Off to a smashing start, the World Poker Championship festivities currently running at Grand Loyal Poker Club, Hanoi, saw its ballroom fill up quickly with dozens of players from all across the region. The WPC in partnership with South East Asian Poker Tour (SEAPT) welcomed hundreds of runners to three events on schedule – Kick Off Event Day 1A, High Roller Single Day, and the Bounty Hunter tournament, for its opening day.
Scroll down below to see the day’s results.
WPC-SEAPT Kick Off Event Day 1A records 16 players through the Final Day
Nguyen Tuan Anh
The first flight of the series’ Kick Off Event closed in with 129 entries in total collected through eight levels of registration. 12.5% of the field was set to claim a minimum payout which meant only 16 runners qualified through the Final Day this coming Sunday, September 18th. After more than nine hours of play, the field dwindled down to the last two tables led by Day’s chip leader Nguyen Tuan Anh. Nguyen shooted right to the top following a massive preflop all-in with 
against Trinh Cong Duy’s 
. Luck definitely wasn’t on Trinh’s side as he finished a few hands right after having lost a flip with 
to Trent Fechter’s 
as the board ran 
to exit in 17th place.
Yu Je Nam
Bubble time flew by fairly fast as the pressure of the blinds continued to increase. At the end of the day, Korea’s Yu Je Nam locked in the final 16 players to the money having busted a short stack with 
. Among the top stacks is local runner Nguyen Quy Quyen who maintained his lead throughout the last four tables even after losing with a rivered boat on the big blind against the button’s better full house. Korea Mind Game Members’ Lee Seok Young also made the qualifying list after nursing a short stack through the final tables.
Buy in: VN₫ 8.8 Million (~US$ 372)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2.5 Billion (~US$ 105,695)
Entries: 129
Qualifiers: 16 players
Kick Off Event Day 1A Qualifiers
Rank
Player
Flag
Chip Count
1
Nguyen Tuan Anh
Vietnam
396,000
2
Nguyen Minh Duc
Vietnam
372,000
3
Nguyen Quy Quyen
Vietnam
354,000
4
Tran Hoai Anh
Vietnam
312,000
5
Pham Thanh Dat
Vietnam
249,000
6
Nguyen Quang Hieu
Vietnam
222,000
7
Trent Fechter
USA
207,000
8
Yu Je Nam
Korea
189,000
9
Vu Anh Tuan
Vietnam
188,000
10
Dong Van Chien
Vietnam
174,000
11
Chu Quang Bien
Vietnam
169,000
12
Tran An Khang
Vietnam
126,000
13
Dinh Van Tien
Vietnam
107,000
14
Pham Quang Anh
Vietnam
66,000
15
Bui Quoc Dien
Vietnam
50,000
16
Lee Seok Young
Korea
47,000
Chips in play: 3,225,000
Average stack: 201,562
Event #2: High Roller Single Day: Nguyen Trung Ha – VN₫ 716,200,000 (~US$ 30,280)
An astonishing turnout was recorded for the festival’s opening High Roller tournament paving the way for undoubtedly, four more successful high roller events to follow within the next few days. Today’s High Roller Single Day smashed its VN₫ 500 Million (~US$ 21,139) guarantee by a mile as the 82-entry field swelled the prize pool close to 5x in value. Seven hours of play concluded before the bubble burst with Nguyen Trung Ha in the middle of the swing of things. After losing a huge pot to eventual final table chip leader Ashish Munot with a turned straight against Munot’s better rivered straight, Nguyen quickly recovered following two eliminations just in time to bust the bubble.
Final Table
It took roughly two hours before the first casualty of the livestreamed final table was seen with Nguyen stacking off Tan Zi Xuan with a better Ace. India’s runners Ankit Jajodia and Ashish Munot then found themselves in a head to head battle with all the chips in the middle on the turn. Munot (42bb) began the hand with an open from the hijack with 
and Jajodia (15bb) calling on the button with 
. The board ran 
and both players checked the flop. A 
showed up on the turn and Munot proceeded with an all-in and was met a call from Jajodia. The river, 
however, completed Munot’s flush, ending Jajodia’s run in 7th place.
Two short stacked eliminations later, four-handed play ran through for more than an hour, leveling stacks equally among the last four players. Unfortunately for Munot, he soon found himself in a terrible situation after going with 
, and slamming right into Nguyen Trung Ha’s 
. Nguyen then picked up against Dinh Tien Thanh who defended 
on the big blind. The flop drew 
and Dinh check-jammed against Nguyen’s continuation bet to find himself behind. No help came on the turn and river and Nguyen headed into heads up play with a 4:1 advantage against once sitting with 3.5bb and Bubble Time survivor Teddy Pham. The final hand showed Pham move all-in with 
and Nguyen making the call with . The board 
sealed the deal for Nguyen and awarded the Vietnamese the top payout of VN₫ 716,200,000 for a well-fought battle.
