The penultimate day of the inaugural WPT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City had a wide range of side action filling every seat at the Pro Poker Club. By the midnight cutoff, three titles were claimed and one bagging up with the final 9 remaining. We’ve got those stories for you below.
Dinh Xuan Dinh wins the High Roller event
Like we said in an earlier post, the WPT Vietnam High Roller event was one of the hottest tickets with 224 entries turning up over the two starting days. With each entry at VND 44,000,000, today’s 67 remaining players were welcomed in with a VND 8,691,200,000 (~US$372,250) prize pool of which 28 players would get a slice. Taking home the largest cut of VND 2,072,670,000 (~US$88,650) was Vietnam’s Dinh Xuan Dinh after he defeated Danny Tang at heads up.
Dinh’s rise to the top all took place at the final table. He eliminated Abhinav Nataraj (6th) when his 
improved to a flush to crush 
, then scooped up all of Tran Xuan Truc’s chips (4th) with pocket jacks staying well ahead of pocket twos. After Tang sent Hoang Hong Giang (3rd) out next, Dinh still had the edge over Tang at the start of heads up. Dinh had 13.9M in chips and Tang with 8.5M.
Heads up: Dinh vs Tang
The heads up battle seemed like a boxing match with both contenders applying pressure. On just the third hand, Tang evened it up winning a big pot with trips. Recapping the action, with blinds at 150K-300K ante 300K, Tang limped in and Dinh checked on the big blind. At the flop 
, Dinh bet, Tang called. On the 
turn, Dinh checked, Tang bet 650k, Dinh raised to 1.925M, and Tang called. Then at 
river, Tang called the 1.650M bet by Dinh and won it with
trips over 
, two pair.
At hand #10, it was Dinh’s turn to win a big pot. Tang limped in, Dinh checked, and the flop landed 
. Dinh checked, Tang bet 350k, Dinh raised to 1.050M, and Tang called. The turn 
saw no bets to bring about the river . Dinh checked, then called Tang’s 1.675M bet. Tang showed 
bottom pair while Dinh held 
top pair to win it.
The next hand almost saw Tang ship in a double up but the board had other plans giving both players a straight on the river to split the pot. Dinh surged ahead at hand #15 claiming another big one however this time there was no showdown. It kicked off with Tang limping in and Dinh with the check to see the flop run 
. Dinh checked, Tang bet 475k, Dinh called. On the 
. turn, action was the same with Dinh check-calling a 950k bet. However, on the 
.river, Dinh jumped out with a 1.525M bet, Tang raised to 3.225M, which Dinh answered with a shove. Tang folded leaving himself around one-tenth of the total chips in play.
A couple of hands after, Tang managed to double up, but it wouldn’t hold. On hand #20 of heads up, Tang fell in 2nd place. The final hand saw Dinh shove with 
and Tang called with 
. The board ran 
for a pair to both but Dinh came out with the higher spread. We have the final 9 payouts below.
Among those who cashed outside of the final table were Ken Okada, Vincent Li, Nishant Sharma, Marvin Rettenmaier, Iori Yogo, and locals Nguyen Pham Duy Khanh and Duong Vi Khoa.
As for the unfortunate bubble boy, that was was Shyh Chyn Lim who prior to gambling it all, he lost a sizable pot to Tang, then pushed on the next hand with 
. He ran into Nataraj’s 
.
Final 9 payouts
Prize pool: VND 8,691,200,000 – Buyin: VND 44,000,000 – Entries: 224 – ITM: 28
1st Dinh Xuan Dinh – VND 2,072,670,000
2nd Danny Tang – VND 1,449,780,000
3rd Hoang Hong Giang – VND 890,850,000
4th Tran Xuan Truc – VND 541,900,000
5th Ngo Trung Hieu – VND 418,480,000
6th Abhinav Nataraj – VND 346,780,000
7th Dylan Wilkerson – VND 295,500,000
8th Dang Van Hien – VND 252,040,000
9th Soo Jo Kim – VND 207,290,000
WPT Pro Poker Club Superstack Classic: Day 2 review
The three-day WPT Pro Poker Club Superstack Classic event concluded its second day with the final 9 players bagging up. Way out front was Alex Lee amassing a mighty stack of 2,790,000. Everyone else paled in comparison with the closest contender, Cheli Lin, at 1,600,000. See chip counts below.
This event saw registration remain open for another two hours today. At the close, flashing on the screen was a combined 195 entries – 136 players, 59 re-entries – and with each one signing up for VND 11M, it made for a healthy prize pool of VND 1,891,500,000. Top 25 places paid. We will have the official results when it concludes. Cards back in the air at 1pm on Thursday, October 4.
| Name | COUNTRY | Seat | Chips | |
| 1 | VIVEK RIGHANZ | INDIA | 1 | 570,000 |
| 2 | GO MORI | JAPAN | 2 | 270,000 |
| 3 | NGUYEN HONG DIEP | VIETNAM | 3 | 1,195,000 |
| 4 | KEVIN AYON | CANADA | 4 | 940,000 |
| 5 | GAO WENLING | CHINA | 5 | 490,000 |
| 6 | ALEX LEE | SINGAPORE | 6 | 2,790,000 |
| 7 | TAKAO SHIMIZU | JAPAN | 7 | 900,000 |
| 8 | FUBANG HUANG | TAIWAN | 8 | 1,000,000 |
| 9 | CHELI LIN | TAIWAN | 9 | 1,600,000 |
Akshay Nasa wins the Deepstack Turbo
The Deepstack Turbo event was the game to play for those getting a late start yet looking to win a WPT trophy all in a single night’s work. In just six hours, the 128 entry field quickly downsized to the final table then wrapped up within the next hour. Winning the event was Akshay Nasa who built up an enormous lead that simply could not be toppled. Nasa adds another title for India here in Vietnam.
Final 9 payouts
Prize pool: VND 496,630,000 – Buyin: VND 4,400,000 – Entries: 128 – ITM: 16
1st Akshay Nasa – VND 144,030,000 (~US$6,160)
2nd Michele Limongi – VND 89,400,000
3rd Tzu Chieh Lo – VND 53,390,000
4th Duy Ho – VND 35,520,000
5th La Anh Tuan – VND 24,830,000
6th Dieter Pospischil – VND 21,360,000
7th Chang Gon Lee – VND 18,500,000
8th Duong Vi Khoa – VND 16,390,000
9th Le Nhu Hai – VND 14,400,000
WPT Vietnam Ladies Championship Freeze Out
11 fine women took to the felt to compete for the first WPT Vietnam Ladies Championship Freeze Out title. Dominated by Vietnamese in numbers, one of their own, Nguyen Dieu Phuong Linh seized it after a tough heads up battle against Thailand’s Orathai Nasathaen. Linh won VND 34,680,000 and the WPT trophy, and Nasathaen earned VND 18,670,000 for runner-up.
Closing Day events
The last day of WPT Vietnam is upon us. The Superstack Classic returns for the final race to the title, and to complete the package, the WPT Vietnam Finale Superstack Turbo takes flight at 130pm. Buy-in is VND 5,500,000 (~US$238).
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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