The ten-day Asian Poker Tour (APT) Phu Quoc 2024 festival running in partnership with VPT at the Corona Theater at the luxurious Corona Resort & Casino in Vietnam is in full swing. The festival slated to run from November 8-17 is witnessing impressive turnouts and has crowned several big winners in the past three days. One of the key events to conclude yesterday was the VND 9M Event #1: Vietnam National Cup. Featuring VND 5,000,000,000 GTD, this event found its winner in Thailand’s Krisada Pinthakasetrin, who topped 579 entries to claim the coveted trophy and a career-best payday of VND 996,530,000 ($38,050).
Japan’s Shohei Osugi placed runner-up for VND 601,590,000 ($23,685), while Vietnam’s own Tuan Tai Nguyen took the final spot on the podium, winning VND 430,500,000 ($16,590).
Kunal Patni Shines For India With Final Table Finish
Shining for India in this particular event was Natural8 India director and ambassador Kunal Patni, who started the final day with a massive chip lead (804,000 chips), which carried him all the way to the final table. Unfortunately, the Indian ace poker pro could progress no further, finishing 9th for VND 82,270,000 ($3,240). Patni, who started the final table with the sixth largest stack, shoved for 1,085,000 holding pocket sixes and was called by Japan’s Shohei Osugi with pocket nines. The latter made a set on the turn, ending Patni’s run from the event in 9th place. This marked Patni’s third APT final table this year, following two final table finishes at the recent APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 in Micro Main Event (Event #97) & Hyper Turbo (Event #85). He now has $1,043,474 in live earnings and is ranked 10th on the India All Time Money list.
APT Phu Quoc 2024 Event #1: Vietnam National Cup Quick Recap
The event ran over the course of three days from November 8-10 and drew 579 entries over the six starting flights. The top 84 players (all in the money) returned for Final Day to battle it out for a share of the VND 5,000,000,000 ($196,850) prize pool.
Event Dates: November 8-10
Event #1: Vietnam National Cup – Nov 08-Nov 10
Total Entries: 579 entries (303 unique)
Prizepool – VND 5,000,000,000 (~$196,850) prize pool
Places paid – Top 84 Finishers
Min cash – VND 15,650,000
Kunal Patni started the day with the massive chip lead, which carried him all the way to the final table. However, Patni could not progress any further, falling in 9th place after running his pocket sixes into Osugi’s pocket nines.
The action was fast and furious with eliminations coming quickly, and it took 8 hours to reach the final table. Following the elimination of Patni, the next player to fall was Ronald Haverkamp who lost a flip with king-ten offsuit against Tuan Ngyuen’s pocket sevens and exited shortly afterwards, taking home VND 104,470,000 for his 8th place finish. He was followed by Vietnam’s Le Tung who finished in 7th place for VND 151,910,000 after his pocket jacks could not hold against Osugi’s ace-ten. A little later, another Vietnamese, Nhuong Nguyen, exited in 6th place for VND 205,410,000. His ace-king lost to compatriot Nguyen Huy’s queen-seven, ending his run from the final table.
The next few knockouts included Ronald Zapantis (5th place for VND 262,440,000), Khanh Huy Nguyen (4th for VND 333,100,000), and Tuan Tai Nguyen who finished in 3rd place for VND 430,500,000 – the third best score of his career. In his final hand, Tuan Nguyen ran his Ac 6c into pocket aces of Shohei Osugi. With the board not helping him, his remarkable journey in the event came to an end in third place.
Just like that, only two players (Thailand’s Krisada Pinthakasetrin and Japan’s Shohei Osugi) remained in heads-up for the title, and both players started with almost even stacks. In the early going, the Thai national spiked top pair on a king-high flop in an all-in preflop situation against Osugi’s pocket fives but the Japanese player hit a runner-runner flush to take the chip lead. The Thai player then battled his way back into the lead after his pocket nines overcame Osugi’s six-five. Shortly afterwards, it was all over. Pinthakasetrin moved all-in pre-flop with ace-jack against the Japanese player’s pocket eights. Osugi hit a set on the 4-8-9 flop, but the remaining two streets (7-10) gave Pinthakasetrin a jack-high straight and his maiden live title and the VND 966,530,000 top prize, which is by far his best score of his live career.
APT Phu Quoc 2024 Event #1: Vietnam National Cup Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Prize (VND) |
| 1 | Krisada Pinthakasetrin | 966,530,000 |
| 2 | Shohei Osugi | 601,590,000 |
| 3 | Tuan Tai Nguyen | 430,500,000 |
| 4 | Nguyen Khanh Huy | 333,100,000 |
| 5 | Ronald Zapantis | 262,440,000 |
| 6 | Nguyen The Nhuong | 205,410,000 |
| 7 | Le Thanh Tung | 151,910,000 |
| 8 | Ronald Haverkamp | 104,470,000 |
| 9 | Kunal Patni | 82,270,000 |
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Image & Hands Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour
