi showed 4♣ 4♠ and Agarwal had the A♥ T♥.

The flop all but buried Satoshi as it came Q♦ K♣ J♥ to give Agarwal broadway. Satoshi stood up from his chair and started to gather his belongings before the dealer turned a 4♦ over. There was hope for Satoshi who needed the board to pair to hit a full house.

"Pair the board" shouted the Japanese player.

The dealer burned a card and then turned over the Q♠. Lady luck was back for Satoshi as his rivered full house beats the flopped straight of Agarwal.

Satoshi stack moves back up to around 35,000 chips as he tries to recover what he lost the hand prior.

We join the action on the turn with the board reading Q♠ 6♥ 6♣ 9♣.

Yukina Oza had bet 6,000 but Japan's Sugimoto Satoshi raised to 15,000. Oza thought for a few seconds before calling.

The river card came the A♠ and Oza bet 30,000. Satoshi did not look pleased with the size of the bet and asked the dealer twice if it was really 30,000.

Satoshi finally put in calling chips and was shown the A♥ Q♣ by Oza which was good for two pair. Satoshi mucked his hand and looked disappointed at the board once more.

This sent Oza to over 160,000 in chips while Satoshi was crippled down to 17,000.

Yamamoto Kazuo

Yamamoto Kazuo is still in the field representing Japan.

Kazuo has been in the same seat the entire and has a stack of around 60,000 at the moment.

Kazuo has one APT final table appearance to his name coming 5th in a High-Roller event in Korea.

Players are returning to their seats after taking their last 15-minute break.

That leaves two more levels to play which means this Flight will come to an end at around 11.45 pm local time.