Superstar Challenge

Joshua Mccully

The VND 150,000,000 Superstar Challenge has been won by Australia's Joshua Mccully after he was the last man standing from the 13 entries (9 unique), taking home VND 847,390,000 (~$35,890) for his first-place finish.

Mccully defeated Thailand's Satanan Jungrungreangkit in a short 15-minute heads-up match which saw the Australian take the biggest share of the VND 1,765,400,000 (~$74,760) prize pool.

The tournament start was delayed by two hours and eventually got underway with Yingrui Ge and APT Super High Roller runner-up Jungrungreangkit playing heads up.

Those two were soon joined by the likes of APT Super High Roller Phu Quoc champion Nguyen Trung Quan, four-time APT title holder Martijn Gerrits, and former Superstar Challenge winner Alan Pham.

It was Malta's Florent Remi who got off to a good start after he eliminated Jungrungreangkit with pocket queens. The Thai player held pocket jacks and received no help from the dealer to bust his first bullet.

Two levels later, Jungrungreangkit was back in the thick of the action, but was left on life support after his flopped ace-king two pair ran into the flopped straight of Quan Qiu who held queen-ten.

Quan Qiu

Jungrungreangkit got his last two big blinds in the very next hand with queen-jack but couldn't improve against the ace-six of Quan, and the Thai player headed back to the cash desk for bullet number three.

The third time certainly wasn't the charm for Jungrungreangkit, with Mccully picking off the Thai player's bluff with a flopped top pair.

Moments later Jungrungreangkit would three-bet shove ace-six over a Ge open raise, with the Chinese player making the call with pocket fours. Jungrungreangkit lost the flip and was in deep water, but stayed persistent and loaded bullet number four.

This was when Jungrungreangkit began to gather momentum, eliminating Pham in a hand that saw the Thai player cold-call the latter's three-bet shove. Jungrungreangkit's queen-jack outflopped Pham's pocket nines to send Pham to the cash desk for a second bullet.

When registration closed at the start of level 11, it was China's Ge who hit the rail first – his pair and straight draw failing to improve against the higher pair and straight draw of Qiu, sending the Chinese player out in ninth.

Yingrui Ge

Yuhang Chen had hopped in at the last moment but exited just as fast; Chen called Jungrungreangkit's queen-jack shove with a dominating ace-queen but was unfortunate to lose to the Thai player's three-outer on the flop.

Quan hit the rail in seventh when his pocket kings were undone by Remi, who four-bet shoved all in with ace-queen and flopped a flush draw which came in on the river. Remi took the chip lead and put an end to Quan's tournament.

Martijn Gerrits couldn't find any traction all tournament, and was soon out of his seat after shoving king-queen and running ace-three of Jungrungreangkit. The Dutchman failed to improve and his chips were pushed in the direction of the Thai player.

Martijn Gerrits

Five-handed play saw a pivotal pot play out between Pham, Mccully, and Jungrungreangkit. The three were all in pre-flop with Pham in the lead holding pocket jacks and looking to hold against the ace-eight of Jungrungreangkit and ace-ten of Mccully.

An ace on the flop evaporated all hope Pham had of becoming the chip leader with Mccully and Jungrungreangkit chopping the pot to bring play down to the bubble.

With four players remaining, Mccully was all in and at risk holding queen-jack with Qiu looking to burst the bubble with king-ten. The Australian flopped both a flush and straight draw and had Qiu drawing dead on the turn when he made an unbeatable flush which evened out the chip counts.

Qiu then shoved with pocket eights with Jungrungreangkit making the call holding ace-deuce. The Thai player's run good returned and the ace-high flop saw Qiu eliminated on the bubble.

Florent Remi

Three-handed play saw Mccully flipping for his tournament life with pocket tens, with Remi looking to bring the tournament down to heads-up play holding ace-jack.

