Artem Vezhenkov Wins the WPT Cambodia Championship for a Career-Best $390,650
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) Cambodia Championship wrapped up on February 25 with the crowning of the $3,500 Main Event champion. Over the course of the festival, the WPT processed 10,240 entries and re-entries, and awarded $11,242,891 in prize money. Some 750 of those entries and $2,400,750 of the prize money stemmed from the Main Event, with Artem Vezhenkov claiming the $390,650 top prize, the winner's trophy, and a $10,400 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
PokerNews readers may be familiar with Vezhenkov's name because he is the superstars behind the "veeea" alias at PokerStars. A three-time Sunday Million champion, Vezhenkov has also racked up almost $2 million in live poker tournament cashes, including this impressive victory.
The top 94 finishers in the WPT Cambodia Championship saw a return on their initial investments. Javier Gomez, Konstantin Held, Jon Kyte, Masato Yokosawa, Adam Friedman, Michael Gathy, Lynn Gilmartin, Hugues Girard were among the in-the-money finishers.
Although the final nine players locked horns on a single table, the official final table was played six-handed. The eliminations of Collin Ho, Neng Zhao, and India's Aditya Agarwal left only six hopefuls in contention for the title.
WPT Cambodia Championship Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artem Vezhenkov | Russia | $390,650 |
| 2 | Ronald Haverkamp | Netherlands | $255,000 |
| 3 | Ankit Ahuja | India | $189,000 |
| 4 | Supakit Anukoolpitaknil | Thailand | $142,000 |
| 5 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | $107,000 |
| 6 | Daniel Charlton | United Kingdom | $82,000 |
| 7 | Aditya Agarwal | India | $63,000 |
| 8 | Neng Zhao | Australia | $49,000 |
| 9 | Collin Ho | Singapore | $38,500 |
The official final table didn't have long to wait before it witnessed an elimination. After losing a substantial pot in a hand against Ankit Ahuja, Dan Charlton couldn't recover. Charlton's final hand saw Vezhenkov raise under the gun, Dominik Nitsche three-bet, and Charlton move all-in for a little under three big blinds from the big blind. Vezhenkov ducked out of the way, and the players revealed their hole cards. Charlton chowed king-seven, Nitsche ace-six of clubs, and an all-ace flop ended Charlton's hopes of a spin-up.
Eighty-eight hands played out before the next player found themselves void of chips. Four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Nitsche lost a huge pot with the second nut flush against Supakit Anukoolpitaknil's nut flush, which left the German on fumes. Nitsche's last 250,000 chips (during the 75,000/150,000) level were all-in on the button, and he had a trio of players baying for his blood. Ahuja claimed the pot having paired his king on the river, busting the talented Nitsche from the tournament.
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A standard hand 151 of the final table sent Anukoolpitaknil home in fourth place. Vezhenkov opened the betting with a min-raise holding ace-jack of clubs before snap-calling the three-bet shove of the short-stacked Anukoolpitaknil, who held the dominated ace-seven. According to the PokerNews odds calculator, a jack and two clubs on the flop left the all-in player with a mere 1.21% equity with a deuce on the turn leaving him drawing dead.
The Main Event progressed to heads-up after the untimely demise of the dangerous Ahuja. The popular Indian grinder was left nursing a short-stack after a clash with Ronald Haverkamp did not go to plan. Ahuja then called off his last five big blinds from the big blind with ten-seven after Vezhenkov set him all-in from the small blind. Vezhenkov turned over jack-nine, which held as the board double-paired.
That hand gave Vezhenkov a 23,875,000 to 13,525,000 lead over Haverkamp but both players were deep-stacked, with Haverkamp's stack being the equivalent of 68 big blinds.
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Vezhenkov's relentless aggression saw him forge a more substantial lead over his Dutch opponent, and he had one hand on the trophy. The final hand, the 202nd of the final table, saw Vezhenkov limp and Haverkamp check. Haverkamp check-called a small bet on the ten-queen-trey flop with two diamonds. An offsuit king on the flop saw Haverkamp check again. Vezhenkov fired a much larger bet, which Haverkamp eventually called after using a timebank card. The river put another queen in view, and Haverkamp checked for a third time. Vezhenkov moved all-in, sending Haverkamp into the tank. The Dutchman eventually emerged with a call for his tournament life.
Haverkamp turned over king-six for two pair, but Vezhenkov held queen-ten that had backed into a full house and the title of WPT Cambodia Main Event champion.
Where is Next for the World Poker Tour?
There is not long to wait until the next WPT festival commences because WPT Rolling Thunder runs from February 26 to March 19 at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California.
Last year, 458 players created a $1,465,600 prize pool. Casey Sandretto came out on top and scooped $246,600 after a heads-up deal with Mike Kinney, who won $235,000.
WPT Global players can win Passport Dollars online and use them to enter WPT events, including the $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event.
Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour
