On January 15, the World Poker Championship (WPC) in partnership with the Hanoi Series of Poker (HSOP) concluded its season opener at the Grand Loyal Poker Club in Hanoi. The event got underway on January 3 featuring a confident US$ 1 Million guarantee. Locals and Koreans flooded the felt, joined by a scatter of international players from India, Singapore, Philippines, USA, to mention a few. After thirteen days of nonstop action, all the trophies were claimed including the Player of the Series title.
Although the room has since quieted, the excitement remains with the WPC having already announced its return. In just two and a half months, the brand heads back to the Grand Loyal Poker Club for a ten day series running from March 31 to April 9. Like previous, a solid US$ 1 Million is guaranteed. Players can expect another jam-packed room from start to finish.
As players await the next series, here are the closing figures and highlights of the recently concluded festival.
Festival highlights
Festival prize pool: ₫51,630,785,000 (~$2,203,430)
Trophy events: 26
Main Event prize pool: ₫14,244,075,000 (~$607,890)
Main Event champion: Thang Ngoc Dao – ₫1,540,030,000 (~$65,700)
Player of the Series: Tuong Manh Ha – 1,171.58 points
Most final tables: Yuta Izumi (4)
Most cashes: Jasven Saigal (6)
Trophies by Flag: Vietnam (12), Korea (9), Singapore (2), Japan (1), Hong Kong (1), India (1)
Main Event: THANG NGOC DAO
The Main Event fueled in the biggest prize money of ₫14,244,075,000 (~$607,890). Although it didn’t beat its inaugural run numbers, it still blew past its ten billion Vietnamese dong guarantee. Impressively, the three local players at the final table found themselves as the last ones standing with Thang Ngoc Dao going the distance for his career first title and high score of ₫1,540,030,000 (~$65,700). Read up on his victory via the Live Updates.
Player of the Series: TUONG MANH HA
Vietnam’s Tuong Manh Ha is remembered for lifting the first WPC Main Event title in Vietnam, and though he missed the mark at this series, he still made headlines by clinching the WPC Player of the Series. In a mad dash for the finish line, Ha shipped the festival’s final event – Megastack Closer – to steal the POS victory. Ha cashed in a total of 5 tournaments to accrue 1,171.58 points. He was awarded a Main Event ticket to the next WPC festival. Here are his series cashes:
| 3rd | Event 1: Kickoff Event |
| 6th | Event 9: HSOP Main Event |
| 14th | Event 17: NLH Freezeout |
| 25th | Event 21: Monster Stack |
| 1st | Event 24: Megastack Closer |
Most final tables: YUTA IZUMI
While there were many players that reached multiple final tables, it was Japan’s Yuta Izumi who had the most final table cashes of four in total. One of those deep runs was a Vietnam maiden victory at Event 3: Hyper Turbo.
| 1st | Event 3: Hyper Turbo |
| 9th | Event 6: Bounty Hunter |
| 4th | Event 14: Hyper Turbo |
| 5th | Event 16: Superstack Turbo |
Most cashes: JASVEN SAIGAL
India’s Jasven Saigal has been a frequent flyer in the Asian circuit and is on a mission to make this year another lucrative one. He cashed at 23 events last year and is well on his way to breaking that number with six payouts at the festival. He also lifted his first title on Vietnam soil at Event 23: High Roller Single Day.
| 24th | Event 7: Superstack |
| 14th | Event 14: HSOP Main Event |
| 19th | Event 13: Mystery Bounty |
| 12th | Event 17: NLH Freezeout |
| 9th | Event 21: Monster Stack |
| 1st | Event 23: High Roller Single Day |
Festival Champions
The locals dominated in attendance and dominated at the top. In total, 12 Vietnamese players captured event trophies. Korea was also a strong contender, winning 9 trophies. Here’s the full list of champions.
| Event | Champion | Flag | Payout in VN₫ |
| Main Event | Thang Ngoc Dao | Vietnam | 1,540,030,000 |
| Super Star | Gab Yong Kim | Vietnam | 861,000,000 |
| 1 | Tai Anh Do | Vietnam | 565,000,000 |
| 2 | Tu Manh Nguyen | Vietnam | 186,000,000 |
| 3 | Yuta Izumi | Japan | 36,450,000 |
| 4 | Bao Thai Vu | Vietnam | 67,000,000 |
| 5 | Chinh Duc Tran | Vietnam | 59,200,000 |
| 6 | Sungmin Ahn | Korea | 104,700,000 |
| 7 | Kyoung Hun KIm | Korea | 290,000,000 |
| 8 | Seung Min Yu | Korea | 882,000,000 |
| 9 | Que Van Nguyen | Vietnam | 756,000,000 |
| 10 | Hyeong Yu Song | Korea | 52,000,000 |
| 11 | Hoi Wai Tam | Hong Kong | 450,000,000 |
| 12 | Suk Kim | Korea | 104,440,000 |
| 13 | Long Tho Ngo | Vietnam | 629,000,000 |
| 14 | Hyun Sup Kim | Korea | 59,500,000 |
| 15 | Tung Son Ta | Vietnam | 1,075,000,000 |
| 16 | Zhi Guang Zou | Singapore | 160,000,000 |
| 17 | Soo Rin Park | Korea | 200,000,000 |
| 18 | Trung Van Nguyen | Vietnam | 84,810,000 |
| 19 | Kyeong Rim Shin | Korea | 150,000,000 |
| 20 | Nam Hyung Kim | Korea | 1,725,000,000 |
| 21 | Hao Lin | Singapore | 514,000,000 |
| 22 | Son Huu Pham | Vietnam | 179,500,000 |
| 23 | Jasven Saigal | India | 528,000,000 |
| 24 | Tuong Manh Ha | Vietnam | 56,280,000 |
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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