South Africa’s Marc Joseph will go down in history as the winner of the very first international poker tournament in Vietnam after outlasting a field of 71 entrants to claim the Welcome to APT Vietnam event last night.
Although Rob Kiss became the first man to be awarded a trophy after taking down the Ante Up for Charity event on Wednesday, it was Welcome to APT Vietnam that actually began first with Joseph eventually getting the best of Emmanuel Seal heads-up to be crowned champion of Event 1. Joseph won US$3,360 for his efforts.
While Joseph was off celebrating his big win, Iori Yogo was taking care of business in the US$440 Head Hunter event. A total of 44 players took part in the Head Hunter, which saw players awarded US$100 for each opponent they eliminated on top of the main prize pool, an for much of the final table it was Norway’s Kai Paulsen who looked certain to claim victory.
Paulsen entered heads-up play with around 70 percent of chips in play, however an epic three-hour duel eventually saw Yogo prevail and claim the US$4,130 first prize as well as four bounties.
Congratulations to both Joseph and Yogo although no doubt both will be keen to make their presence felt today when the US$1,100 APT Vietnam main event gets underway!
US$220 Welcome to APT Vietnam payouts:
1st – Marc Joseph (South Africa) – $3,360
2nd – Emanuel Seal (Australia) – $2,800
3rd – James Anderson (USA) – $1,720
4th – Azusa Maeda (Japan) – $1,340
5th – Alain Walder (Switzerland) – $1,160
6th – Nicolas Vidal (Chile) – $1,010
7th – Hendrik Appel (South Africa) – $880
8th – Erik Billgren (Sweden) – $780
9th – Justin Lowe (South Africa) – $720
US$440 Head Hunter payouts:
1st – Iori Yogo (Japan) – $4,130
2nd – Kai Paulsen (Norway) – $2,740
3rd – Norbert Koh (Singapore) – $2,210
4th – Desmond Yow (Singapore) – $1,850
5th – Toan Nguc Nguyen (Australia) – $1,690
