Ojha Takes Overall Lead in 2023 APPT Cambodia Main Event
The late registration for the flagship tournament of the 2023 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Cambodia Main Event at the luxurious NagaWorld Integrated Resort in Phnom Penh has concluded. All three starting days combined created an overall field of 476 entries and generated a prize pool of $623,322, all of which will be distributed in the following two days when the tournament is playing down to the winner.
India's Vishal Ojha topped 58 survivors out of 219 entries on Day 1b while nearly half of the field was still in contention during the final stages of the turbo heat 1c, which attracted another 81 runners. Ojha bagged up 407,000 in chips to claim the overall lead, well ahead of Curtis Lim (316,500) and Victor Chong (210,000) who occupied the two remaining spots on the podium for today.
Among the big stacks in the top 10 for Day 1b were also Roman Kolotiuk, WSOP bracelet winner Guoliang Wei, Jhon Hendri, and Huu Dung Nguyen.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vishal Ojha | India | 407,000 | 136 |
| 2 | Curtis Lim | Singapore | 316,500 | 106 |
| 3 | Victor Chong | Malaysia | 210,000 | 70 |
| 4 | Roman Kolotiuk | Russia | 209,000 | 70 |
| 5 | Guoliang Wei | China | 201,000 | 67 |
| 6 | Jhon Hendri | Singapore | 192,000 | 64 |
| 7 | Jia Yi Low | Singapore | 189,000 | 63 |
| 8 | Guillem Segarra Lopez | Spain | 170,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Feng Qu | China | 162,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Huu Dung Nguyen | Vietnam | 155,000 | 52 |
Other notables to bag and tag for Day 1b were Siarhei Chudapal, Natural8 ambassador Pete Chen, Renniel Galvez, Alexander Puchalski, Dhanesh Chainani, David Erquiaga, and Sven McDermott. Defending champion Puchalski needed two bullets to claim 74,000 to his name while last year's third-place finisher Galvez scored two very late double-ups to advance with 90,000.
The rise to the top of the leaderboard for Ojha started with a double-up through Laury Vanlerberghe with kings versus ace-jack before he then consistently added chips through various showdown pots. Another Frenchman fell victim to the hot run of Ojha in Romain Morvan before the player from India knocked out Australian High Roller Joshua McCully in the final hand of the night.
Many other familiar names of the Asia-Pacific poker region came up short of making Day 2, as more almost three quarters of the field departed throughout the 13 levels of 40 minutes each. Chien Chih Weng, Lester Edoc, Shardul Parthasarathi, Yunsheng Sun, Eric Wasylenko, Mauricio Salazar Sanchez, Valeriy Pak, and Junzhong Loo were among the casualties.
The 58 Day 1b survivors will join their 41 counterparts from Day 1a and everyone to bag and tag for the night on Day 1c. More than 120 players are expected to return to their seats at 1 p.m. local time in the grand ballroom at Naga 1 for the restart of Day 2. Blinds in level 14 will be 1,500-3,000 with a big blind ante of 3,000. The money bubble will burst and the race to the nine-handed final table then headlines the business end thereafter.
The overall attendance came up just shy of 500 entries and the initial $400,000 guarantee was surpassed by more than 50%, which comfortably beat the 378 entries of the previous edition in 2022 by a wide margin as well.
Stay tuned to find out who makes it one step closer to become the 2023 APPT Cambodia Main Event champion right here on PokerNews, as the live reporting team will be on the floor throughout the next two days until a winner has been crowned.