The Crown Poker Club in Hanoi witnessed is full of excitement as the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Vietnam festival enters its third day. so far there have been three exceptional players who have emerged as champions. But as their events end, the WPT Vietnam Opener grows more exciting.
The tournament is expected to enter its final table soon, but with the final players, one star has taken the lead, Indian poker player Avneesh Munjal. He has surpassed all expectations and outplayed his rivals, dominating the majority-Vietnamese event and winning the WPT Vietnam Opener.
Update on the WPT Vietnam Opener
The opening event of WPT Vietnam is the first major event of the poker festival. The purpose of this event is to get players excited about the festival and to give them a chance to win some big prizes early on. So far, this is exactly what happened as 510 entries have signed up for this event. All of these players have paid a VN₫8,800,000 (US$ 375) buy-in just to join the event. Despite that huge entrance fee, the promise of a VN₫ 3,957,600,000 (US$ 168,750) prize guarantee was more than enough for some players to take the risk.
Among the players who have entered the competition is Avneesh Munjal from India who has so far been dominating the event. He was part of the Day 1C group of the WPT Vietnam Opener. Although he was just one of many players at that time, at the end of Day 1C, he had managed to secure the largest chip stack of his group, giving him a huge advantage in the competition.
This was more than enough to secure him a spot on Day 2 final table where he had the third-largest stack and became the only non-Vientamese player to advance to the final table. During the final table of the WPT Vietnam Opener, he managed to defeat seven out of eight of his opponents.
WPT Vietnam Opener Final Table
During the final table of the WPT Vietnam Opener, Munjal started his. win by eliminating Ngoc Anh Cao in 9th place then followed and left Quang Van Pham packing in 8th place, as he revealed a pocket Jacks that beat Pham’s pocket Tens. Phuong Ngoc Nguyen was eliminated soon after and left in 7th place, being the only player not to lose to Munjal. Instead, fellow Vietnamese player Duy Tien Pham was the one to beat him. Unfortunately, his success didn’t last long as even with the strong hand of a Queen and King, he wasn’t able to beat Munjal’s 7 of Hearts and Clubs.
His next opponent, Phuong Van Nguyen, put up more of a fight and had a pocket Ace that cost Munjal a lot of his chips. While a setback, it wasn’t a complete loss and Munjak came back and used his pocket Queens to overpower, another player, Bao Thai Vu who now settled for 5th in the WPT Vietnam Opener.
Munjal then went up against Phuong once again who was already running out of chips. This time, the Vietnamese player wasn’t so lucky and was eliminated.
With just three players left in the WPT Vietnam Opener, Munjal’s next victim was Tuan Anh Nguyen was not as fortunate as his Ace of Clubs and 6 of Hearts was not enough to overpower Munjal’s 5 of Spades and clubs and was knocked out.
This just left Ta Nhat Vu who initially managed to survive two rounds against him. However, as the two faced off, he was at a serious disadvantage with only 26 big blinds compared to Munjal’s 99 big blinds. Still, this was far from an easy fight as he slowly managed to gather chips and even took the lead from Munjal on a few occasions. At some point, the difference between them was as small as 5 big blinds.
Still, Munjal wasn’t giving up without a fight, and in the important flip, his 8 of Hear and Clubs beat Vu’s hand and won Munjal the Maiden Live Title, Munjal’s first official live title. Along with that title was a big payout of VN₫ 770,000,000 (~US$ 32,280). This success has solidified Munjal’s position as a rising star in the world of professional poker.
“This is what I’ve been preparing for. The online tournaments that I keep practicing, so it feels great. It was all about patience especially at heads up. I was leading 6:1 and then he was almost near stack at one point but I just stayed patient.”
Avneesh Munjal, WPT Vietnam Opener Winner
Aside from the opening event, the WPT Vietnam has gotten off to a strong start and it will be a memorable gaming experience.
To know more about the details of the event and its opening, you can check out the WPT Vietnam Opening.