In only its third festival, U Series of Poker has crushed records, making a triumphant return to the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi, Vietnam, where, in just 11 days, it generated an outstanding prize pool of VND 104,438,509,000, a new Vietnam festival record of approximately USD4,312,900 (for a non-high roller series).
In particular, the Main Event and Superstar Challenge both stole the spotlight, marking them the richest of its kind in the country.
USOP returns to Vietnam in November. The brand will stage an 11-day festival at Furama Resort, Da Nang advertising its richest offering yet of VND 40 billion (USD1.65 million) in guaranteed prize pools from November 17 to 27.
USOP rocked and shocked Asia’s poker scene with its record-breaking Vietnam Main Event turnout of 1,336 entries and record prize pool of VND 29,158,200,000 (USD1,212,000).
The Main Event ran from September 7 to 11 with four entry flights at buy in of VND 25,000,000 (USD1,057). India’s Vishal Ojha emerged victorious to capture the single largest festival payout of VND 4,952,000,000 (USD205,840).
Host Vietnam may have been denied the coveted USOP Main Event trophy but the locals still dominated throughout capturing nearly half of the trophies on display. A total of 16 players claimed one trophy and two players walked away with two.
Vietnam’s Hoang Hai Nam crushed the early half of the high roller events capturing an incredible two titles. He added a side event payout for a total collection of VND 6,200,000,000 (USD256,570) making him the festival’s biggest earner.
Hoang first shipped the highly popular homegrown Superstar Challenge, outlasting the 94-entry record turnout for a payout of VND 3,000,000,000 (USD124,140). Three days later, he took down the Super High Roller, topping a field of 146 entries for a slightly higher payout of VND 3,070,000,000 (USD127,000).
In addition to Hoang Hai Nam, Vietnam’s Nguyen Khoi won two events. In fact, Nguyen was first to lift two trophies — Hyper Turbo for VND 96,500,000 and Mixed NLH/PLO for VND70,000,000. He also picked up VND 18,000,000 for 6th place at the Turbo event for a combined VND 184,500,000 (USD7,635).
somuchpoker.com