Vietnam's Leo Kay Wins APT Kickoff, Mystery Bounty Draws 320 Entries; Japan's Akinobu Kirishima Leads

Ben Wilson / 28 May 2023

Share:
Vietnam's Leo Kay Wins APT Kickoff, Mystery Bounty Draws 320 Entries; Japan's Akinobu Kirishima Leads

APT SUMMER SERIES HANOI 2023 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

HANOI, VIETNAM, May 27, 2023 – The second day of the APT Summer Series Hanoi, Vietnam 2023 is in the books and the first of the marquee event champions has been crowned.

There was also a slight adjustment to the Series schedule, with the VND 120,000,000 Event #6 APT Super High Roller pushed back to Friday, June 2.

The tournament will now run as a single-day event with no guarantee and the same structure as the Superstar Challenge. This will replace Event #37 Single Day High Roller – 8 Max starting at 12:30pm local time, with players competing for the coveted pewter lion New Era APT trophy.

Speaking of trophies, it was Vietnam's Leo Kay the man to get his hands on the first of the Series' marquee event pewter lion silhouette trophies.

Playing out at the tournament tables of the Grand Loyal Poker Club – located on the second and third floors of the luxurious Grand Vista Hanoi Hotel – just 42 of the 287-strong APT Kickoff field returned for the second and final day, all guaranteed a share of the VND 1,753,957,000 (~US$75,400) prize pool and a payout of at least VND 10,280,000 (~USD $440).

While Kiwanont Sukhum returned as the start-of-day chip leader, the Thai player was unsuccessful in his quest to claim a third APT title, crashing out in 15th place for VND 23,990,000 (~USD $1,030) and opening the door for Kay to make his maiden live title win a memorable one.

Kay put on a dominating performance to claw his way into the chip lead, before claiming a VND 303,007,000 (~$13,030) top prize after cutting a deal with heads-up opponent and compatriot Hoang Thinh.

Thinh received an additional VND 50-million windfall for his runner-up finish, collecting VND 273,320,000 (~USD $11,750) in total.

It was Minh Duc Vu rounding out the winner's podium, claiming bronze and a payout of VND 167,400,000 (~USD $7,180).

In fact, local players dominated the final table action, with six of the final nine all hailing from Vietnam and the final table paying out as follows:

APT KICKOFF FINAL TABLE RESULTS

  1. Leo Kay (Vietnam) – VND 303,007,000
  2. Hoang Thinh (Vietnam) – VND 273,320,000
  3. Minh Duc Vu (Vietnam) – VND 167,400,000
  4. Nguyen Duc Cuong (Vietnam) – VND 135,470,000
  5. Tran Minh Thang (Vietnam) – VND 106,790,000
  6. Tao Cheng Chang (Taiwan) – VND 81,530,000
  7. Quang Tuan Nguyen (Vietnam) – VND 59,890,000
  8. Xin Ke Tan (China) – VND 44,010,000
  9. Shung Er Sua (Malaysia) – VND 36,080,000

All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.

Other notables to cash but come up short of the final table included the Philippines' Armando Jr. Cabardo (20th for VND 18,580,000), China's Jin Long Hu (32nd for VND 11,540,000), and India's Amit Kaushik (40th for VND 10,280,000).

You can follow all the Kickoff Day 2 action as it played out via the APT Blog.

Mystery Bounty Hunter - Sponsored by Natural8 - Draws 320 Entries; Japanese Poker Vlogger Akinobu Kirishima Leads

Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A chip leader Akinobu Kirishima.jpg Japanese poker blogger Akinobu Kirishima holds the overall chip lead in Event #5 Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8

All the marquee tournament action was not exclusive to the Kickoff, with the opening Flight A of the VND 10,000,000 Event #5 Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 getting underway at 12pm local time.

This drew 148 entries with the action playing out over nineteen 30-minute levels.

The second starting Flight B kicked off slightly later at 6pm on the second floor and saw a further 172 players duke it out over a slightly faster nineteen 20-minute levels.

This brought the total number of entries up to 320 (222 unique), generating a VND 2,793,600,000 (~USD $118,980) prize pool – including VND 960,000,000 (~USD $40,890) in bounties.

With the top 14 percent of the field from each respective starting flight making Day 2 and the money, a total of 21 players made the cut from Flight A, with a further 25 making it through from Flight B.

The 46 combined survivors will return for Day 2 all guaranteed a payout of at least VND 10,510,000 (~USD $450) and the eventual winner will walk away with a VND 359,490,000 (~USD $15,310) top prize.

You can view all the prize pool payouts and bounty payouts HERE.

The man returning for Day 2 in the best of positions to stake his claim for the title is Japanese vlogger Akinobu Kirishima who burst the Flight A bubble to seize the overall chip lead right at the close of the starting flight.

Kirishima became embroiled in a huge hand against Hong Kong's Edward Yam, with the latter shoving the river on a jack-high runout with J♣8♣ only to discover Kirishima – holding A♦10♦ – had rivered the backdoor nut diamond flush.

That timely catch will see Kirishima returning in pole position with a stack of 885,000, with next closest rival Ka Chun Tsui bagging a stack of 710,000 – which will see him return second in the overall chip counts.