To relive the final table gameplay, viewers can turn to Grand Loyal Poker Club’s official Facebook page for the recorded livestream.
Buy in: VN₫ 33 Million (~US$ 1,395)
Guarantee: VN₫ 500 Million (~US$ 21,139)
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,386,200,000 (~US$ 100,883)
Entries: 82
ITM: 10 players
Full Payouts
Rank
Player
Flag
Prize (VN₫)
1
Nguyen Trung Ha
Vietnam
716,200,000
2
Teddy Pham
Vietnam
450,000,000
3
Dinh Tien Thanh
Vietnam
320,000,000
4
Ashish Munot
India
240,000,000
5
Tran Hai Ha
Vietnam
180,000,000
6
Ham Heung Chul
Korea
140,000,000
7
Ankit Jajodia
India
110,000,000
8
Tan Zi Xuan
Malaysia
90,000,000
9
Pham Quang Huy
Vietnam
75,000,000
10
Ngo Van Dat
Vietnam
65,000,000
Event #3: Bounty Hunter Event: Nguyen Khac Quang – VN₫ 111,190,000 (~US$ 4,700)
Those failing to make it through the Kick Off Event qualifier found themselves another chance at a trophy with the day’s concluding VN₫ 6.6 Million buy-in Bounty Hunter tournament still open for action. The last event on schedule attracted a total of 103 entries with the remaining 13 players making the money. On the winning end of the bubble hand was Jeon Hyeongjin’s 
up against . The board however, revealed 
, favoring Hyeongjin for the win and all the rest a guaranteed payout of VN₫ 14 Million.
Final Table
The final table kicked off with Nguyen Nhu Toan as the chip leader and a number of short stacks – Hyeongjin (less than 1 bb) and Hoang Thanh Son (2.5 bb), exiting in ninth and eighth place not long after. Second in the running Park Jae Hyung who held the most number of bounties (12) throughout, eventually rose to the top and dominated the remaining players all the way to heads up play against Nguyen Khac Quang. With a slight advantage for Park, the two agreed to an ICM deal with the trophy going to the eventual champion.
All it took was one hand to shift the direction towards Nguyen who scored a massive double up with against Park’s 
. The final hand saw Nguyen move all-in with 
and Park commit his crippled stack with 
. The board left Park drawing thin and Vietnam’s Nguyen securing the first trophy of the day along with VN₫ 95,190,000 (~US$ 4,024) in top prize and an additional VN₫ 16 Million (~US$ 676) in bounties for a total of VN₫ 111,190,000 in winnings.
Buy in: VN₫ 6.6 Million (~US$ 279)
Prize pool: VN₫ 599,460,000 (~US$ 24,860)
Entries: 103
ITM: 13
Full Payouts
Rank
Player
Flag
Prize (VN₫)
1
Nguyen Khac Quang
Vietnam
95,190,000*
2
Park Jae Hyung
Korea
98,910,000*
3
Jora Mihail
Romania
68,900,000
4
Nguyen Nhu Toan
Vietnam
44,900,000
5
Han Seung Jin
Korea
35,000,000
6
Pham Thanh Binh
Vietnam
28,000,000
7
Nguyen Long
Vietnam
23,800,000
8
Hoang Thanh Son
Vietnam
20,600,000
9
Jeon Hyeongjin
Korea
18,200,000
10
Nguyen Hai Trieu
Vietnam
16,400,000
11
Hong Sungho
Korea
16,400,000
12
Truong Van Khanh
Vietnam
16,400,000
13
Amit Kaushik
India
14,000,000
*Denotes deal was made
WPC-SEAPT Schedule & Structures
Event Photos
Lined up for later today, Saturday, September 17th are two more flights for the VN₫ 2.5 Billion (~US$ 105,695) guaranteed Kick Off Event and a Hyper Turbo event to cap off the night.
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker for more on the ongoing World Poker Championship at Grand Loyal.
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Janette Dee
Graduated from De La Salle University, Janette works as a full time teacher in Manila, Philippines. She has long joined the local poker community as a recreational player for the last decade. Having a natural love for the game, she decided to branch out into a different avenue of poker. Currently, Janette works for Somuchpoker as a content writer reporting local and international news for the site.
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