2019 WPT: Ashish Munot And Rubin Labroo With Top Stacks; Thai Ha Headlines 48 Main Event Day 1B Survivors

The 2019 World Poker Tour saw the Indian team with its incredible performance at the Vietnam Main Event continuing as after the brilliant start by Yasheel Doddanavar (333,000) and Eka Vedantham (323,500) on Day 1A, Ashish Munot (PokerGuru Team Ambassador) and Rubin Labroo have went on to continue the momentum on Day 1B.

The second flight saw 211 entries, including 174 unique and 37 re-entries out of which these 11 were a part of the Indian team - Ashish Munot, Rubin Labroo, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Dhanesh Chainani, Manoj Pentakota, Shashank Jain, Raman Gujral, Madhav Gupta, Sumit Sapra, Abhinav Iyer and Vinay B.

Ashish Munot, with the biggest stack of 248,000 turned out to be the fifth largest stack of the day while Rubin Labroo finished the day with 199,000 in chips to round off the top ten stacks of Day 1B. The other Indian contenders who moved on to Day 2 with their stacks were - Dhanesh Chainani (198,000), Vinay B (156,500) and Raman Gujral (72,500) and they would be joined by Neel Joshi (132,000), Kush Kataria (90,000), Nikunj Jhunjhunwala (78,000) and Alok Birewar (49,500), in addition to Doddanavar and Vedantham.

Thai Ha, the Day 1B chip leader, now the overall chip leader grasped a massive stack of 363,500 and will lead the 48 hopefuls to Day 2.

Main Event – Day 1B Recap

The Main Event on Day 1B saw 211 creating a total player pool to 347 entries. Day 1C is guanranteed to beat the VND 8 million guarantee if only nine more entries are added to the pool!

11 Indians were seen in action today at the Pro Poker Club (Ashish Munot, Rubin Labroo, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Dhanesh Chainani, Manoj Pentakota, Shashank Jain, Raman Gujral, Madhav Gupta, Sumit Sapra, Abhinav Iyer and Vinay B). Out of which only 5 progressed to Day 2 with Ashish Munot and Rubin Labroo leading the charge.

Munot first got heard of at Somuchpoker’s live coverage during level 10 when he won a huge pot off Rex Clinkscales. Munot eventually took down Clinkscales in the next level when Clinkscales 10 of Diamonds and 6 of Hearts were outdone by Munot’s Jack of Hearts and 10 of Hearts, which bettered to a two pair on the runout Jack of Spades, 10 of clubs, 4 of Diamonds, King of hearts, 8 of Diamonds. Munot’s stack increased to 170,000 and by level 12 his stack had reached 210,000. He concluded the day by possessing the biggest stack of 248,000 amoung the Indian players and fifth largest stack of Day 1B.

Labroo also won a big pot against Benjamin Gonzva during level 12 and was one of the top stacks at the end of the level with a count of 160,000. Labroo had crossed the mark of 199,000 in chips towards the end, making it into the top 10 chip counts with the tenth-biggest stack of the day. Dhanesh Chainani went headstraight into level 5. His stack increased by level 9 with 110,000 after he took away some chips from Teoh Ming Hong. He progressed to Day 2 with 198,000 under his belt.

Vinay B was seen in competition against eventual chip leader Thai Ha during level 13. With the board open 7 of Diamonds, 6 of Hearts, 3 of Diamonds, 2 of Spades, Queen of Spades, Ha tabled Ace of Hearts, 3 of hearts for a pair of treys and Vinay B mucked his hand. Nevertheless, he bagged a commendable stack of 156,500 by the end of the day’s action.

Raman Gujral, the Veteran pro failed to move on for Day 2 through the first starting flight and was back on the felts on Day 1B where he did much better. He won an early pot against Chu Hong Tu during level 5 and wrapped up the day with a good stack of 72,500.

Abhinav Iyer, the APT Vietnam Main Event Champion Abhinav Iyer got eliminated early from Team India as he got caught in a bluff by Nguyen The Vinh. On the flop 3 of Hearts, 5 of Hearts, 4 of Spades, with the pot reaching 12,000, Iyer bet for 5600 and Vinh called. The turn brought 9 of clubs and Iyer led out for 8800. Vinh called yet again to see the river 8 of Diamonds completing the boards. Iyer jammed for 22800 and Vinh called. Iyer turned over Ace of Diamonds, 10 of hearts revealing his bluff and Vinh showed for a six-high straight, sending the former home.

Kalyan Chakravarthy joined Day 1B during level 3, steering in from his 8th place finish in the Super High Roller for VND 200,230,000 (INR 5.91 Lakhs). Victor Chong doubled up through Chakravarthy and just a few hands later, Chakravarthy was eliminated.

Manoj Pentakota lost a couple of pots to Norbert Koh and couldn’t progress to Day 2. Shashank Jain got lucky in a hand against Fu Jian during level 7 which took his stack to 120,000 but got eliminated by Ha in level 13. Madhav Gupta and Sumit Sapra were among the few players who were in the Day 1B proceedings but couldn’t progress any further from there.

Thai ha claimed the pole position on the Day 1B leaderboard after 14 levels of play with a commanding stack of 363,500. He is trailed by Norbert Koh and Chia Hsuan Tu with chips size 299,000 and 256,500 respectively and are distant second and third in chips.

Top 10 Chip Counts At the End Of Day 1B

1. Thai Ha – 363,500
2. Norbert Koh – 299,000
3. Chia Hsuan Tu – 256,500
4. Wang Gui Yang – 249,000
5. Ashish Munot – 248,000
6. Jeonggyu Cho – 242,500
7. Hyunil Hong – 239,000
8. Yuriy Boyko – 200,000
9. Zhou Zhongsai – 199,500
10. Rubin Labroo – 199,000

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