Kirishima and Tsui finished miles ahead of the rest of the Flight A field, with Japan's Kaito Hirai rounding out the top three with a significantly shorter stack of 348,000, with the top ten Flight A stacks as follows:

FLIGHT A TOP TEN STACKS

  1. Akinobu Kirishima (Japan) – 885,000
  2. Ka Chun Tsui (Hong Kong) – 710,000
  3. Kaito Hirai (Japan) – 348,000
  4. Kuo-Wei Lee (China) – 235,000
  5. Armon Van Wijk (Australia) – 224,000
  6. Manh Truong Nguyen (Vietnam) – 207,000
  7. Ting Yu Lin (Taiwan) – 205,000
  8. Anh Tien (Vietnam) – 201,000
  9. Paul Elliott (Australia) – 170,000
  10. Alex Lee (Singapore) – 159,000

For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

Flight B chip leader Van An Chu.jpg Vietnam's Van An Chu topped the Flight B chip counts

It was Vietnam's Van An Chu who topped the Flight B chip counts, bagging up a stack of 574,000, which puts him third in the overall counts.

China's Jinyuan Mai (492,000), and the Philippines' Lester Edoc (439,000) rounded out the top three Flight B stacks and will be returning fourth and fifth respectively in the Day 2 chip counts.

The top ten Flight B stacks are as follows:

FLIGHT B TOP TEN STACKS

  1. Van An Chu (Vietnam) – 574,000
  2. Jinyuan Mai (China) – 492,000
  3. Lester Edoc (Philippines) – 439,000
  4. Kanchan Sharma (India) – 402,000
  5. Junnie Pamplona (Philippines) – 368,000
  6. Bao Sheng Woon (Singapore) – 306,000
  7. Pratik Modi (India) – 296,000
  8. Lee Kuan Wee (Malaysia) – 254,000
  9. Ngoc Tuan Pham (Vietnam) – 211,000
  10. Daniel Martin (United Kingdom) – 208,000

For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mystery Bounty Hunter Day 2 Draw please CLICK HERE

The 46 survivors will unite for the first time for Day 2, which plays out at 12:15pm local time on Sunday, May 28, with the tournament playing down to a champion.

SIDE EVENT ACTION

Malaysia's William Teoh Clinches Second APT Title in Event #3 Turbo - 8 Max for VND 81.7M (~USD $3.4K)

Event #3 Turbo - 8 Max champion William Teoh.jpg Malaysia's William Teoh claimed his second APT title in Event #4 Turbo – 8 Max

The first of the APT Summer Series Hanoi, Vietnam trophies have been awarded in the two opening side events.

It was APT regular William Teoh the man to snag the first of these, claiming his second APT title in the process after winning the VND 15,000,000 Event #3 Turbo – 8 Max.

Playing out in the early hours of Saturday morning, the tournament saw 13 players in action including the likes of two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc, the Netherlands' Martijn Gerrits, Australia's Anton Lu, and Hong Kong's Edward Yam, all competing for a VND 170,235,000 (~USD $7,320) prize pool.

However, none could deny Teoh, who defeated Hong Kong's Gary Cheung to take the VND 81,705,000 (~USD $3,480) top prize, with Cheung receiving VND 54,480,000 (~USD $2,320) for his runner-up finish.

South Korea's Hyeokki Lee was the only other player to cash, rounding out the winner's podium and taking VND 34,050,000 (~USD $1,450) for his third place finish.

TURBO – 8 MAX RESULTS

  1. William Teoh (Malaysia) – VND 81,705,000
  2. Gary Cheung (Hong Kong) – VND 54,480,000
  3. Hyeokki Lee (South Korea) – VND 34,050,000

All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.

Vietnam's Trung Hieu Nguyen Takes Event #4 Turbo Title for VND 55.2M (~USD $2.3K) After Three-Way Deal

Event #4 Turbo champion Trung Hieu Nguyen 2.jpg Vietnam's Trung Hieu Nguyen claimed his maiden APT title in Event #4 Turbo

The second of the Summer Series trophies was awarded in the VND 5,000,000 Event #4 Turbo, which also played out in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

This saw 50 entries (46 unique) in action, all competing for a share of the VND 218,250,000 (~USD $9,380) prize pool.

It was Vietnam's Trung Hieu Nguyen who claimed the trophy and his maiden APT title after cutting a three-way deal with opponents Youngsoo Yang and Xaymoungkhoun Souksanh.

The trio decided on an ICM chip chop to finish the tournament, with Nguyen receiving a VND 55,240,000 (~USD $2,350) top prize, with South Korea's Yang collecting VND 51,100,000 (~USD $2,180) for second and Laos' Souksanh taking VND 43,700,000 (~USD $1,860) for third.

A total of seven players made the money, with the tournament paying out as follows:

TURBO RESULTS

  1. Trung Hieu Nguyen (Vietnam) – VND 55,240,000
  2. Youngsoo Yang (South Korea) – VND 51,100,000
  3. Xaymoungkhoun Souksanh (Laos) – VND 43,700,000
  4. Van Dan Nguyen (Vietnam) – VND 24,010,000
  5. Chak Lam Tsang (Hong Kong) – VND 18,550,000
  6. Kihoon Jung (South Korea) – VND 14,190,000
  7. The Tien Nguyen (Vietnam) – VND 11,460,000

All prize pool and payout information can be found on the Official Results page.

Share: