Phuong Ngoc Nguyen

The third Flight of the ₫30,000,000 + 3,000,000 APT Main Event saw 109 entrants (91 unique) compete for a place on Day 2. A total of 55 players made it through to join the 121 survivors from the first two Flights.

After ten 30-minute levels, it was Vietnam's own Phuong Ngoc Nguyen who bagged up 270,100 and was the only player to break the 200,000-chip barrier. Nguyen won some large pots towards the end of the day to elevate his stack to the top of the Flight's leaderboard. Nguyen is no stranger to APT events and has multiple final table appearances including a runner-up spot in a No Limit Hold'Em event in Hanoi last year.

Another Nguyen, this time The Anh Nguyen, finished behind his namesake with 199,300 chips. Anh Nguyen maintained a healthy stack throughout the day and consistently won pots to keep up with the increasing blinds in this faster-structured Flight.

Ammar Nacim Ben finished the day with a decent-sized stack of 169,600. Ben had earlier knocked out Japan's Naoto Takeya when his pocket eights flopped a set against Takeya's pocket nines in level 3. Ben would remain one of the chip leaders and completes the podium places for this Flight.

Ammar Nacim Ben

Masafumi Shimizu brings forward an impressive stack of 145,400. The Japanese player eliminated Jean-Francois Follet Antoine with pocket kings against the Frenchman's pocket nines. He also knocked out Ngoc Minh Le when his top set held against Le's straight draw.

Russian professional Konstantin Generalov also made it through with a respectable 95,800. Generalov placed fifth in the Mystery Bounty Hunter event earlier in this series for ₫77,660,000 ($3,304). Generalov knocked out Filipino player Christopher Mateo during level 7 when Mateo made a tiny 4-bet shove with ten-six off suit and Generalov's hand held.

Other notables to make it through were Phachara Wongwichit with 80,700, Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss with 79,100, and Yunsheng Sun with 67,100.

The last of the Flights, Flight D, kicked off at 5 pm local time. Players can still register for the second day of the APT Main Event as long as they are registered before the start of Day 2.

David Erquiaga

Filipino player David Erquiaga opened to 2,800 and was called by two players, Siddharth Karia, and Oleg Titov.

The flop came A 6 9 and action checked to Erquiaga who bet 5,500. That was enough to make Karia fold but Titov stuck around to see a turn.

The turn came a Q and Titov checked once again. Erquiaga wasn't playing around and put in a bet of 18,000 which sent Titov into the tank. Erquiaga had around 20,000 remaining in his stack after his bet and Titov eventually decided he wanted to play for it all. Titov shoved and Erquiaga called off the rest of his chips.

Titov had A 7 for top pair and Erquiaga could only flip over 7 8 for an open-ended straight draw. The Filipino player needed a five or a ten to complete the straight but got no help when the 3 landed on the river sending the pot Titov's way. Erquiaga is out of the Main Event with just four hands to play in Flight C.

We are into the last of ten levels in flight C of the APT Main Event.

Players will play for around 20 more minutes with the survivors bagging their chips and progressing to Day 2.

Vi Vu Lich has knocked out Mongolian player Dashsodnom Enkhjargal.

Enkhjargal got the last of his money in with A T and was called by Lich's J 9 .

The board ran K 6 9 K 5 to give Lich a pair of nines which was good for the pot.

Aleksi Vanin

Duy Tien Pham got all of his chips in the middle with J 3 on a board of K J A J 4 for turned trips but that wasn't good enough as his Russian opponent, Aleksi Vanin, had turned a flush with 6 4 to send the Vietnamese player out.

Ngoc Minh Le shoved the turn for 18,200 on a board reading 4 2 7 6 . The decision was on Masafumi who called after just a few seconds.

Le showed the 7 5 for top pair and an open-ended straight draw but Masafumi had 7 7 for top set. Le needed a three or an eight to complete a straight but the river came a 9 and Le was sent to the rail.

Tran Duc Dong

With the pot at 15,000 pre-flop, Vietnamese players Tran Duc Dong and Nguyen Vu Ha took a flop.

6 J 9 .

Dong bet 5,500 and was raised by Ha to 16,000. Dong didn't take too much time before making the call and both players went to a turn.

When the turn fell the Q Dong jammed the rest of his stack in, covering Ha. As fast as Dong could push his chips forward, Ha had already called and both players revealed their cards.

Dong had a pair and straight draw with 9 T but looked in bad shape against the A J of Ha who had a higher pair and flush draw. Dong would need an off-suit eight, nine, ten, or king to win the pot and eliminate Ha.

The river came an 8 giving Dong the straight, sending his stack straight up to 120,000.

Vu Van Lich

If you have been reading the updates you will remember the name Vu Van Lich. Lich played Flight A of the Main Event and was quite unlucky in a few spots.

We just saw Lich shove the turn with pocket queens on a jack-high board. His opponent, Dinh Xuan Dinh, eventually folded and flashed a jack to Lich. Is that more run bad for the Vietnamese player?

Players in the APT Main Event Flight C are on their last break of the day.

When they return they will play out three more levels before the Flight comes to an end with the survivors making it through to Day 2.

Konstantin Generalov

Nhu Hai Le min-raised to 1,600 pre-flop and Konstantin Generalov 3-bet to 5,500. The action folded around to Christopher Mateo who pushed his last 7,900 into the middle and the decision was on Le. A discussion started around the table about whether Generalov could raise if Le were to call Mateo's shove. Most of the players seemed unsure of the rule but regardless Le folded and Generalov called the shove of Mateo.

Generalov J 9 .

Mateo T 6 .

Mateo must like that hand because we can't imagine he chose this spot to 4-bet bluff...right?

The board 3 Q 9 K A which gave Generalov a pair which was enough to win the pot.

T6o may not be Mateo's favorite hand anymore.