Poker Dream Vietnam: In Ho Song, Kai Bong Lo, Nguyen Manh Hao, William Ysmael pick up first festival trophies

Games intensified at Day 2 of the inaugural Poker Dream Vietnam with the first four trophies fiercely hunted at the Grand Hall of Hoiana Hotel & Suites. In just under seven hours, the first one was claimed by Korea’s In Ho Song at the Warm Up. The second one took a whopping twelve hours to capture with Hong Kong’s Andrew Kai Bong Lo earning his maiden title at the High Roller Freezeout. At 2am, the third trophy went to Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Hao at the Short Deck Ante Only, and near the break of dawn, the Deepstack wrapped up with Filipino William Ysmael winning the flip. We’ve got those stories for you down below.

Korea’s IN HO SONG wins the Warm Up for ₫361,176,000 (~$14,900)

Korea’s In Ho Song lays claim to being the first ever Poker Dream Vietnam champion after he took down the Warm Up event. Song was running strong from the start, bagging up the chip lead at Flight A to carry in the second largest stack into Day 2. At the final table, a late game surge catapulted him to the chip lead then went on to defeat Malaysia’s Chee Kuo Chen at heads up. Song was awarded the brand’s signature logo trophy and the ₫361,176,000 first prize. This was his first title outside of home soil. You can read up on the race via the Live Updates.

The Warm Up event opened the series, attracting 264 entries across three starters (Flight A – 101, Flight B – 134, Flight C – 29). Buy in for the event was ₫8M which generated a crushing prize pool of ₫1,843,776,000 (~US$ 76,400). 41 players advanced to Day 2, each one guaranteed a share of the pot. In just under seven hours, the title and trophy was claimed by In Ho Song.

Buy in: ₫8,000,000 (~US$ 330)
Guarantee: ₫1,000,000,000 (~US$ 41,430)
Entries: 264
Prize pool: ₫1,843,776,000 (~US$ 76,400)
ITM: 41 players

Final table payouts

*Full payouts can be found in the Live Updates.

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Event recap

Song’s rise to victory can be credited to his winning streak against Singapore’s Feng Zhao. At the final table, Zhao’s untimely shoves from the small blind awarded big blind Song two double ups. The first one, Zhao shoved and Song snapped it off with . Down to six players, Zhao shoved again, this time with that ran into Song’s . On the third showdown, the crippled Zhao went on to lose the rest of his chips to Song in 6th place.

One bust later, Song cracked Ta Khanh Linh’s with a shocking gutshot turned straight on the river. The next takedown was another stunner. From the small blind, he shoved with , Lee Haerok tank-called showing , the board paired both of Song’s hole cards to bring about heads up. It took only six hands to close it out and claim the first trophy of the festival.

Hong Kong’s ANDREW KAI BONG LO outlasts the elite at the High Roller Freezeout

The first High Roller event of the series was a thrilling two-day Freezeout that saw Hong Kong‘s Andrew Kai Bong Lo go the distance for his first ever live poker win. Lo entered Day 2 as chip leader, stayed in the upper ranks throughout the day, and amid a crowd of fans, he overcame a deficit at heads up against Filipino pro John Tech to lift the brand’s custom designed dragon trophy and the ₫ 1,413,000,000 (~US$ 58,500) first place purse.

On opening day, the HR Freezeout saw 72 of the region’s elite fork out the hefty ₫70M buy in, joined by another 7 before the start of Day 2 for a total of 79 players. A substantial prize pool of ₫5,148,430,000 (~US$ 213,320) was built with the top 11 places gaining a profit. Among the new arrivals were Vincent Li, Florencio Campomanes, and Triton SHR series creator Richard Yong.

Four and a half hours in, the bubble burst on India’s Kunal Patni with pocket Tens outdrawn by Wayne Kok Weng Beh’s Ace-Eight, with ace on the flop. Two busts after, Beh proceeded to carry the mightiest stack to the final table. The race to the title was livestreamed in the Poker Dream facebook page. Relive the action via the recorded feed or read on below for some of the highlights.

