The Asian Poker Tour's 2023 Summer Series continues this month with another stop in Vietnam. APT Summer Series Da Nang kicked off this past Friday from the Ariyana Convention Center at the Furama Resort in Da Nang.
The Da Nang stop comes on the heels of a successful run at the APT Summer Series Hanoi, which saw forty-eight events take place across a nine day event schedule.
Chan Kien's big win kicks off the action
The opening event in Da Nang, The Kickoff, drew 317 total entries across two Day 1 flights with only 45 players returning on Saturday for Day 2. Vietnam's own Tran Huy Hoang began the day with the chip lead, on the hunt for his second APT title. Throughout Day 2 play Hoang maintained and grew his stack, taking his lead all the way to the final nine players.
Final table play saw another contender, Singapore's Chan Kien, emerge from the pack after scoring an early elimination. Another elimination shortly afterwards brought Kien one step closer to the top spot. As Kien's luck grew hot, Hoang's fell cold and he hit the rail in third place at the hands of none other than, you guessed it, Kien.
Kien took a 3-to-2 chip advantage into heads-up play against China's Yongfu Dong. It was a quick battle, only ten minutes long, mostly due to an action turn card that saw Kien improve to a straight and Dong two pair.
The win marks two milestones for Kien: a first tournament victory in the live arena and his first APT title. Kien's victory came with a VND 545 million (~$23,000) top prize.
Julian-Andrew Warhurst takes down flagship Super High Roller
The APT Super High Roller, the first of the flagship events and second-largest buy-in on the schedule, drew a 22 player field comprised of 14 unique entries. With only the top four places in the money, the field thinned quickly on Day 1, leaving only Thailand's Satanan Jungrungreangkit and Australia's Julian-Andrew Warhurst still alive at the end of play.
Jungrungreangkit took a razor-thin chip lead into Day 2, but Warhurst battled to quickly overtake him when play restarted. The heads-up play didn't last long as the players found themselves in a major clash about thirty minutes into the day. Warhurst had the best of it and was able to finish off Jungrungreangkit in the next hand. The victory brought Warhurst a payday of ~$42,430.
China's Zhi Wen Deng victorious in Mystery Bounty Hunter
Two starting flights in the Mystery Bounty Hunter drew a field of 448 entrants, yet only 61 qualified for Day 2 action. Notables in the field included APT title holder Armon van Wijk, previous Bounty Hunter winner Kyle Bao, APT Main Event champion and five-time APT title winner Vamerdino Magsakay, and APT Main Event winner Hai Nam Hoang.
The field whittled down to a final table over the course of ten 30-minute levels. The action at the final table came fast and heavy with the early elimination of Stanislav Kuvaev after he ran head-first into pocket aces.
The next on the chopping block was overnight chip leader Tuan Nguyen after a series of unfortunate hands sent him to the rail in eighth place. Mateusz Kaczmarek followed Nguyen to the rail just moments later after his pocket nines could not hold up against the over cards of Min Ho Cho.
The pay-jump ladders led to a flurry of eliminations as Pham Bao, Craig Trevanna, and Min Ho Cho all exited the tournament. During three-handed play, a keen bluff-catch against Junam Lee saw Zhi Wen Deng take a sizable chip lead over this two opponents, holding nearly half the chips in play. Moments later, Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Bao An finished the job and sent Lee to the rail.
Heads-up play began with essentially even stacks, but Deng slowly extended his lead to leave Bao An short-stacked. In the final hand, Bao An's ace-four ran into Deng's ace-king and could not improve to find the double up. Deng, who was unaware that he could claim his bounties at any time during play, collected eight bounties on his way to the victory and cashed them in to add to his first place prize of ~$23,300.
Mixed Games action abound
No-Limit Hold'em isn't the only variant on the APT schedule for Da Neng. Short Deck, Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Big O, Super Hold'em, and more mixed game tournaments are all on the schedule. See below for a list of select winners thus far and be sure to follow along to the Asian Poker Tour's Live Reporting.
- Event #3: 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha (Hi-Lo)
- Winner: Pak Hang Pun, Portugal
- Event #5: Short Deck Hyper Turbo
- Winner: Xaymoungkhoun Souksanh, Laos
- Event #8: Pot-Limit Omaha
- Winner: The Naing, Singapore
- Event #9: Limit Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo
- Winner: Craig Anthony Cooper, United Kingdom
All Images Courtesy of Asian Poker Tour
