Mini Main Event

Ngo Minh Tien goes bust in two hands. The first hand he calls Kyle Bao Diep’s three-bet jam with A♦ J♣ and is fifty-fifty against 5♠ 5♥ . The board runs 7♥ 3♥ 4♠ 2♣ K♣ , the small pair holds for a double up to Diep and Ngo down to 2 bb.

Next hand Ngo puts his 400,000 on the line with Q♦ 4♠ , cutoff Oliver Schulze has A♥ 9♠ , board runs 8♣ 7♣ K♠ 6♣ T♣ .

Date: November 20 to 22, 2023 Buy in: VN₫ 8,800,000 (~$372) Guarantee: VN₫ 2,000,000 (~$82,950) Entries: 935 (659 unique) Prize pool: VN₫ 7,255,600,000 (~$300,940) ITM/Survivors: 117 players

*Heads up ICM deal

Kyle Bao Diep three-bets all in with A♠ J♠ , initial raiser Oliver Schulze calls with A♥ T♣ . With the board running 7♠ 2♥ 9♥ 4♠ 3♥ , it’s a double up for Diep.

Button Kyle Bao Diep raises a massive 1,000,000, small blind Pham Duy Tien three-bets all in, Diep risks it all. Pham shows K♠ K♥ , Diep A♠ 5♣ , board runs 9♥ 8♣ 7♠ 2♦ 6♣ for a lucky straight to Diep.

Button Oliver Schulze raises 300,000, big blind Kyle Bao Diep three-bets 1,050,000, Schulze calls. Board completes Q♥ 2♣ 3♠ 5♣ Q♣ , Diep bets 550,000 flop, 1,125,000 turn, then jams the river. Schulze calls throughout, Diep shows the T♦ 7♠ bluff, Schulze ships a double with 2♦ 2♠ full house.

Teoh Ming Hong shoves with A♣ 8♠ then falls to Kyle Bao Diep’s A♣ 9♣ . Board was 6♣ 7♦ 9♠ 7♠ J♠ .

Kyle Bao Diep opens from hijack with K♠ T♠ , Chirag Khanduja shoves with A♠ J♥ , Diep calls. The board rus A♥ 2♠ 3♣ 5♥ Q♦ for a double up to Khanduja.

Small blind Kyle Bao Diep shoves, big blind Amit Kaushik calls for everything and opens A♦ T♦ . Diep has Q♠ 5♥ . The board runs 2♦ 6♣ 3♠ 4♥ 2♥ for a one-card straight to Diep.

Field is nearly at one table with 11 players left. Players are hunting down the title and the VN₫1,260,000,000 top prize. Calvin Tan leads the race with 4,300,000.

From cutoff Lee Jung Yeol shoves (815,000), button Kyle Bao Diep calls. It’s a flip with Lee turning over A♣ Q♥ and Diep with J♥ J♠ . The board runs out K♥ 7♣ 5♥ 6♣ 8♠ .

Shortly after cleaning out a player, Kyle Bao Diep picked up another nice pile of chips with K♠ K♥ . He opened 160,000 from utg and went to the flop 4♣ [ac} T♦ joined by button Teoh Ming Hong. Diep check-called 120,000 then both checked the turn K♦ . Then on the river K♣ Teoh slid out 400,000, Diep check-raised to 1,000,000, Teoh called then mucked to Diep’s K♠ K♥ quads.

Utg Tran Quoc Uy raises 200,000, hijack Kyle Bao Diep three-bets all in, Tran calls for his tournament life and opens K♣ {0s}. Diep has A♦ Q♦ . The board runs out 5♦ 5♠ 9♣ 5♥ J♠ , Diep ships it and boots Tran.

34 players remaining on the hunt for the title and the VN₫1,260,000,000 top prize. Here are the frontrunners.

Button Oliver Schulze limps then calls big blind Kyle Bao Diep’s 750,000 raise. Flop comes 6♠ 3♥ 4♣ , Schulze bets 450,000, Diep check-calls. The turn K♣ Diep leads out 1,320,000, Schulze calls. Both players check the river 5♣ . Schulze wins it with K♥ 9♦ .

Calvin Tan nosedived to fall out of contention in 4th place. It happened in two hands with the first one pretty much sealing his fate. Tan opens 500,000 from cutoff, then calls button Kyle Bao Diep’s three-bet of 1,575,000. At the flop Q♥ Q♠ 7♠ , Diep c-bets 700,000, Tan calls. On the turn T♠ , Diep jams 5,200,000, Tan calls, Diep shows A♦ Q♦ set, Tan is drawing dead with K♣ T♣ . River is 4♥ .

With Tan down to 2 bb, he is all in on the next hand with Q♦ 5♠ , Schulze dominates with A♣ Q♥ , board is T♥ 2♣ Q♠ T♠ 2♦ .