Diego Palma Wins APPT Korea Kickoff Event

The APPT (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) was played in Macau last month and then moved on for a stop in South Korea. APPT Korea kicked off on 6th April and is scheduled to take place till 15th April, at the Paradise City Hotel & Casino in Incheon, South Korea.

Event #1 of APPT Korea was the ?150,000 buy-in NLHE event, which saw 74 entries and the final 8 players being rewarded. Te Aleksandr from Russia topped the field and took home ?3,148,300 (~INR 1.9 lakh). Event #2 was the ?50 million guarantee APPT Kickoff event, that saw a total of 377 players and the guarantee being more than doubled.

The top 47 players cashed out with Chile’s Diego Palma taking home the massive top prize of ?21,110,000 (~INR 12.76 lakh), and a PSPC Platinum Pass worth US$30,000. He reached heads up against Tim Shum Kwok of Hong Kong, who finished second but took away a bigger prize of ?22,000,000, due to a deal signed by the two.

Palma is a 30-year old sports bettor who is very new to the poker industry and already managed this big win. He also took part in the APPT Macau, where he cashed for 40th place in the Main Event. “Sports betting has helped me with poker, and poker has helped me with sports betting, but I’m no professional,” said Palma after this win.

Palma had a 2:1 chip lead but with Kwok getting two early doubles, the ICM deal was made. In what became the final hand of the tournament, both players went all-in pre-flop, with Palma’s A-2 leading over Kwok’s Q-J. The board opened 8-5-7-4-3, Palma completed a straight and won the title!

Final results:

Diego Palma – ?21,110,000
Ting Shum Kwok – ?22,000,000
Shohei Aoyama – ?10,345,000
Ken Thoo – ?8,152,350
Liang Yongjun – ?6,025,000
Po Jui Wang – ?4,870,000
Teruhisa Aoyama – ?3,720,000
Evgenii Chzhen – ?3,145,000
Andrew An – ?2,625,000

Event #3 was the ?200,000 NLH Turbo event, which was shipped by Japan’s Shun Tsukuda, for ?3,169,000. Keep watching GutshotMagazine.com for complete updates on the 2018 APPT Korea!