Tzai Wei Phua wins APPT Megastack; 5 Indians in the money

The third of five events offering a PSPC Platinum Pass – the Php 20,000 Megastack – Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante Event – is now done and dusted with Tzai Wei Phua defeating the 650-strong field to win his ticket to the Bahamas-based PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) next January.

Phua came into the final table as the chip leader, but dropped down to the second shortest stack before digging deep and battling back. The 24-year-old eventually defeated China’s Yisha Chen for a Php 2,440,000 payday after a back-and-forth heads-up confrontation that saw the chip lead change hands multiple times.

In the final hand Phua, who had flopped a straight flush draw with 4s 2s after calling a Chen button raise, hit the wheel on the river when the board ran out 3c 3s As Td 5d. Phua overbet shoved and Chen looked him up with Ad Ts, but could only muck when the Singaporean rolled over the straight.

What makes his victory sweeter is that this is the his first title and the largest win of Phua’s poker career, “The entire journey was so tough, from Day 1 until today. At one point, I had the second shortest stack for a period of time and I started with the chip lead. I think I showed stamina and endurance. Learned to not give up, picked my spots well, and of course, at the end of the day, I felt I got really lucky. So luck played a big factor as well. After I won, I didn’t know how to react. It’s so surreal. I can’t believe this has happened. I am at a loss for words,” said Phua in his post win interview.

A Good Outing for Team India

It was also a fruitful day for the Indian contigent who had quite a few money finishes in this event, five to be precise. Varun Gupta did the best amongst the money finishing Indians with his 18th place finish for Php 91,000 (~INR 1,18,000):-

Varun Gupta – Php 91,000
Siddarth Singhvi – Php 79,000 ()
Abhinav Iyer – Php 61,000
Chiraag Patel – Php 50,000
Aditya Sushant – Php 50,000

The Main Event at the APPT is underway and there should be some more Indian names we see in the list going into Day 2. So stay tuned to GutshotMagazine.com for that update.

Mega Stack Final Table Results:

1st: Tzai Wei Phua (Singapore) – Php 2,440,000
2nd: Yisha Chen (China) – Php 1,512,000
3rd: Ming Hong Teoh (Malaysia) – Php 936,000
4th: Konstantin Pogodin (Russia) – Php 709,000
5th: Bertrand Ortiz (Ortiz) – Php 482,000
6th: Darian Kok Tan (Malaysia) – Php 369,000
7th: Masakazu Miyamoto (Japan) – Php 306,000
8th: Wang Meng (China) – Php 255,500
9th: Piet Pape (Germany) – Php 216,000