Kick Off

Plenty of small chips splash the pot before it gets to big blind Radoslaw Kopec who three-bets 62,000. Initial raiser Vu Van Tiep calls, then two folds follow. At the flop Q♠ J♣ 9♥ , Kopec bets it all, Vu snap-calls his last 90,000 and turns over K♦ Q♦ top pair. Kopec has A♠ K♠ with many outs to help him. The turn 9♠ isn’t one of them but the T♠ grants the straight. Vu is eliminated and Kopec ships it to rise to the top.

David Erquiaga tops Kickoff Event Day 1C; 22 players join the ITM list

Fresh off a big win in Hanoi, Filipino notable carried the winning vibe into the final flight of the Kickoff Event and wrapped up bagging the largest stack of the 22 remaining players. With a hefty 666,000 (56 bb) in chips, Erquiaga earned second position in the overall Day 2 lineup.

That concludes the Kickoff Event entry flights. A total of 535 entered with 68 into the ITM round. Day 1B chip leader Artem Utevskii commands with 94 bb. Erquiaga follows with 56 bb, and to round out the top three is Hung Wan with 42 bb.

Play resumes on Thursday, March 21 at 12pm. Official prize pool and payout breakdown will be posted as soon as it has been made available.

Date: March 20, 2024 Buy in: VN₫ 8,800,000 (~USD 362) Guarantee: VN₫ 2,000,000,000 (~USD 81,930) Day 1C: 174 entries (133 unique) ITM: 22 players Chips in play: 5,220,000

Darragh Curtin opens from utg then calls utg+1 Tan Win Meng’s repop of 59,000. Both see a flop A♠ Q♣ A♦ , Curtin bets 5,000, Tan shoves his 1000 chip behind and way behind with 8♣ 8♥ to Curtin’s A♣ K♣ trips. The turn 4♠ seals it for Curtin as Tan packs up to go.

Preflop betting war leads to Qui Zening all in with 4♣ 4♥ then falls to David Erquiaga’s 8♦ 8♠ .

40 players left on the hunt for the final 22 spots into Day 2 and to the money. Kirill Gladchenko is in the driver’s seat with 270,000 (45 bb).

Utg+2 Nguyen Quang Huy raises 11,000, button calls, small blind Michael Kim Falcon three-bets all in for 74,000, Nguyen isn’t budging and joins the shove as button gets out of the way. Nguyen is ahead A♦ 4♣ , Falcon with Q♣ 9♠ , flop 9♦ J♠ 2♠ improves Falcon but with the turn A♣ Nguyen overtakes and holds on the 5♠ river.

Utg opens, hijack three-bets all in with A♣ K♣ , big blind Shung Er Sua calls it with 6♦ 6♥ , initial raiser folds. Board runs 6♠ J♠ J♣ 7♠ A♠ . Sua wins the flip and ships a double.

Button player looks down at A♠ A♥ and min-raises, Kirill Gladchenko defends the big blind with K♣ 9♣ . At the flop Q♣ 2♣ 3♣ , Gladchenko leads out, button raises, Gladchenoko three-bet shoves, and button calls with less chips. With the turn 4♦ , that seals the win for Gladchenko as rockets go down.

Facing a called min-raise, small blind Michael Kim Falcon three-bets all in for 65,500. Initial raiser calls while button caller folds. Falcon turns over 9♣ 8♠ and is live against A♦ K♥ . Falcon quickly flops the nuts J♥ T♠ 7♦ which holds on the turn 4♦ and river 4♠

From small blind position, Leong Kei Hong flat-called button’s min-raise and was joined by the big blind for a three-way to the flop J♠ 2♠ 2♣ . Button c-bet 10,000, Leong check-called, big blind check-raised to 30,000, button folded, then Leong three-bet shoved. Big blind made the call and showed J♥ 3♥ top pair and was nearly drawing dead to Leong’s J♣ J♦ boat. The T♣ sealed it, the 9♦ river was of no consequence.

Min-raising from utg+1, Nguyen Quang Huy calls utg+2’s 10,000 re-raise and both head to the flop K♣ 8♠ J♠ . Utg+2 c-bets 6,000, Nguyen check-calls. On the turn 4♣ , utg+2 fires 15,000, Nguyen check-raises all in for 54,000, gets called and shows his 5♣ 6♣ draw. Utg+2 is ahead A♠ K♠ . The river 9♣ is the money card for Nguyen to ship a double up.

