Yesterday saw the final day of the 2019 APT Vietnam Championships Event and it crowned the newest champion in New Zealand’s Oliver Helm, who outlasted a 192-entry field to take home his first-ever live title and the VND 1,218,670,000 (USD 52,000) in top prize after a 3-way deal.
“It’s pretty unreal. I went to APT in Manila and bricked every single tournament I entered. Didn’t cash a single event. I spent like 14 buy-ins so this is quite the turnaround. I’m quite happy,” said Helm.
The marquee championships event ran over the course of five days (10-14 July) and drew 192 entries with 161 entries coming from its two starting flights and an additional 31 entries from Day 2. The total field took the prizepool to a VND 6,518,400,000, which was shared by top 20 players.
The final day of the event at the Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam took place on 14th July with 8 players returning to battle it out for the top prize of VND 1,655,320,000 (INR 49 Lac). Helm had started the day as second in chips with 1,476,000, behind Joseph Talamayan (3,715,000). Talamayan did not got off to a good start and lost two big pots early on. The second of these pots, he lost to none other than eventual champion Helm who showed pocket kings to win the pot and take the lead. Down to three-handed play, Erquiaga then won some major pots and went on to hold over 60% of the chips in play. At this point of time, all the remaining players made a three-way deal.
After the deal, Helm reclaimed his lead by eliminating Nguyen Nam Duong in third place. He reached heads-up with David Erquiaga holding a 3-1 lead and the dual did not last long. On the final hand, Helm had As 2c against Kh 9h of Duong. The board ran 4s 7c 6d 5d Js, giving Helm the title.
Team India
A group of six Indian players were seen in action. Only three of them namely, Ashish Munot, Laksh Pal Singh and Sumit Sapra made it to Day 3. While Sapra exited before the money bubble, Laksh Pal and Munot ran deeper. Laksh Pal finished close to the FT in 16th for VND 83,160,000 (INR 2.46 Lac), while Munot made it to the FT, bagging 1,041,000 (third largest stack). Munot’s run, however, came to an end in 6th place for VND 319,830,000 (INR 9.48 Lac), his best live score till date.
Final Table Payouts (VND):
- Oliver Helm – VND 1,218,670,000*
- David Erquiaga – VND 1,179,400,000*
- Nguyen Nam Duong – VND 1,128,600,000*
- Joseph Talamayan – VND 554,120,000
- Vamerdino Magsakay – VND 414,400,000
- Ashish Munot – VND 319,830,000
- Tanaka Masatoshi – VND 253,970,000
- Lim Chor Heng – VND 206,920,000
