The U Series Of Poker – USOP Grand Finale Main Event gathered a record-breaking 1,958 entries that played over four day one flights at the Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai Phong, Vietnam. With buy in at VND 35 million (~USD 1,380), it built a prize pool of VND 57,976,380,000 (~USD 2,283,660), smashing its initial offering of VND 40 billion.
Outlasting all those entries was South Korea’s Choi Hun Tae, who passed the final hurdle of defeating China’s Zhou Ledong in just one heads-up final hand to claim the USOP Grand Finale Main Event title, the gorgeous golden trophy that comes with, and of course the record-breaking USOP Main Event first prize of VND 9.2 billion (~USD 362,705). While Zhou settled for a runner up finish, his efforts did not come up empty as he walked away with VND 6.175 billion (~USD 243,446) in winnings.
Choi had been on top of the chip leaderboard through most of the event, having entered Day 2 as the overall chip leader across all flights. Choi extended this advantage all the way through today’s final games, ranked fourth in the chip counts. It just seemed that Choi’s position on the top would never be relinquished and his efficiency at climbing to the top of the field, and eventually ensuring a clear path towards the Main Event. While he encountered a lot of ups and downs, Choi managed to get back on top – a skill required of every poker player, who will certainly face huge swings in various phases of the game.
By the time, the final table was set, Choi had reclaimed the top spot, eventually entering heads-up with a massive four-to-one advantage. The final duel didn’t take long to find a winner, with Choi stacking all the chips over just one deal.
SMP asked the very tired, but grateful and happy, champion –
At what point in the final table did you know you were going to win the main event?
“There were a lot of ups and downs in the final day with my chips going up and down, but when I reached the final table with the chip lead, I knew I could win it. I knew I was going to win it.” Choi confessed.
“It’s my first time in Hai Phong and the environment and setting are very good. The atmosphere for poker is also very good.“
The Path to the Title
The first flight of the Main Event, Day 1A, saw 345 entries take to the tables with 43 players advancing to the Day 2 leg. China’s Zhi Buhui claimed the chip lead, and eventually carried those all the way to a third place finish, bagging a payout of third place – VND 4.175 billion (~USD 164,597)
Day 1B brought in 473 entries with only 59 qualifiers advancing to Day 2. Korea’s Choi Hun Tae led the field with 1,228,000 chips. And of course, we already know how those chips brought a Main Event champion. Meanwhile, China’s Zhang Yankai brought a healthy stack with him to Day 2, and landed a fourth place finish for VND 3.1 billion (~USD 122,216)
Day 1C saw 739 entries open 92 qualifying slots with Mai Nguyen making her mark as the chip leader, eventually managing an 84th place ITM finish.
Day 1D tabled 401 qualifiers with 50 keeping their seats for Day 2. Tobias Bui stacked atop, and took that for a deep run all the way to 25th place.
The top 240 qualifiers from the Day 1 flights competed again on Day 2 to trim the field to just 27 players to make a return for the Day 3 Final. When the final 27 qualifiers were formed it was New Zealand’s Jon Rounce-Sue that led the field, followed by Dutchman Joris Michl and Australian Ryan Hong.
The returning 27 in today’s Day 3 Final competed until a champion was crowned, taking almost six hours before a final table was formed and another three before Choi Hun Tae hoisted the trophy.
USOP Grand Finale Main Event Final Table
In the final table, Nguyen Tien Son was the first casualty and the ninth place finisher, bagging a VND 920 million (~USD 36,270) payday. Jun Li finished at 8th place, handing his chips to the Main Event champion when his queens lost a flip to Big Slick. Li earned VND 1.17 billion (~USD 46,127) for his eighth place payout.
Seventh place went to Joris Michl of the Netherlands, who began the day as top two in chips. However, he slid into some bad runs and could not fully recover, eventually ending his journey with a payout worth VND 1.45 billion (USD 57,165). Sixth place fell to Jon Rounce-Sue of New Zealand who took VND 1.79 billion (~USD 70,821) for his efforts, followed by Canadian Ian Modder, who made VND 2.3 billion (~USD 90,676) from the prize pool share.
Four-handed play saw Zhang Yankai lose three pots one after the other for 70% of his stack, to ultimately take a final blow in fourth place by the hands of Choi Hun Tae. The South Korean runner remained unstoppable, and went on to deliver the last two eliminations – Zhi Buihui and Zhou Ledong, both within the next level for the final victory.
The conclusion of the Main Event in the Grand Ballroom of the Pullman Hai Phong Grand Hotel, ended with a high note for players and organizers alike. Records were broken. More prizes were awarded due to a bigger prize pool and new goals will be set to improve the future USOP Main Event offerings among other USOP events.
At the beginning of 2025, Dream Poker Da Nang will be making a surprise appearance! The competition kicks off on January 3rd and will last until January 12th.
The U Series of Poker - USOP Grand Finale witnessed a day of exciting moments filled with emotional highs and lows as Day 2 of the record breaking Main Event
The U Series Of Poker has outdone itself once again! Setting an ambitious goal of ₫40 Billion for its USOP Grand Finale Main Event, that figure was totally
The excitement of the USOP Grand Finale Main Event continued to build as Day 1B came to an end in the stunning Grand Ballroom of the Pullman Grand Hotel. With a massive turnout of 473 entries and a VND 40,000,000,000 (~US$ 1.577 Million) guaranteed prize pool,
The U Series of Poker - USOP Grand Finale opened its seventh day of games with the much awaited Main Event. Taking place at the Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai
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