The first APT Main Event of 2023 has been won by Hai Nam Hoang of Vietnam. He took down the APT Hanoi for ₫2,794,200,000 after reaching an ICM deal with fellow countryman Tuan Tai Nguyen (₫2,100,000,000). After a memorable final table, these two maneuvered themselves heads-up. The players agreed not to continue playing, which meant the title went to Hai Nam Hoang as he was the current chip leader.
The first player that busted out on the final table was Russian’s German Bukharov (8th – ₫314,340,000). In a Russian confrontation, he lost all his chips with pocket eights against Rudnev’s pocket nine. Hoang’s road to victory got a gigantic boost after winning a three-way all-in with pocket queens against Duc Trung Dinh’s (7th – ₫459,930,000) ace-queen and former APT Macau Main Event champion Zhao Feng (6th – ₫631,210,000). The Singaporean showed pocket tens, but a queen on the flop sealed the deal for Hoang.
After the bust outs of Son Le (5th – ₫810,420,000), and Thanh Hai Nguyen (4th – ₫1,022,940,000) we saw a fierce battle between Hai Nam Hoang, Petr Rudnev and Tuan Tai Nguyen. Hoang and Rudnev kept swapping the chip lead, but after a lost coinflip Rudnev’s stack started dwindling. The Russian, based in Thailand, lost his last chips when Nguyen’s jack-ten stayed strong against Rudnev’s (3rd – ₫1,335,370,000) jack-eight.
After winning his maiden APT title we spoke to Hai Nam Nguyen via the aid of a translator:
“This is only my second time playing in an event with such a big field, and to become the champion of a Main Event is a great feeling. I’d like to say a big thank you and I appreciate everything APT and the VSOP have done to make this a great event and it was a pleasure to be here.” “I just played the best I could and took it step by step, hoping I could go as deep as I could,”
Tomorrow the APT Hanoi is back at 11 AM with the final day of the High Roller event. The live stream starts at 11:30 AM, and the live reporting blog the moment cards are dealt on the outer tables.
