Finally, the World Poker Tour (WPT) has crowned its first ever WPT Prime Main Event champion and it is none other than India’s ace player Zarvan Tumboli who overcame a record field of 777 entries and a tough final table to earn a career high $131,394 (approximately INR 1.02 Crore). He eventually outlasted fellow pro Ashish Munot at heads up to clinch the first ever WPT Prime Main Event title.
It was the second WPT trophy for Tumboli who had won his first WPT trophy in the 2018 WPT Ho Chi Minh Cup by taking down the WPT Ho Chi Minh Cup event for a hefty payday of VND 246,950,000. With the win, he became the second Indian to win the WPT Vietnam Main Event after the musician turned poker pro Dhaval Mudgal who had won the inaugural WPT Vietnam Main Event in 2018.
The VND 25 Million ($1,080) buy-in event ran from May 26 to 30 and logged in a record 777 entries, making it the biggest event for WPT in Asia. The action unfolded at Crown Poker Club in Hanoi, Vietnam. Day 2 of the event saw 97 players returning for one of nine seats on the final table.
- Buy in: VN₫ 25,000,000 (~US$ 1,080)
- Guarantee: VN₫ 8,000,000,000
- Total Entries: 777
- Prize pool: VN₫ 17,131,373,700 (~US$ 739,219)
- Places Paid: 97 places
Interestingly, the 9-handed final table had not one but two Indian players and it was India’s Zarvan Tumboli (6,550,000 – 131 BBs) holding a commanding lead. Giving him company on the FT was the fellow pro and 2018 WPT India Main Event champ Ashish Munot (1,025,000 – 21 BBs) who did amazingly well, stacking up nicely and reaching the heads-up against his fellow countryman Tumboli. It was a historic moment for India as it was the first time that we saw two Indians entering a WPT Vietnam ME heads-up. Finally, this historic dual ended with Tumboli emerging victorious.
There were a total of 97 players paid out. Apart from the 30-year old Tumboli and Monut, there were nine other Indians to cash out the event, including Adda52 Game Ambassador Kunal Patni (22nd for $4,739), Jasven Saigal (27th for $4,006), Gaurav Sood (36th for $3,446), Laksh Pal Singh (54th for $2,628), MPL Poker Team Pro Dhaval Mudgal (57th for $2,369), recent WPT Prime Vietnam Event #15 winner & WSOP champion Aditya Sushant (85th for $1,852) & Harsh Dembla (94th for $1,745).
Final Table Action
The first player to bust from the FT was Tien Van Pham who shoved his 400K stack from UTG+1. The action folded to big blind Minh Quang Nguyen who called and tabled pocket sevens against ace-five of Pham. Nguyen hit a full house on the river to take down the pot, eliminating Pham in ninth place.
The next elimination was delivered by the eventual champion Tumboli who sent Trung Nam Tran packing in eighth place. Tran shoved for 795K from the hijack with his queen-jack, and Tumboli called from the button holding pocket kings, which won and busted Tran in eighth place.
Later on, Do Kwan Nam’s A-9 were cracked by Minh Quang Nguyen’s A-7 that flopped a seven pair, eliminating Nam in seventh place. Nguyen continued his domination and busted Tuan Anh Tran in sixth place. In this hand, Nguyen had pocket Tens over pocket Sixes, which failed to hold up.
Ashish Munot scored his first bustout on the FT after he busted Denis Pham. Pham went all-in with Kd 10s and Munot called with pocket aces. The board ran 6s Qs Jc Qc 2h, giving the pot to Munot.
Despite a good show on the FT with three knockouts, Minh Quang Nguyen’s run came to an end in fourth place. He was busted by Tumboli who raised 300k with A-7 and Nguyen shoved his stack with K-7. The board ran 6d 6h 4h Jd 5s, giving the pot to Tumboli and busting Nguyen in fourth place.
Later, Trung Van Nguyen moved all-in and Tumboli called without looking at his cards. It turned out that Tumboli had A-4 that won on the board 9s 3h 2s Kd 4c and Nguyen got busted in third place.
Finally, it came to a historic heads-up between two Indian pros – Zarvan Tumboli and Ashish Munot. The former held a 149 BB stack to Munot’s 37 BBs and dominated, winning the coveted title for VND 3,050,000,000 ($131,394). The final hand saw Munot with Ac 2c and Tumboli with Kd 9c. The board ran out Js Jd 2h Kh Jh, giving Tumboli a winning full house to take down the coveted Main Event title.
Final Table Payouts
- Zarvan Tumboli – $131,394
- Ashish Munot – $87,237
- Trung Van Nguyen – $64,620
- Minh Quang Nguyen – $48,034
- Denis Pham – $36,187
- Tuan Anh Tran – $27,571
- Do Kwan Nam – $21,109
- Trung Nam Tran – $16,408
- Tien Van Pham – $12,924