APT Hanoi Billions 2023 Report

I know I said no more tournaments till next year, but my regular cash game took a break, a couple players were away or sick so the games were not running. Had a good session in cash so took the winnings to hopefully freeroll my way to a big score. Turn out was looking sick so I booked my flights last minute, went straight to the airport right after the last cash session, landed, checked in, and straight to my first event. 

I wanna be a billionaire, so freaking bad...

The 50m Mystery Bounty looked juicy and I started hot. I registered in level 5 but soon after that I had 4x starting stack. But as easy as it came, in 5 hands, I went from big stack to out. Didn't hate how I played, except for maybe 2 hands. Felt quite good at the end of the day even though I lost.

On the second day I played the main event 1C flight. Things went well, maybe 1 mistake but I played the rest of the hands as best as I could. One highlight hand was an Ace high call after a flop reraise, turn check call, river check call. The reporter was on hand to write about it and it was cool to have it recorded in text. I also made a 1.5x pot river value bet that almost got snapped off. (maybe could have done 2x) The previous APT at Danang I was chip leader for 1C. At the last level I could see the photographers swarming around me. One of them confirmed I was the chip leader but I blew it on a hand and ended 2nd in chips. Felt great about it though, so far so good.

Hanoi weather is beautiful this time of year

Came into day 2 full of confidence. Sb and bb were away from table, I was on button and everyone folds to me. Initially I was happy to get a walk and free blinds, but I flipped over two black aces! I had such a healthy stack imagine I had TT on a KTx flop vs KK and still had above ave after doubling him up. Another two black aces that got no action I kinda had a bad feeling for the day. The turning point when I limped pre with a 3b hand and got into multiway, had to fold to a river jam. Next hand I played vs Indian pro Kanchan Sharma where the previous day we had a lot of back and forth. 3b, 4b, bluffs, floats... so when I 4b 55% of her stack I didn't blame her for jamming all in with A7o. I called with AQ but she hit the 7 on the river. The next two hands I got rivered (some of you know the story so I will skip it) and I was out. 

At least she gone on to cash

I have no problems with losing. It is part of poker life. But to lose to 5 rivers IN A ROW, back to back, from table chip leader to out, that hurt a lot. But that was just the beginning of my series of run bad. In my 4-day trip, I had 5 different hotels, wrong branch, overbooking, burnt bookings etc. Finally things were looking up when I made day 2 of the double stack. So looking forward to playing in the second day of the biggest side event prize pool I have been involved in, only to wake up to bad news. I am not going to comment further on what happened or how I feel about it. All I know is it sucks, and probably sucks most for APT themselves. But every poker brand I have played in has had their blunders and issues. It's how you handle it, and bounce back that is important. You can't make an omelette without cracking some eggs. You can't break records without pushing the boundaries. 

Best dressed card protector

Overall I am proud of how I played. I was in control, recognized my mistakes, made some great plays, hero called correctly 4 times (three times with ace high, once with third pair) Smack breakeven after ICM chop but lost on travel cost. On the plus side got to meet SuitedSuperman in person. But really sad news is I think I've lost Mr. Gorilla for good this time. I was pretty sure I put it in the day2 bag but APT said they couldn't find it. Hopefully I was wrong and it will turn up in my luggage, but I think this might be it. It's time for a new guy. 

LATEST UPDATE: APT found Mr. Gorilla! Yay! 😍

We will be reunited soon!