APT Vietnam Recap: Japanese players dominates with 6 titles

Vietnam marked it presence on the international poker map this month with the first Asian Poker Tour organized on its soil. APT Vietnam, the 8-day poker fiesta was organized in partnership with Ho Tram Resort Casino and World Players Entertainment at The Grand Ho Tram from May 6 – 13. The 14 events including $1,100 Main Event drew a total of 822 entries vying for the APT title, the prize money and the points on APT POY leaderboard. The Japanese players proved their dominance in the short fields winning 6 titles with a number of final table and other notable money-finishes.

$1,100 Main Event (May 8 -12)

The main event of first Asian Poker Tour in Vietnam drew 119 entries across 2 flights on 8th and 9th May. Kwok Kwan Kit of Hong Kong led the list of 60 survivors who booked their seat for the Day 2 action. After the full-day battle on Day 2, Peter Nguyen of USA acquired the top spot amassing 352,000 chips. The Day 3 game was played down to the final 8 led by Norbert Koh of Singapore. On the final day, it was Kwan Kit Kwok of Hong Kong taking down the main event title of inaugural APT Vietnam with $26,800. He defeated Diwei Bryan Huang of Singapore in the heads-up who took home $20,000.

Tournament Round-up

The APT Vietnam kicked off with the inaugural event drawing 71 Entries on 6th May. Joseph Marc Anthony of South Africa took down the opening title with the top prize of $3,360 beating Seal Emanuel of Australia in the heads-up. 47 players turned up for the Ante Up for Charity Hyper-Turbo event through which a total of $2,350 was generated for the Operation Smile Vietnam, a charitable trust. The amount was later rounded off to $3K and matched by the World Players Entertainment making it a net donation of $6,000. The American player Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss won the title with the top prize of $1,870. Iori Yogo of Japan won the Head Hunter title with $4,130 in top prize and 4 bounties.

$110 buy-in NLH Multi Rebuy + 1 Add-On event running parallel to the Main Event flight Day 1A on 8^th May attracted 49 players and the Japanese ruled the field capturing the top 3 positions. Azusa Maeda won the title with $5,930, Hideki Takafuji won $3,710 in the 2^nd place while Yo Doi took home $2,230 in the 3^rd place. While the majority of players gathered for the Day 1B of the $1,100 Main Event on Saturday, 9^th May, 50 players registered for the $165 buy-in hyper turbo event. Xuan Truc Tran of Finland took down the title with $2,910 beating Jereld Sam of Singapore who took home $1,820 in the 2^nd place.

In the $440 No Limit Hold’em 1 event, once again the Japanese proved their dominance with the top 2 prizes claimed by Jun Funabashi and Kenji Kurashina. Jun defeated Kenji in the heads-up taking down the title with $6,360 while Kenji earned $3,980. Iori Yogo of Japan won his 2^nd title of APT Vietnam with $8,070 outplaying a field of 60 runners in the $550 No Limit Holdem event on Monday. One more APT title went to Japan when Yuri Ishida beat the small-size field of 16 women players winning the Ladies of Poker event for $820. Angel Sheung Sheung Wong who won the Deepstak Turbo 2 finished 3^rd in this event.

The 3 times APT Player of the Year (2012-2014) Samad Razavi took down the title with $18,400 cash prize. Iori Yogo of Japan finished 4^th in this event adding crucial points to his APT POY rankings. Another Japanese player earned an APT title in this event beating the field of 30 runners. Hideki Takafuji won the top prize of $5,010 while the High Rollers Champion Samad Razavi bagged $3,140 in the runner-up place.

Here is the list of winner of the full APT Vietnam tournament: