Akshay Nasa
Day 3 of the APT Main Event is in the books as our final table of nine is set with all eyes on the first prize of VND 3,401,355,000 (~$145,500). The day began with 48 players but only took six hours of play to whittle that down to nine with a lot of the ups and downs that come with poker seen along the way.
It's India's Akshay Nasa who leads the way after bagging 6,270,000 chips and eliminating numerous players on his journey to the final table. With two tables remaining, Nasa took out Daiki Shingae, Peter Kiem, and Thi Xoa Nguyen in a short space of time to amass his fortune and put himself in the driving seat on the final table. Nasa is no stranger to APT Main Event final tables as he took down the Main Event in Ho Chi Minh back in 2019 and will be looking to use his experience to navigate his way to the trophy.
Jongwook Kim takes through the second-biggest stack of the final table of 4,160,000. Kim started Day 3 with 186,000 chips but soon eclipsed the one million mark after winning a flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Nguyen Van Sang. The South Korean would show no signs of slowing down after that and played confidently to put himself in with a chance of winning his maiden APT title.
Emmanuel Derecho
In third is Emmanuel Derecho who bagged up 2,640,000 and thoroughly deserves his spot in the final. The Australian made a remarkable call holding just jack high against chip leader Nasa and will prove to be a tough opponent for the other finalists.
Fourth place goes to Dinh Duc Linh who brings forward 2,565,000 chips into the final table. Linh won a huge flip with pocket tens against Quan Qiu's ace-king during the final two tables to give him a healthy stack. The Vietnamese player has APT success right here in Hanoi after taking down the Mystery Bounty Hunter event back in February and is seeking his first Main Event victory in the same city he has tasted glory.
Chun Chieh Liu put on a stellar display to bag up 2,205,000 in his pursuit of the Main Event trophy. Liu eliminated Vietnam's Ngo Van Dat earlier in the day after his ace-three managed to overcome the ace-nine of Dat. The Taiwanese player would then go on to bust Kunal Patni and Ryutaro Yamamoto on his way to the final table and certainly will be a threat come tomorrow.
Nguyen Duc Cuong
Nguyen Duc Cuong brings through 1,770,000 as he sits on his second final table of the series. Cuong took fourth in the APT Kickoff for VND 135,470,000 (~$5,810) and already has over double that locked up for making it this far in the Main Event.
Takumasa Uemura bagged 1,475,000 and comes into the final table in seventh. The Japanese player eliminated Victor Em when there were two tables left and comes back tomorrow with thirty big blinds.
Sang had a rollercoaster day but finished with 1,440,000 which is good for eighth. Sang has two APT titles under his belt which include a win in a Championships event last year where he took home VND 1,823,500,000. The local player has a wealth of experience to fall back on and should not be written off just yet.
Rounding off the final table is South Korea's Jeongho Hwang who brings through the shortest stack of 680,000. Hwang lost a pot late on Day 3 to Sang when they both flopped top pair but Sang had the better kicker. With 14 big blinds, it won't be easy for Hwang but should he manage to get a few double ups he could bring himself back into contention.
The payouts for the final table can be found below.
Play will resume at 2:30pm tomorrow, Saturday June 3 as there is a scheduled power cut for the city of Hanoi between 10:30am and 12:30pm.
A full APT Main Event Final Table Chip Count can be found HERE
As always, the final table will be streamed live from 2:30pm and will have a 30-minute delay. You can tune into the stream by clicking through the following links.