Final table recap

Within the first half hour, Andy King Hsiang Wong fell to Joey Chung Yin Wong with pocket Jacks standing firm against Ace-King. The next two fell simultaneously to Shardul Parthasarathi with dominating Ryan Mingho Yum’s and Kok Wai Sim‘s . Andrew Kai Bong Lo earned his first final table bust with besting Joey Wong’s . Joining the cleanup crew was John Tech who made his presence felt by also delivering a double knockout. Tech’s crushed Shardul’s and Beh’s . Several orbits later, Tech wiped out one of the toughest and most decorated players in the lineup, WSOP bracelet winner Elton Tsang.

Heads up kicked off with Tech backed by a 4:1 chip advantage. Less than 20 minutes in, the counts switched when Lo’s flush easily beat Tech’s straight. From that moment, Lo stayed in command, winning a majority of the pots to always keep a step ahead. Tech managed to double up once but it still wasn’t enough to regain control. By the third hour of heads up, Tech was down to 12 BB and shoved with , Lo called with , the final board was for a victorious full house.

Buy in: ₫70,000,000 (~US$ 2,900)
Players: 79
Prize pool: ₫5,148,430,000 (~US$ 213,320)
ITM: 11 places

Payouts

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Vietnam’s NGUYEN MANH HAO wins the Short Deck Ante Only

The Short Deck Ante Only was another high buy in event with players needing to put up ₫70,000,000 (~US$ 2,900) to enter. 32 ponied up for a prize pool of ₫2,085,440,000 (~US$ 86,400). After eleven hours of crazy swings and thrills, the title came down between Nguyen Manh Hao and Chow Hing Yuang. Chow had just eliminated Co Chung Chuen to enter with the chip advantage, but Nguyen quickly doubled up to jump far out front. Nguyen’s improved to a full house on a board to beat Chow’s trips. Nguyen went on to ship it with two pair over pair for his first ever live tournament victory.

Buy in: ₫70,000,000 (~US$ 2,900)
Entries: 32
Prize pool: ₫2,085,440,000 (~US$ 86,400)
ITM: 6 places

Philippines’ William Ysmael flips for the Deepstack trophy

One of the cheapest tournaments to try to win a trophy was at the evening’s Deepstack which hit the felt at 8pm. 93 night owls came out, and just before morning light, Philippine player William Ysmael and Malaysia’s Zi Xuan Tan split the money down the middle for ₫109,350,000 (~$4,350) each, then flipped for the trophy. Ysmael landed the better spread to become the festival’s fourth champion.

This was an impressive series start for Ysmael who hadn’t been seen outside of home turf since 2018. Six hours in, Ysmael served up the bubble with straight over set on a board . When the field downsized to the final three, Tan was sitting on a massive stack but could not close it out. Instead, he doubled up both of his opponents, including Ysmael who turned up that dominated Tan’s . This was the last big hand of the day before the flip.

The victory came just two months after he shipped the Asia Poker Championship for the largest takedown of his career of around $96K. Notable performances as well by Filipino Jason Magbanua, who is on a high this year and looking to win his first outside of his home country, and Vietnam’s Ta Khanh Linh aka Jack Risk who placed fourth at the Warm Up. Linh became the first player to reach two final tables.

Buy in: ₫6,000,000 (~US$ 250)
Entries: 93
Prize pool: ₫487,134,000 (~US$ 20,180)
ITM: 13 places

Payouts

*Heads up chop

Stick with us here at Somuchpoker as we bring you full coverage of the festival from start to finish.

Poker Dream Player Guide
Daily event pics – Somuchpoker fb page

Article links:

Poker Dream releases Hoi An full schedule
Poker Dream makes landfall in Hoi An, Vietnam
Poker Dream: Day 1 recap

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