The ace-high flop initially looked good for the Maltese player, but a ten quickly followed to give Mccully a set and he had Remi drawing dead by the turn to leave the man from Malta with just four big blinds.

Remi shoved for his remaining chips holding king-ten and couldn't improve against the ace-nine of Mccully, which meant he was out in third for a payday of VND 353,080,000 (~$14,960).

It was Mccully who entered heads-up play as an almost four-to-one chip leader, but Jungrungreangkit managed to even out the stacks with an early double up holding ace-nine after fading the outs of the Australian's king-seven.

Satanan Jungrungreangkit

After several uncalled shoves Mccully limped on the button which induced a shove from Jungrungreangkit. The Australian quickly called, his ace-jack leading the Thai's ace-three. There would be no help from the board which meant Jungrungreangkit finished runner-up for the second time this series, taking home VND 564,390,000 (~$23,940) for his efforts.

That left only one man standing. Mccully bagged his second APT title after taking down the High Speed High Roller event in Phu Quoc earlier this year and adds VND 847,390,000 (~$35,890) to his bank balance.

Congratulations to Mccully.

A full tournament write-up will follow shortly.

Satanan Jungrungreangkit

Satanan Jungrungreangkit Has Been Eliminated in 2nd Place for VND 564,930,000 (~$23,940).

Joshua Mccully limped from the small blind and Satanan Jungrungreangkit shoved all in. Mccully made the quick call and the cards were turned on their backs.

Jungrungreangkit A♥ 3♠ Mccully A♠ J♥

The stacks were almost even with Mccully just having Thailand's Jungrungreangkit covered and if the Australian could hold on he would be crowned our champion.

A flop of 7♣ 8♦ 9♣ was dealt which gave Mccully a gutshot but it was Jungrungreangkit who needed to hit a three to stay alive.

A turn Q♥ changed nothing and left the Thai player with just three outs and one chance to hit them. Mccully looked on as the dealer prepared to deal what could be the final card of the tournament.

5♣.

It was the final card of the tournament. Mccully eliminates Jungrungreangkit in second place with the two sharing a handshake before Mccully celebrated with his girlfriend.

Satanan Jungrungreangkit

Joshua Mccully shoved all in from the small blind and Satanan Jungrungreangkit made the call to put himself at risk.

Mccully K♠ 7♥ Jungrungreangkit A♦ 9♣

Mccully was looking to end it here but didn't manage to do so as the board ran ace high coming 2♣ T♠ A♣ 8♦ 2♦ to bring Jungrungreangkit back to almost even stacks.

Here are the updated counts going into heads-up play.

Florent Remi

Florent Remi has been eliminated in 3rd place for VND 353,080,000 (~$14,960).

Florent Remi made it 275,000 pre-flop and Joshua Mccully shoved all in, covering the man from Malta. Remi was already pot committed and made the call to put himself at risk,

Remi K♦ T♠ Mccully A♠ 9♥

Remi had already dodged elimination once but it didn't seem as if he was going to do it again as the dealer fanned a flop of 7♦ 8♥ A♦ to leave him needing running cards to survive.

The 7♣ turn and 6♦ river meant Mccully took the pot and eliminated Remi in third.

We are now heads up!

Florent Remi was pot committed in the big blind and was put at risk by Satanan Jungrungreangkit.

Remi 9♦ 7♠ Jungrungreangkit K♣ Q♦

Just as it looked Remi was going to be eliminated he managed to hit a pair on the board of 6♦ 3♥ J♣ 7♦ 8♦ and he doubled up.

Joshua Mccully made it 220,000 from the small blind and Satanan Jungrungreangkit defended his big blind.

On the Q♥ 3♥ 2♣ flop, Mccully fired a continuation bet of 115,000 which Jungrungreangkit called reasonably quickly.

The turn brought a J♦ and Mccully continued his aggression with a bet of 270,000. Jungrungreangkit thought for a while before opting to fold and Mccully took the pot.

Here are the counts as play resumes.