Alex Lee
The VND 9,000,000 + 1,000,000 Mystery Bounty Hunter - Sponsored by Natural8 has been won by Alex Lee of Singapore. Lee takes home VND 359,490,000 (~$15,310) for his win after topping the field of 320 entries (222 unique) defeating Sweden's Daniel Brugman in a heads-up battle that spanned four levels. Eventually, Lee would emerge victorious to claim the lion's share of the VND 2,793,600,000 (~USD $118,980) prize pool and earn his second APT title.
There were 46 players who managed to bring a stack into Day 2 with Japan's Akinobu Kirishima leading the pack as the players embarked on their bounty-hunting journey. The bounties on offer ranged in value from VND 5,000,000 all the way up to a juicy VND 200,000,000 (~USD $8,500).
It took just six thirty-minute levels to shrink the field to the final nine with Kanchan Sharma (40th), Kang Chen (17th), Jaekyung Sim (14th), and Lester Edoc (10th) all falling short of the final table. The opening levels weren't without action though, as the extra incentive to win bounties created the action all spectators were hoping for.
In the opening level of play, it was Vietnam's Van An Chu who took an early chip lead as he scored a double knockout after flopping trips with five-deuce and getting it all in against Sharma's flush draw. Hien Minh was also in the hand, albeit severely short-stacked, but it was Chu that rivered a full house to take the pot and pick up two bounty chips, which he could claim at any time. Chu opted to claim his bounties early, and what a decision that proved to be as not only did he pull the biggest bounty on offer of VND 200,000,000, he also bagged himself a VND 75,000,000 prize to go with it, much to his delight but the dismay of the rest of the field.
Level twenty-four proved to be a wild one as six players were eliminated in the space of just twenty-two minutes to bring us to the final table bubble, with the unlucky tenth place finisher being none other than two-time APT Main Event champion, Edoc. Edoc would fall to eventual champion Lee when his ace-king came up short of the Singaporean's queen-jack, with the latter turning trip queens to seal the hand and send us to the final table.
It would be overnight chip leader Kirishima who would exit the final table first. After losing a flip with pockets tens against the ace-jack of Ka Chun Tsui which left him crippled, he got his last chips in with jack-ten but was dominated by the ace-ten of Lee. No help would arrive for the Japanese player and he took ninth for VND 36,880,000 (~$1,570).
Kuo-Wei Lee would be the next to fall as he shoved king-queen and was put at risk by the ace-ten of Brugman. Lee flopped top pair but was undone by the turned straight of the Swedish player and took eighth for a payday of VND 44,990,000 (~$1,920).
Kuo-Wei Lee (left) & Ting Yu Lin (right)
Ting Yu Lin was unfortunate not to eliminate Tsui when the pair clashed in a hand that resulted in Lin becoming the short stack at the table. Lin would shove with ace-king and be called by the ace-jack of Tsui but wouldn't be able to hold on as his opponent flopped trips to leave him with just over a single big blind. Despite winning a few hands and increasing his chance of a remarkable comeback, he would eventually be eliminated at the hands of Chu when his king-queen couldn't crack the ace-deuce of the Vietnamese player, taking seventh for VND 61,220,000 (~$2,600).
Just moments after Lin's elimination, it would be Jimmy Theophile to hit the rail next as he shoved with ace-queen and was flipping against the pocket sevens of Tsui. Both would catch a piece of the board as Theophile flopped the nut flush draw and Tsui had middle set, but Tsui would manage to hold on meaning Theophile was out in sixth for VND 83,350,000 (~$3,550).
We had seen Chu make some audacious plays throughout the day, including a hand where he four-bet shoved ace-five and managed to take down the ace-king of Bao Sheng Woon with a river five. Chu would repeat that pre-flop action by four-betting all in with queen-jack and getting snapped off by Brugman's pocket kings. Brugman would have his opponent drawing dead by the turn but Chu can still be happy after claiming VND 305,000,000 in bounties to go along with his VND 109,170,000 (~$4,650) prize for fifth.
Van An Chu shows off his two big bounties
Tsui would be next to fall, shoving his last ten big blinds into the middle with eight-nine but was outpipped by the nine-ten of Brugman. The Swedish player's ten high would manage to hold onto the lead throughout the hand meaning Tsui exited in fourth for VND 138,490,000 (~$5,900).
Japan's Kaito Hirai was no stranger to the bounty format of poker as he won the Mystery Bounty Hunter event at APT Phu Quoc earlier in the year for VND 261,960,000 (~$11,265). Unfortunately for Hirai, he would fall just shy of another victory when his ace-deuce was defeated by the ace-six of Lee, despite turning a pair of deuces to take the lead in the hand, Lee managed to river a straight which brought us to heads-up play and left Hirai heading to the payout desk to claim VND 171,130,000 (~$7,290) for his podium finish.
It was Brugman who started the heads-up duel as a slight chip leader holding a three-to-two chip advantage. After a lot of pressure from the Swedish player, Lee found himself at a four-to-one chip deficit and it looked likely the title would be heading Brugman's way. Lee managed to win a few pots before scoring a big double-up when he flopped bottom two pair holding six-three and held on against the top pair of Brugman who had queen-eight.
Daniel Brugman
The two battled it out with chips going back and forth before Brugman shoved from the small blind holding king-ten and Lee made the call with ace-six. Both player's stacks were very similar, but it was Brugman who was at risk and behind. No help would arrive as Lee's ace high managed to fade the outs of Brugman, and he was our Mystery Bounty Hunter champion.
Brugman had to settle for second place and a payday of VND 228,290,000 (~$9,720), but also picked up seven bounties for an additional VND 40,000,000. Lee managed to bag six bounties himself which added VND 65,000,000 to his payout and of course, he takes home the all-new APT lion silhouette trophy.
Join us tomorrow for Day 1A of the APT Main Event that will kickoff at 12pm local time. As always, live coverage will be right here for you to follow.
See you tomorrow.
Daniel Brugman
Alex Lee