Pak Leads After Packed Day 1b At the 2022 APPT Cambodia $1,500 Main Event
The first ever stop of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in the Kingdom of Cambodia has concluded the late registration for all three flights of the flagship 2022 APPT Cambodia $1,500 Main Event. After 113 entries for the first starting day, it was a busy day at the poker tables in the Grand Ballroom at the five-star NagaWorld Integrated Resort in Phnom Penh with another 186 entries on Day 1b and 79 entries in the turbo heat 1c.
This boosted the total field to 378 entries for a total prize pool of $494,991 and the top 55 finishers will be paid. Once Day 2 resumes, the money bubble won't be far away as 32 hopefuls joined the Day 1a survivors. Those 53 contenders will be joined by all those making it through Day 1c which had 45 players remaining when the late registration closed.
In the final regular flight, it was a very close fight for the top spot and Valeriy Pak from Uzbekistan ultimately bagged up 409,000 to be one single chip behind the Day 1a chip leader Nam Hyung Kim. He toppled Omair Javed (397,000), Brett Pullen (396,000) and Quoc Huy Phan (386,000) while Jonathan Sanborn also bagged up a very respectable 313,000 as well.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valeriy Pak | Uzbekistan | 409,000 | 102 |
| 2 | Omair Javed | Pakistan | 397,000 | 99 |
| 3 | Brett Pullen | United States | 396,000 | 99 |
| 4 | Quoc Huy Phan | Vietnam | 381,000 | 95 |
| 5 | Jonathan Sanborn | Canada | 313,000 | 78 |
| 6 | Chhay Lem Lim | Malaysia | 291,000 | 73 |
| 7 | Mohamad Abbouchi | France | 262,000 | 66 |
| 8 | Zdravko Duvnjak | Croatia | 258,000 | 65 |
| 9 | Hwany Lee | South Korea | 235,000 | 59 |
| 10 | Bryan Huang | Singapore | 229,000 | 57 |
In somewhat remarkable fashion, the top ten for Day 1b includes players from ten different countries. Mohamad Abbouchi (262,000) and Zdravko Duvnjak (258,000) have been regulars to major live poker events at the five-star resort in the last few years. Hwany Lee (235,000) has been active in the Asia-Pacific region for a while as well and former poker pro turned businessman Bryan Huang spun a late re-entry to 229,000 in chips.
Other notables to make it through were Ori Elul, Michael Soyza, Akshay Kapoor, Jonas Magdalinski, Sofia Lovgren-Fullmer, Hamish Crawshaw, Victor Chong, and Clement van Driessche. There were a total of 32 survivors and all those who came up short opted to jump into the turbo heat such as Natalie Teh, Pete Chen, Leo Soma, Paul Newey, Minh Anh Nguyen, Florencio Campomanes, Zurvan Tumboli, and Gary Thompson to name all but a few.
One player that was involved in a lot of the early action was Luke Keay, who endured a wild roller coaster ride on his table, jumping between short and big stack within a matter of minutes. He was eliminated only to re-enter into the same seat, then doubled with aces versus kings, got short and doubled again. Keay didn't make it out of that table, nor did Rajeev Kanjani or Sukhum Kiwanont with the latter falling to eventual chip leader Pak after one move paid off and the next did not.
Accomplished poker pro Soyza joined late and dashed out one bad beat to Nang Quang Nguyen before he maintained the stack for the rest of the night. His table later on featured Pullen, who pulled the strings with a very aggressive play. Ultimately, the American came up just short of the lead despite a late push but will be happy to have turned a satellite win the previous night on the very same table into a prime spot for Day 2.
When the survivors of all three flights return to their seats in the Grand Ballroom at Naga 1 on Saturday, November 12, 2022, at 1pm local time, the action will recommence in level 15 with blinds of 2,000-4,000 and a big blind ante of 4,000. The money bubble will be looming with just 55 spots paid and the penultimate tournament day will determine the nine finalists for the grand showdown one day later.
Stay tuned for more of the live poker action from Cambodia as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor until a champion is crowned.