Brian Tougias Wins Record-Breaking WPT Cambodia $1,100 Main Event ($131,430)

The biggest-ever live poker tournament in the Kingdom of Cambodia has crowned a champion and it was Brian Tougias that lifted the trophy for the winner shots in the stunning Ballroom of the NagaWorld Integrated Resort after defeating Malaysia’s Kai Fu Wong in heads-up.

Held in cooperation with Connaissance Management and official sponsor Singha, the first World Poker Tour stop in Phnom Penh and second WPT festival in the Kingdom of Cambodia attracted a field of 750 entries throughout three starting days in the $1,100 WPTDeepStacks WPT Cambodia Season 2019-2020 Main Event to create a prize pool of $727,500, nearly tripling the initial guarantee.

“I won all the flips I needed yesterday to get here,” Tougias said after the winner shots were taken.

The now 29-year-old hails from just outside of Boston but currently lives in Thailand, where he has been mostly playing online and enjoyed some recent success. The timing of his victory could not have been any better, either.

“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. 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.”

A big recent online score gave Tougias the motivation and bankroll to give the event in the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia a shot.

“I have been to Phnom Penh a few times now and it is my first tournament I played in Asia and only my second live cash. I haven’t played too many tournaments live.”

Tougias will be heading to Bali next and fly home to Boston in a few weeks, but further WPT stops in the Asia-Pacific Region are certainly on the radar of the American now. With his victory, Tougias has moved into third spot on the Season 18 WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year leaderboard with 1,500 points, trailing Hari Varma and Hamish Crawshaw by one top 30 finish in a Main Event only.

The final table also featured Jae Kyung “Simba” Sim, Frenchman Aladin Reskallah, Kue Seong “Michael” Tchong from Australia, Alex Lee and 2019 WSOP Ladies Champion bracelet winner Jiyoung Kim.

Sim already had a 17th place at the recent WPT Korea in Incheon to his name and narrowly missed out on the chance to take over the lead in the Season 18 WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year race after bowing out in third place.

Wong seemingly couldn’t put a foot wrong on the final table that he entered as the chip leader and he never ceased the top spot until heads-up play. There were fireworks right away as Sim doubled in the first hand and Kim did so in the second hand.

Ultimately, it took just six hours and many premium hands clashing to crown a champion. Lee’s roller-coaster ride ended in 7th place when he first doubled Reskallah with ace-jack versus queens and ran eights into the pocket kings of Sim right after.

Aussie Tchong and Singapore’s Si Yang Phua joined the rail in quick succession thereafter and Reskallah fell to Wong when his king-queen was no match against ace-king. Wong held a commanding lead with three players remaining and Tougias doubled through Sim in a setup hand where both turned trips, the South Korean busted the very next hand.

Heads-up lasted for nearly an hour and both contenders for the title played incredibly fast as the lead changed several times. Ultimately, Tougias had the best of it with pocket kings for an overpair against the open-ended straight draw of Wong to emerge victoriously.

Final Table Results

1st place: Brian Tougias (United States) $131,430 – 1,500 POY points
2nd place: Kai Fu Wong (Malaysia) $92,152 – 1,350 POY points

3rd place: Jae Kyung Sim (South Korea) $59,400 – 1,200 POY points
4th place: Aladin Reskallah (France) $43,941 – 1,050 POY points
5th place: Si Yang Phua (Singapore) $33,574 – 900 POY points

6th place: Kue Seong Tchong (Australia) $26,583 – 750 POY points
7th place: Alex Lee (Singapore) $22,007 – 600 POY points
8th place: Yong Cheong Foo (Singapore) $17,504 – 450 POY points
9th place: Jiyoung Kim (South Korea) $13,146 – 300 POY points

Winner picture courtesy of Somuchpoker, the full coverage of the event is also available on Somuchpoker.