The third day of the APT Taipei, sponsored by Natural8, has come and gone! With this day came many exciting events, inside the Asian Poker Arena. There were two Day 2 events taking place and two champions crowned, the APT Taipei Super Highrollers and Mystery Bounty event.
The lucky winner for the high rollers tournament was none other than poker star Sam Lam who will now walk home with the APT Taipei Super Highrollers title as well as a huge cash prize. But this year was no ordinary event, this was the biggest high roller event in APT history, also making it one of the largest cash prizes in APT history! For Sam, this has made his win extremely special.
APT Taipei Super Highroller Day 2 Rundown
Day 2 of the Super Highroller tournament began with some fierce competition. Of the original 117 players who signed up for this tournament, only 23 remained at the start of the day. Tension was high with these remaining players as massive prize money was up for grabs. The prize pool of this specific tournament was estimated to be at TWD $15,888,600 or about $516,160. Even split among the top players, this would still make for one of the biggest prizes in APT history.
Still, the stress and excitement of the day didn’t get to the players who all remained calm as the competition began and six players were soon eliminated. The last of these players to be eliminated was Malaysian Keng Yong Tan who was a regular player at APT tournaments. Unfortunately, his regular attendance didn’t save him from losing his last 2.5 big blinds against Sam Lam.
He would also become APT Taipei Super Highroller’s ‘bubble boy’, meaning that he would be the last player to not receive something from the prize pool. All the remaining players would receive a portion of the prize money. As the final 17 players battled it out, there were many immediate bust-outs.
Among the notable names were Wing Po Liu, who ended in 10th place for TWD $325,700, Jimmy Pan from the Netherlands, in 12th place for TWD $286,000, Ankit Ahuja from India, who settled for 15th place for TWD $262,200, and Ian Modder from Canada, who finished in 16th place for TWD $249,500. Win Po Liu’s elimination left the 9 players who would advance to the final table.
This table consisted of some of the finest poker players in the world such as Abhinav Iyer, the renowned WSOP bracelet winner, along with Natalie Teh, Jun Obara, and Adam Kharman, who traveled all the way from Australia to compete. Having them all seated together for a poker game helped make this a truly unforgettable APT Taipei Super Highroller.
While they were all highly talented, Sam Lam started off the APT Taipei Super Highroller with a huge lead in chips. His position only grew stronger as the tournament continued. He started off by beating Boonnak Jitrada with an excellent flip. En Ning Chen and Vincent Rubianes were eliminated soon after.
For a while though, it seemed like might have been able to catch up to Sam, but when it came down to the last 3 players, Abhinav Iyer suffered huge loss against Jun Obara. However, Sam Lam remained focused and came head-to head against Obara, who had managed to reach the final two despite only being a rookie.
For a while though, it seemed like Abhinav might catch up to Sam, but lost against Jun Obara. However, Sam Lam remained focused and came head-to-head against Obara, who had managed to reach the final two despite only being a rookie.
The APT Mystery Bounty Sets a New Record
It wasn’t just the APT Taipei Super Highrollers that was setting records. The APT Mystery Bounty also got peoples attention. Compared to the highrollers, almost 5 times as many people attended the Mystery Bounty with 670 players joining! That number was quickly reduced to only 106 by the second day.
It wasn’t just the APT Taipei Super Highrollers that were setting records. The APT Mystery Bounty also got people’s attention. Compared to the high rollers, almost 5 times as many people attended the Mystery Bounty. Around 670 players ended up joining! That number was quickly reduced to only 106 by the second day.
Even though he had a serious chip shortage, Kiwanont Sukhum managed to make a comeback and defeated the other remaining players. This bagged him a prize of TWD $1,173,100 ($38,100).
This year’s APT Taipei has broken records in many of its events. Aside from these events, other APT events have seen record turnouts.
Among them was the APT opening which saw hundreds of players signing up. To learn more about it you can read our update on APT Kickoff Event.