This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2015 issue of WGM.
Vietnam’s first international poker festival, APT Vietnam, not only proved hugely successful at the tables, it was also great fun away from the felt with players shown a great time at the beautiful Ho Tram Resort Casino.
APT Vietnam 2015 was always going to hold a place in the history books given its standing as the first major international poker festival ever held in Vietnam. The question on everyone’s lips was whether it would mark the start of something special by impressing as a great event or simply mark a moment in time without paving a path for poker’s future.
It didn’t take long for fears of the latter to be emphatically swatted away.
From the eagerly anticipated opening event on 6 May, which well and truly exceeded expectations with 71 buy-ins, to the hugely successful Main Event with 119 entries – this was a tournament that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Holding an event such as this in a brand new location – a location not only unseen and untested by players but also not easily accessible for many – can be a tricky proposition, so the final numbers were quite remarkable. In all, 155 unique players representing 36 different countries contributed 822 buy-ins across the 15-event schedule with event winners including players from Hong Kong, Norway, England, Japan, the Philippines, Finland, the United States and South Africa. Japanese players enjoyed a particularly profitable trip, their impressive haul of six trophies including two for APT regular Ioro Yogo.
Yet win or lose, the theme of the week in Vietnam was one of widespread enjoyment as players marvelled at Ho Tram Resort Casino’s wonderful facilities and the various functions put on across the week to ensure there was never a dull moment.
The first of these was actually held the day before APT Vietnam was officially opened with 36 early arrivals taking part in the very first “Bluffers at The Bluffs” golf tournament at Ho Tram’s Greg Norman designed course, The Bluffs.
After a short two-minute bus ride from Ho Tram Resort Casino’s front doors and some practice swings on the driving range, players were split into groups of four and run through the Ambrose format which would see all four players in each group take each shot, with the best each time being chosen as the spot from which all would take their next shot.
This is a great format to ensure those of us blessed with zero golfing ability can still have a great day on the fairways and with regular pit stops along the way to cool down and grab a beer there was fun had by all. It should also be said that, no matter whether you’re an avid golfer or not, The Bluffs is worth experiencing. Quickly earning a justifiable reputation as one of the finest courses in the world, it will also become the newest stop on golf’s Asian Tour when it hosts its first professional event, the Ho Tram Open, from 3 to 6 December this year – with a prize pool of US$1.5 million no less.
As for “Bluffers at The Bluffs”, there would be no fairytale finish for the WGM team although we did our best to claim first place when the ensuing seafood buffet was wheeled out on the balcony of the clubhouse.
Maybe next time – “Bluffers at The Bluffs” is set to become a regular fixture on the schedule whenever a major event is held in the Ho Tram Poker Room in future.
There were two other official functions held at Ho Tram Resort Casino over the course of the eight days. The first was the Welcome Cocktail Party held at Churchill’s Cigar Bar where players enjoyed a range of interesting creations from the resident mixologists before making their way to Club 9 to dance the night away. The second official function was the Players Party by the pool. With Ho Tram’s stunning female DJ pumping out beats from her open-air booth, the excited crowd was treated to a truly magnificent buffet described by both WPT winner Nam Le and former Crown Melbourne Poker Director Jim Preston as the best they had ever seen at any poker players’ party around the world.
If the crab, lobster, oysters, prawns and mussels weren’t enough to fill your plate, the various beef, chicken and fish dishes, wide array of salads and gourmet dessert bar certainly were. Not to mention the waiters anxious to keep everyone’s glasses of Veuve full to the brim!
With so much going on away from the tables, it was easy to forget the real reason everyone was there – to play some poker! But as the week went on the action certainly heated up with some of the bigger buy-in events proving the most popular.
WGG Chairman David Steicke enjoyed another final table finish in the main event
These included the US$550 NLHE event, which saw Yogo outlast a field of 60 players to claim the US$8,070 first prize, and the US$660 Monster Stack – won by the Philippines’ Adrian Brion for US$10,710.
However, it was the Main Event that was the focus with a quality field assembling in the hope of becoming the inaugural APT Vietnam champion. Among those taking part were Nam Le, Bryan Huang, Sam Razavi, David Steicke, Yogo and 2014 WPT National Philippines champion Tetsuya Tsuchikawa.
Bryan Huang (left) and Kwan Kit Kwok were the last two standing in the quest to become the inaugural APT Vietnam champion
The two Day 1 flights saw an impressive total of 119 buy-ins for the Main Event – again exceeding expectations – with 60 progressing to Day 2. Day 3 saw the 18 players to have made the money return to play down to the final table – among them Huang, Razavi, Steicke, Ben Abrahams and overnight chip leader Peter Nguyen who put his aggression to good use as the bubble neared.
Unfortunately for Nguyen, that same aggression cost him dearly on Day 3 and he was one of the first casualties of the day as the final nine neared. Abrahams also fell by the wayside after nursing his short stack for as long as possible, but Huang, Razavi and Steicke all progressed to the final day’s play.
APT Vietnam main event winner Kwan Kit Kwok
The final table itself proved to be an eventful one, with fortunes up and down like a yoyo as players took turns claiming the big stack. Steicke and Razavi survived early all-ins to put themselves in contention before falling in fifth and fourth respectively, but as the field whittled down to three it was Huang who found himself in prime position to claim his maiden APT title.
In the end, the key hand of the tournament came in a huge clash with Hong Kong’s Kwan Kit Kwok – the money going in on a 673 flop with Kwan holding 67 and Huang 58. A repeat 7 on the turn sealed the deal for Kwan and when play went heads-up soon after following the elimination of Sunny Zhang in third it didn’t take long for Kwan to finish the job.
Playing his first ever APT main event, Kwan not only claimed the US$29,500 first prize but will go down in history as the first ever winner of a major poker tournament in Vietnam!
