Gustavo Campos Tops GOP Main Event Flight A; Norodom, Kishimoto, Tasman Among Day 5 Highlights

Gustavo Silva Campos

The highlight of Day 5 at the Gods of Poker in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was the highly anticipated Main Event, featuring the coveted Black and Gold Gauntlet and a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The first of five starting flights played out inside the Grand Ballroom of world-class NagaWorld, with Brazil’s Gustavo Silva Campos emerging as chip leader among the seven survivors from a field of 48 entries. He was the only player to bag a seven-figure stack, setting the pace at 1,225,000 (61 bb).

UK's Alfie Adam, usually seen at the mixed games side events, shifted his full focus to the Main Event, and it paid off. Adam delivered the bubble and bagged up the second largest stack of 981,000 (49 bb). 

To round out the top three was a familiar name, Takuma Terada from Japan. Terada is running hot with a third place finish under his belt at the GOP Olympians. He closed the heat with 915,000 (45 bb). 

For the live updates and recap, click here.

For the Day 5 photos, click here.

The survivors have a few night's rest before returning to the tables on April 3 for Day 2. While they wait, there are four more flights to complete. Flight B (12:30PM) and Flight C  (6:00PM) are up next, both taking place on Tuesday, March 31. 

These flights offer the fastest structure with late registration running a total of 180 minutes - 60 minutes for Level 1 and 120 minutes for Level 2. Once reg closes, Flight B levels increase every 30 minutes and Flight C levels increase every 20 minutes. 

Be sure to check the schedule for all the details. 

For All About the GOP Main Event, click here. 

High Roller Gauntlet Events

The mighty gauntlets are the most coveted trophies of the GOP with four of them reserved for marquee high roller events.. Two have already found its champion, the first one was Wouter Beltz in the Demigods Challenge, and the latest was Kaoru Kishimoto in the GOP Super High Roller. 

Kaoru Kishimoto Flips for the Gold Gauntlet

Kaoru Kishimoto

The GOP Super High Roller found seven runners to pony up the $8,500 buy-in for a winner-take-all prize of $54,320. The title came down between partners, Miyoung Cho and Kaoru Kishimoto, both opting on a one-hand flip for the mighty trophy. 

Kishimoto emerged the luckiest to become the newest owner of the GOP Gold Gauntlet. This was Kishimoto's second win with his first one at Day 2's Single Day High Roller. 

Up next on the High Roller Event Gauntlet schedule is the GOP Silver Gauntlet which is proudly in display awaiting the Titan Stack High Roller champion. This is a two-day event which kicks off on Tuesday, March 31 with two flights running at 1:00PM and the turbo at 8:00PM. Buy-in is $4,400. 

For the Flight A structure, click here.

For the Flight B structure, click here. 

The survivors advance to the Final Day on Wednesday, April 1 which starts at 12:30PM. 

Victory For Rindra Norodom At Titan Stack

Rindra Norodom

Since the start of the series, Rindra Norodom has been relentlessly chasing a GOP title. The past days has seen him endure brutal heartbreak but on Day 5 of the festival, the breakthrough finally came. 

The two-day crowd favorite Titan Stack event drew 158 entries for a prize pool of $60,672. Entering the final day were 23 qualifiers with Norodom wedged in the middle of the pack. 

He reached three-handed where an ICM deal was struck and then went on to victory, defeating Chien-Kuei Shih at heads-up. Norodom became the newest owner of the Silver Spartan trophy and pocketed a cool $12,000. 

Kelly Tasman Returns To GOP Then Strikes Again

Kelly Tasman under the spotlight again

Indonesia's Kelly Tasman arrived today and quickly stormed into action, picking up right where she left off at January's GOP Taipei - taking down events. 

Tasman jumped in the 5-Card PL Omaha Turbo $100 Bounty event and outlasted the 25-entry field to claim her first trophy of the series, which was the fourth of her career. Along with the hardware, Tasman earned the $2,555 top prize. 

Day 5 Winners

In addition to the winners mentioned above, Day 5 also saw two players bink their second trophy of the series - Michael Schmitz and Yao Liu. Both players are now eligible for the Player of the Series title with the minimum three cashes unlocked. 

Currently, GOP Taipei POS winner Martijn Gerrits holds the top in the POS leaderboard with Alfie Adam close behind. Climbing up one rung today was triple event winner Jun Yan Kok and now sits in third position. 

To view the standings, click here.

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