Top row - left to right. Albert Gorelik, Phachara Wongwichit, Dong Chen, Satoshi Kuriga
Bottom row - left to right. Peter Kiem, Julien Tran, Jacque Patrick Ramsden, John Perry, Hayato Kitajima
That's it, Day 3 is in the books and we have our unofficial final table of nine players. There were 48 players that started the day with the initial plan to play down to a final eight but the tournament directors made an adjustment and decided to have a nine-player final table. The eventual champion of the tournament will take home a huge ₫2,847,540,000 ($119,600) with pay jumps for each place.
Albert Gorelik takes a commanding chip lead into the final table with 5,075,000 chips. Gorelik built a big stack when his pocket aces crushed the ace-king of David Erquiaga to send his stack to 1,200,000. Gorelik then eliminated both Seok Hyeon Park and Matthieu Lamangere to take around 25% of the total chips in play to the final table.
Japan's Satoshi Kuriga places in second with an impressive stack of 3,480,000. Kuriga eliminated Adalsteinn Petur Karlsson with pocket kings against the Icelandic player's ace-king to give him a stack of over 2,000,000 chips with twelve players remaining and kept the pressure on towards the final table bubble. Kuriga has a lot of final table experience that includes three APT titles and he is in a good position to bring home a fourth here.
Jacque Patrick Ramsden bought through a stack worth 3,045,000 which will surely put him in contention for the trophy. Ramsden had pocket aces twice in well-timed situations, the first of which resulted in him eliminating two opponents in the same hand. He would later knockout Nguyen Tuan Anh when Anh's ace-king was no match for the aces of Ramsden.
John Perry bagged up 2,310,000 to bring to the final table. On his way the Australian eliminated Monika Zucowicz when he out-flopped the Polish player. Perry won a High Roller event recently and is full of confidence in his game so will be a dangerous opponent for the other finalists.
Hayato Kitajiima
Hayato Kitajiima follows Perry with 2,200,000 in chips. Kitajima doubled through overnight chip leader Julien Tran when his pocket queens defeated the king-queen suited of the local. Kitajimia would also burst the final table bubble when his pocket jacks beat the ace-five of Deepak Bothra, who finished in tenth.
Phachara Wongwichit, despite being one outed by Bothra, brings 1,590,000 chips to the final table in an impressive display of resilience and composure. Wongwichit had Bothra drawing to one out with ace-king suited, flopping a pair, and turning a flush draw yet the Indian player managed to find the one out he needed to survive. Wongwichit also survived being all in on the final table bubble when his ace-king held against Bothra's ace-three.
Julien Tran has a stack of 1,240,000 which is still good for 21 big blinds. Tran was the overnight chip leader and kept his momentum going to secure a place on the final table. Tran won a huge pot against Wongwichit with pocket kings to push his stack upwards of 2,700,000 chips but lost a few hands late on in the day.
Another American player, Peter Kiem has a stack of 785,000 to play with at the final table. Kiem has a wealth of experience and although short, he will maintain his focus in order to try and build a stack.
Last but certainly not least is China's Dong Chen. Chen brings through just 555,000, the equivalent of nine big blinds. Chen doubled up against South Korea's Park when his queen-ten found a pair on the flop to defeat Park's pocket fives.
The full stacks and seat draw for the final table can be found below.
Tomorrow's final table has the potential to be a belter. We have nine players all fighting for the APT Main Event title but only one can win. Who will it be? Tune in tomorrow to find out who will take him the trophy and the top prize. As always you can follow live updates here or tune into the stream by clicking the links below.