After five exciting days of pre-games. Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has finally been awarded the trophy of the APPT National Tournament. The lucky player was Singaporean poker star Andy Li who managed to emerge the winner despite all the challenges.
But he isn’t the only person with an award today. Two talented players from China have also won their respective competitions. Alongside Andy Li is We Guo Liang who won the Mini High Roller event and Yifei Xiao who is the new Short Deck champion. These are just some of the many exciting developments in the APPT Tournament.
Andy Li Beats the Odds and Wins the APPT National
The APPT National Event was a massive success for the poker tour, bringing 314 entries across three starting flights. The event was so big that it doubled the expected US$ 100K guarantee. But so many players also meant plenty of competition. Only 47 players made it to the final day, and only 9 made it to the final table with Andy Li being one of them.
Each of these players was guaranteed a piece of the impressive US$ 219,298 prize pool, but only one could be the champion. Reigning champion Seongmin Lee put up a good fight to defend his title but was eventually eliminated by Eric Wasylenko and missed his chance to make it to the final table.
In the end, the final match was between Andy Li T and Minwoo Kang from Korea. Both players seemed evenly matched with the lead changing several times throughout the game. Things were so close that they ended up playing 12 rounds together across several hours.
However, in the end, it was Andy Li who emerged as the winner. With that win, he received the amazing PokerStars Shard Trophy and a payout of US$ 36,687. Meanwhile, the runner-up, Minwoo Kang, walked away with a prize of US$ 33,199.
“I’ve never been all in twelve times heads up, and in the end it was pure luck because we both had only 5 big blinds each. This is my first win since 2017 so it feels good. When it was down to three-handed, I had very good position over the two aggressive players, if I was in between them, it would have handcuffed me. I also know the person to my right, this was his first tournament. He is a cash game player so there was a lot of opportunity for me to steal, that helped a lot as well.”
Andy Li, APPT Cambodia National Event Champion
Wei Guo Liang Wins Mini High Roller Event
The Mini High Roller event lasted for two exciting days and attracted 68 participants. These players competed for an impressive prize pool of US$121,366. However, of those 68 players, only 9 made it to the second day in the money round and would receive a cut of the win.
The final table had some of the best players in the competition, such as the Australian star John Perry who unfortunately finished in 5th place. After two hours of competition, Wei had taken the lead with a massive stack and was now competing against Jin Woo Kim from the United States who was his closest rival.
However, while Kim put up a good fight, he was no match for Wei’s full house which guaranteed him a win. This made Wei the second winner today alongside Andy Li.
This was Wei’s first-ever PokerStars Spade trophy and is the fourth Chinese player to win an APPT award. However, he previously was a two-time WSOP bracelet winner Wei and had recently won another poker tournament in Beijing. For his win here, an impressive Wei won US$ 35,498
“Absolutely very happy to win this event. This win is different from my previous wins because for the first time, I am representing CIPT (Chinese International Poker Team) and to show how strong Chinese players are in poker. I did have luck and cards on my side too. When I was down to around 20 bb, I doubled up with pocket Queens against pocket Eights. Several hands after, I won another double up with Ace-King trips aces against the chip leader’s pocket Queens.”
Wei Guo Liang, Winner of the Mini HR Event
Yinfe Xiao Named Winner of the Short Deck Event
Aside from Andy Li and Wei Guo Liang, Yinfe became the third winner of the APPT Cambodia today after winning the short stack event. Yinfei Xiao had a close call in this event when he held the 7 of hearts and 8 of diamonds against Lev Kydatov’s Queen of Diamonds and Jack of Clubs. At first, it seemed like Kydatov had won with his hand combined with the cards on the table.
However, after looking more carefully, Xiao had the bottom straight and took the win. Xiao beat out 29 other players to become the Short Deck champion. This won him the PokerStars Spade trophy as well as a prize of US$2,290.
Mystery Bounty and Super High Roller Update
While Andy Li, Yinfe Xiao, and Wei Guo Liang’s wins were impressive, there wasn’t the only thing happening in APPT Cambodia. The Super High Roller Event saw 22 players each paying US$10,000 buy-in to join in. With these fees, the total prize pool reached an impressive US$206,998.
But after 13 rounds of competition, only 8 players remained. These finalists will compete for the money round and the title. The winner will receive a generous payout of US$86,939! Leading the race with an impressive 108 bb is Indonesia’s John Hendri.
Meanwhile, the exciting Mystery Bounty event is coming to a close. With 243 entries and a prize pool of US$ 116,677, only 38 talented players will join on the final day. China’s Bin Zhang leading the pack after an impressive performance on Day 1B. Aside from the grand prize, there is also an exciting US$ 7,700 Mystery Bounty prize up for grabs. Stay tuned for more updates on this action-packed tournament!
Today wasn’t the only big day for winners like Andy Li in APPT Cambodia. Winners were crowned for big events like the 6-Handed Hyper Turbo yesterday.
To get all the details of what happened in the event, check out our APPT Cambodia Event Update.