Brian Tougias Wins Record-Breaking WPTDeepStacks Cambodia for $131,430
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The World Poker Tour DeepStacks $1,100 buy-in Main Event at Cambodia’s NagaWorld Integrated Resort attracted 750 runners, which made it the biggest poker tournament in the country’s history. It was just the second WPT ever held in Cambodia, and the first in Phnom Penh.
Coming out on top was 29-year-old Brian Tougias, originally from the Boston area but not residing in Thailand.
“I feel great. Four months ago I was teaching PE and swimming lessons on Koh Samui, had a couple of big scores online and stopped teaching,” Tougias told WPT officials after the win. “I have only been playing professionally now for four months and semi-pro for five years, but it is pretty surreal. My birthday was yesterday and I couldn't ask for a better birthday gift.”
It was just Tougias’ second live cash and the first time he ever played live in Asia.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Tougias | United States | $131,430 |
| 2 | Kai Fu Wong | Malaysia | $92,152 |
| 3 | Jae Kyung Sim | South Korea | $59,400 |
| 4 | Aladin Reskallah | France | $43,941 |
| 5 | Si Yang Phua | Singapore | $33,574 |
| 6 | Kue Seong Tchong | Australia | $26,583 |
| 7 | Alex Lee | Singapore | $22,007 |
| 8 | Yong Cheong Foo | Singapore | $17,504 |
| 9 | Jiyoung Kim | South Korea | $13,146 |
Among those to capture a piece of the $727,500 prize pool were Ryan Revai (11th - $10,891), Ping Liu (13th - $8,672), Brett Kennedy (19th - $5,885), Jaegwang Kim (26th - $4,169), and Hong Leong Kho (48th - $2,634).
Final Table Action
According to live updates from Somuchpoker, a familiar face at the final table was South Korea’s Jiyoung Kim, who you might recall won the 2019 World Series of Poker Ladies Event. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t last long at the final table after getting it in with ace-queen only to run into the pocket kings of Tougias. The board ran out clean and Kim had to settle for ninth place and $13,146.
Tougias would claim his next victim during six-handed play. That is when Kue Seong Tchong called off on a seven-high flop holding pocket tens only to see Tougias roll over a set of fives. Tchong took home $26,583 for his sixth-place finish.
Kai Fu Wong went on to score the next three eliminations to take a slight chip lead into heads-up play against Tougias. However, Tougias managed to pull out to a 3:1 chip lead before things came to a head in Level 32 (75,000/150,000/150,000). That is when Wong got his stack in with an up-and-down straight draw against Tougias’ two red kings. Wong failed to complete his draw and hit the rail in second place for $92,152.
Photos courtesy of WPT and Somuchpoker.
