Van Dan Nguyen Tops Day 1A of WPT Cambodia Championship

WPT Cambodia Championship Field

The second half of the year for poker in Asia has started strong, with the World Poker Tour hosting the Passport To The World Championship at NagaWorld Integrated Resorts in Phnom Penh. In partnership with Connaissance Management Limited,  six days of pre-games kicked off the festivities with the WPT Cambodia Championship, taking center stage on July 18, featuring a USD 500,000 guarantee.

The headliner drew a total of 175 entries for Day 1A. This was the first of three opening flights scheduled. By the end of regulation of 14 levels, 22 players survived. Viet Nam’s Van Dan Nguyen bagged up the chip lead of 644,000, equivalent to 129 bb.

You can read up on the action via the Day 1A Live Updates.

Van Dan Nguyen Rise To The Chip Lead

For most of the day, Van Dang Nguyen wasn’t in radar due to his short stack. Instead, it was the two big stacks at his table – Oleg Titov and Anh Bui Le – that were being closely watched. Down to 8 bb by Level 12, Nguyen caught a lucky break when he doubled up with AsAh against Le’s 9d9h. The celebration continued on the next hand with QdQc set on the river against David Chiv’s 8c8s set on the flop.

Van Dan Nguyen doubles up at WPT Cambodia

One level later, Nguyen landed a third double up with 10c10s over Titov’s Ad8d that missed. As the end of Day 1A approached, Nguyen catapulted to the chip lead with his full house dusting William Luis’ flush. Nguyen was one of six players from Vietnam to advance. The most by any flag.

Another strong finisher was Japan’s Takuya Shimabukuro with 642,000 stacked, just one big blind behind the leader. Unlike Nguyen, Shimabukuro was seen grinding all day. Early on though, he was nearly eliminated until his lower pair spiked the two-outer. Towards the end of Day 1A, Shimabukuro claimed a pot holding a one-card straight.

Takuya Shimabukuro at WPT Cambodia
Takuya Shimabukuro

In addition to the leaders, several players held the chip lead as well for some time. Howard Appledorf had a controversial hand against NagaWorld Superstack Jungsup Yun champion that ballooned his stack. William Lius also sat up top for a time. One of the biggest names to advance was Singapore’s Alex Lee who fared much better on his second bullet.

Day 1A ended with Haisheng Qiu going in two hands. His aces were first cracked by Chengchun Sha then lost his last 8 bb to Lius.

DAY 1A LIVE UPDATES
FESTIVAL RESULTS
PLAYER GUIDE – WPT Cambodia
NEWS

WPT Cambodia Championship – Day 1A

Date: July 18, 2024
Buy in: USD 1,300
Guarantee: USD 500,000
Day 1A: 175 entries / 22 survivors

End Of Day 1A Chip Counts

Van Dan Nguyen Viet Nam 644,000
Takuya Shimabukuro Japan 642,000
Chengchun Sha China 611,000
Howard Barry Appledorf USA 503,000
Chi Ling Tsang Canada 464,000
Manh Cuong Le Viet Nam 415,000
Kah Yew Teng Malaysia 400,000
Trung Ha Nguyen Viet Nam 355,000
Daniel Peter O’Leary United Kingdom 350,000
Ngoc Quoc Bao Pham Viet Nam 322,500
Ilya Firstov Kazakhstan 300,000
Nikesh Vijay Chawla India 296,000
Xiang Wei Lee Singapore 240,000
Raj Vardhan Bagaria India 223,000
Anh Tuan Bui Viet Nam 208,000
William Lius Indonesia 203,000
Jin Xiong Lee Singapore 193,000
Jayden Anthony Zalac Australia 157,000
Dich Khanh Nguyen Viet Nam 143,000
Junjian Yu China 136,000
Nicholas John Woodward United Kingdom 108,000
Andrei Budykin Russia 86,000

Up next is Day 1B which takes place on July 19, 2024 starting at 11:30am. Players start with 40,000 stack which is 200 times the starting blinds. For the first nine rounds, blinds increase every 40 minutes then 60 minutes for the duration.

Day 1B: Friday, July 19, 2024
Day 1C: Saturday, July 20, 2024
Day 2: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Day 3: Monday, July 22, 2024

Somuchpoker is on-site to bring you live updates on the action from start to finish.

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