There was a massive hand brewing over on table five.
It started with a simple raise to 3,000 and a call. Action went to Chane Kampanatsanyakorn who called from the button. Shingo Cho was on the small blind and upped the price to 13,000.
There were a few more folds and Kampanatsanyakorn and Cho were heads-up.
Both these players have had recent success in the APPT and the pot would turn the victor into our tournament chip leader.
Kampanatsanyakorn’s recent APPT cash might’ve been larger, but Cho’s was more recent. Just a few days ago, Cho took part in the Cebu Cup hosted by the APPT.
The PHP 9,000 event drew 122 players and Cho was the last man standing. While the PHP 276,860 first prize wasn’t Cho’s largest cash, it was the Japanese players first live victory and APPT cash.
Kampanatsanyakorn has slightly fewer cashes than Cho, but his was a big one. The big cash for the man with the big name came during APPT7 Seoul when he finished runner-up to Aaron Lim.
Kampanatsanyakorn flew under the radar for some time, never really topping the leader board but consistently chipping up. Lim had momentum like no one else in that tournament and everyone was battling for second place. And that second place went to Kampanatsanyakorn, along with a $92,741 payday.
Now Kampanatsanyakorn found himself at another APPT with a big stack. He was up against Cho who had just re-raised to 13,000 preflop. Kampanatsanyakorn called and the flop came A♠5♣ 6♥ . Cho led out with a bet to 17,500.
Kampanatsanyakorn thought for a few minutes. First he shuffled his T5,000 chips and then he measured out the bet. Then he thought a bit more.
“Raise,” Kampanatsanyakorn said. The Thai player went back to staring at his stack and started measuring out a bet. After another minute, Kampanatsanyakorn came out with a raise to 35,000.
Action was back on Cho.
Cho thought for a bit, but acted much quicker.
“All-in,” Cho announced. He got a fancy all-in triangle and Kampanatsanyakorn asked for a count.
The bet was for 75,300 more. Kampanatsanyakorn folded.
The APPT Seoul runner-up lost the lead and Cho took it, chipping up to 163,000. Kampanatsanyakorn is still left with about 100,000 and they’ll both be seeking another addition to their APPT resume.
For live updates on APPT Cebu, check out our live-updates page.
Alexander Villegas is a monkey with a typewriter at the PokerStars Blog.
Back to Top
