The record breaking WPT Prime Vietnam MAIN EVENT concluded with the country’s own Duy Thuc Nguyen capturing the title, the coveted VN₫ 4,173,000,000 (~US$ 177,764) first prize, and he became the first owner of the brand new Prime Championship trophy. This was the largest Main Event payout ever awarded on Vietnam soil for a non-high roller series. In addition, Nguyen won a US$ 10,400 entry to the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas this December.
The final hand was very dramatic as both players attempted to trap. Nguyen held 
straight on a turn board 
. To his favor, Tsang shoved with 
two pair. The river was 
.
Read up on all the blow by blow action via the Live Updates on WPT.com or head to the Livestream on WPT YouTube. We also have a brief recap just below.
Main Event rundown
It was a historic moment for the World Poker Tour (WPT) with its three action packed starting days at host venue Crown Poker Club in Hanoi attracting a record-breaking 1,151 entries. Not only was this the largest international event ever seen in Vietnam but it was also the biggest WPT Main Event in Asia. As for the prize pool, it too reached unprecedented heights of US$ 1,079,6110 (VN₫ 25,343,869,000), making it the first ever seven figure prize pool in the country.
Day 1 breakdown
Day 1A: 238 (182 unique, 56 re-entry)
Day 1B: 388 (304 unique, 84 re-entry)
Day 1C: 525 (373 unique, 152 re-entry)
Date: May 25-29, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 25,000,000 (~US$ 1,065)
Guarantee: VN₫ 12,000,000,000 (~US$ 511,180)
Total Entries: 1,151
Prize pool: VN₫ 25,343,869,000 (~US$ 1,079,6110)
ITM: 143 places
Final 9 payouts
| Place | Player | Payouts in VND | Payouts in USD |
| 1 | Duy Thuc Nguyen | 4,173,000,000 | 177,764 |
| 2 | Chak Lam Tsang | 2,785,000,000 | 118,637 |
| 3 | Xizhen Huang | 2,060,000,000 | 87,753 |
| 4 | Yuhan Liu | 1,539,000,000 | 65,559 |
| 5 | Phillip Nguyen | 1,161,000,000 | 49,457 |
| 6 | Jaeho Lee | 885,000,000 | 37,700 |
| 7 | Julian Warhurst | 681,000,000 | 29,010 |
| 8 | Satoshi Kuriga | 530,729,000 | 22,608 |
| 9 | Jinlong Hu | 417,000,000 | 17,764 |
For the complete payouts list head to the LIVE UPDATES MAIN EVENT
Winner story
Duy Thuc Nguyen’s rise to the top began in Day 2 when he knocked out numerous players to bring in the second largest stack into the final table. Picking up where he left off, Nguyen eliminated Satoshi Kuriga in 8th place to take the lead. From there, he kept it on a tight grip and proceeded to clean out Jaeho Lee (6th) and Phillip Nguyen (5th) to amass over half of the chips in play. More chips were added by finishing off Yuhan Liu in 4th place.
Three handed saw Nguyen pay double ups to both of his opponents, Xizhen Huang and Chak Lam Tsang however it still didn’t cause a significant dent to his stack. After Huang fell to Tsang in 3rd place, it was heads up which lasted all of nine hands. Nguyen shipped it with a straight over two pair. For Tsang, despite falling in 2nd place, he still walked away with a handsome payout of US$ 118,637 (VND 2,785,000,000).
All photos by WPT
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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