Cutoff Michael Kim Falcon shoves around 20 bb with A♣ 5♥ and is in danger of busting with big blind calling with A♦ T♥ . However, Falcon’s kicker pairs up on a board 5♠ 9♥ Q♦ 2♣ 7♣ for a double up.

Still a long way to go with 82 players remaining and ITM at 22 spots.

Utg+2 opens 3,500, cutoff Tan Luan Le three-bets 10,500, big blind four-bets 31,500, utg+2 folds, Le five-bets all in, big blind calls for his tournament life.

Tan Luan Le A♣ K♣ Big blind Q♥ Q♣

Board runs K♦ T♦ 9♥ K♠ 2♠ , Le wins the flip and boots one in the process.

Three way showdown preflop, Oh Kwang 5♦ 5♠ , Mike Takayama 6♥ 7♥ , and Qui Zening A♦ K♥ . Board runs out 9♦ 8♦ J♠ A♥ 3♦ , Qui sweeps.

The final flight of the Kickoff Event has now entered the freezeout stage led by Filipino pro David Erquiaga with 220,000 (146 bb). Erquiaga was earlier seen shipping a double up with pocket Aces winning surviving against a player’s flopped flush draw.

That’s it! Registration for the Kickoff Event has closed. Day 1C drew 174 entries to bring the combined count to 535 etnries. Cards are back in the air with players racing for one of the 22 ITM spots. We await the official prize pool which should be at around VN₫ 4.1 Billion.

108 entries and rising. This is the last flight to enter the Kickoff Event. Day 1A and Day 1B drew a combined 361 entries to breach the VN₫ 2 Billion guarantee. With Day 1C currently at 108 entries, the pot has now grown to VN₫ 3.6 Billion.

To enter, buy in is VN₫ 8,800,000 (~USD 362) which gets you a 30,000 starting stack. Blinds increase every 25 minutes. Registration closes at the start of Level 11 at approximately 21:10. From there, players race for a spot in the money round which is 12.5% of the field.

88 entries and rising. This is the last flight to enter the Kickoff Event. Day 1A and Day 1B drew a combined 361 entries to breach the VN₫ 2 Billion guarantee. With Day 1C currently at 88 entries, the pot has now grown to VN₫ 3.48 Billion.

To enter, buy in is VN₫ 8,800,000 (~USD 362) which gets you a 30,000 starting stack. Blinds increase every 25 minutes. Registration closes at the start of Level 11 at approximately 21:10. From there, players race for a spot in the money round which is 12.5% of the field.

This is the last flight to enter the Kickoff Event. Day 1A and Day 1B drew a combined 361 entries to bring the prize pool to VN₫ 2.8 Billion. With Day 1C currently at 76 entries, the pot has now grown to VN₫ 3.3 Billion.

To enter, buy in is VN₫ 8,800,000 (~USD 362) which gets you a 30,000 starting stack. Blinds increase every 25 minutes. Registration closes at the start of Level 11 at approximately 21:10. From there, players race for a spot in the money round which is 12.5% of the field.

Down to 5 bb, Tan Luan Le jams it from utg but can’t get past big blind Jeremy Chan who dominates throughout with A♠ J♥ . Tan falls on the bubble.

Unfortunate turn of events for Mark Che whose A♦ K♣ was outdrawn by Nguyen Quang Huy’s by K♥ Q♠ on a board K♠ 8♠ 6♠ Q♣ 9♦ . Che plunged to just 1 bb.

Nguyen Anh sends short stacked Thomas Promitzer to the rail with K♦ [qs} doiminating K♥ 6♣ at every stage.

23 players remaining, it is bubble time!

 Drasko Boskovic raises then four-bet jams 212,000 holding Q♦ 9♦ . He is called by Chen Zhang with a premium A♠ K♦ . Luck finds Boskovic with the board T♦ 3♦ 9♣ 4♥ 3♠ granting him a pair.

Two short stacks - one of the Ivan Lee - fall to David Erquiaga who boosts his stack to 460,000.

25 players remaining, ITM three spots away.

Heavy preflop action opens with a raise from Guy Taylor, hijack Thomas Promitzer three-bets all in, cutoff tanks then folds, button Ivan Lee four-bets all in, and back to Taylor who joins the party with the least amount of chips

Promitzer 9♥ 9♦ Lee A♥ Q♣ Taylor 2♦ 2♥

The board runs out J♥ 7♠ 5♥ 3♣ 2♣ . Taylor triples up, Promitzer wins side pot against Lee. Taylor zooms to 165,000, Promitzer and Lee drop to 3 bb.