Kick Off

Vladimir Litasov wins maiden live title at the Kickoff Event

Vladimir Litasov defeated Drasko Boskovic at heads up of the Kickoff Event to clinch his first ever live title and a career high payout of VN₫ 800,100,000 (~USD 32,276). The final hand saw Vladimir’s A♣ T♦ stay ahead of Boskovic’s Q♣ 2♦ on a board Q♥ A♠ 8♣ 9♦ 4♣ .

“This is my first cup! I don’t know how I feel yet but my heart is thumping! The event was amazing.”

Vladimir also shared that he now lives in Vietnam and will be playing more tournaments. For Boskovic, a decent payday as well, pocketing a career high VN₫ 545,800,000 (~USD 22,000).

Follow the Final Table action via the Crown Poker Club FB Livestream

Date: March 19 to 21, 2024 Buy in: VN₫ 8,800,000 (~USD 362) Guarantee: VN₫ 2,000,000,000 (~USD 81,930) Entries: 535 (415 unique) Prize pool: VN₫ 4,151,600,000 (~USD 167,475) ITM / Day 2: 68 players

Starting stack: 30,000 Chips in play: 16,050,000

Blinds: 100,000-200,000 ante 200,000

Vladimir Litasov 7♥ 6♣ limps, Drasko Boskovic J♠ 7♦ checks, both players improve on the flop 3♦ 5♥ 7♠ . Vladimir bets 200,000, Boskovic check-raises to 700,000, Vladimir calls. Both players check the turn 6♠ , then on the Q♥ river, Boskovic leads out for 700,000, Vladimir snap-calls and wins it with two pair.

Blinds: 100,000-200,000 ante 200,000

Litasov Vladimir 9♣ 8♣ limps from the small blind. Le Giang Nam K♦ T♦ checks the big blind, flop is 8♥ 4♣ 9♠ . Vladimir bets 200,000, Le flats. The turn 7♠ , Vladimir bets 800,000, and again Le calls. The river K♣ , Vladimir shoves, Le has 8 bb and makes the call to end his tournament life in 3rd place.

Blinds: 100,000-200,000 ante 200,000

Hung Wan A♥ K♦ misses the board 3♥ T♥ 4♣ 8♦ 9♠ to bust to Litasov Vladimir 9♦ 9♣ set. Hung finishes in 4th place.

Blinds: 100,000-150,000 ante 150,000

Down below 10bb, Teo Loong Hui J♥ 7♥ shoves on the button and falls to big blind Drasko Boskovic A♥ 3♥ on a board J♠ 5♦ 6♣ K♠ A♠ .

Drasko Boskovic - 6,400,000 (42 bb) - chip leader Teo Loong Hui - eliminated in 5th place - VN₫ 203,500,000 (~USD 8,209)

After getting chunked down to 7 bb, The Naing was unable to recover. The last of his chips went to Hung Wan A♦ Q♣ who pushed on the flop 5♣ 7♣ 2♠ , The Naing Q♦ 9♦ called, the turn was Q♠ and river K♣ .

Drasko Boskovic A♦ Q♣ raises from cutoff, big blind The Naing Q♠ Q♥ three-bets all in, the board runs 2♣ 8♣ J♣ A♣ 5♣ .

Utg Litasov Vladimir 5♥ 5♣ opens, big blind Hung Wan 8♥ 8♦ three-bets all in his last 7 bb, Vladimir calls. Board runs 8♠ A♦ 7♦ T♦ 6♣ , Hung doubles through.

The Naing A♠ J♦ opens, David Erquiaga Q♥ Q♠ three-bets all in, The Naing calls with roughly the same amount of chips. Flop is good to Erquiga 6♥ 3♥ 8♥ , but the shocking turn J♠ and river J♣ rain on his parade to bow out in 7th place.

Utg Le Giang Nam 8♠ 8♥ opens 160,000, button The Naing A♦ Q♦ calls, flop runs 5♦ 3♥ T♦ , Le check-raises making it 275,000 to go, The Naing jams 2,000,000, Le tank-calls for his tournament life. The turn 9♣ and river 9♠

VN₫ 104,700,000 (~USD 4,224)

Radoslaw Kopec opens from cutoff, chip leader Litasov Vladimir three-bets small blind, Kopec doesn’t believe and shoves, Vladimir snaps it off.

Kopec K♠ Q♠ Vladimir A♦ A♥

Board runs out 2♠ 9♦ T♣ 2♥ 5♣ . Just like that, Vladimir picks up 30 bb to widen his lead to over 90 bb.

Tolin Jargalyn entered the final table with just 8 bb and didn’t last long, falling in 9th place to chip leader Litasov Vladimir. Jargalyn pocketed VN₫ 80,000,000 (~USD 3,227) for his finish.

Follow the action via the Crown Poker Club FB Livestream

All in preflop, Young Whan Bae K♦ T♠ misses the board 9♥ J♣ 8♦ A♦ 2♠ to fall to The Naing’s J♦ 8♠ two pair. 

From utg Drasko Boskovic raises to 125,000, button Hung Wan three-bets 325,000, Boskovic answers with a four-bet shove, Hung calls. 

Boskovic T♣ T♠ Hung A♦ Q♦

With the board running out K♠ 5♥ 7♣ 9♠ 3♠ Boskovic’s pocket pair holds and doubles through.

Small blind Radoslaw Kopec shoves with A♥ K♠ , big blind Chris Wang with less chips takes the risk with A♣ 9♣ . Flop helps Wang improve T♣ 9♦ 4♥ but with the turn K♣ Kopec jumps back out front and ships it on the river 5♦ . 

On a raised pot preflop, flop lands 3♣ 5♣ 7♦ , button Drasko Boskovic bets 130,000, Erquiaga check-raises 530,000, Boskovic calls. The turn A♣ sees an 800,000 open from Erquiaga, Boskovic folds. 

Facing a shove by Dang Minh Dat, The Naing defends the big blind by calling for all of his chips. The Naing has J♥ J♦ which holds against Dang’s 8♥ 8♣ for a double up. 

Minutes later, Dang loses his last chips to The Naing.

Dang Minh Dat - eliminated in 12th place - VN₫ 64,400,000 (~USD 2,598)

Players are dropping fast. Next to join the railbirds is Artem Utevskii who risked it all on Q♥ J♥ and was outdrawn by Radoslaw Kopec’s 7♣ 8♣ on board 9♣ K♦ 3♥ A♦ 8♠ . 

13 players remaining, each one guaranteed VN₫ 53,300,000 but all eyes are on the VN₫ 800,100,000 (~USD 32K) top prize. Final table nears. 

Juan Gelez falls with J♥ J♦ running into Vladimir Litasov’s Q♦ Q♥ . 

Jeremy Chan opens then calls Teo Loong Hui’s three-bet all in. Chan is behind T♠ T♥ both in hand and in chips to Hui’s K♥ K♠ . Hope comes on the flop T♣ 7♥ Q♠ for a set to Chan, but the turn burns him K♦ , and with the river 9♠ , Chan goes bust in 15th place. 

Down to 10 bb, Thomas Young shoves with K♠ J♥ and is dominated by Tolin Jargalyn’s A♦ K♣ . No help comes for Young and he drops to 4 bb. 

Next hand, both players face off once more. Young with K♦ 7♠ , Jargalyn dominates again with K♣ K♠ , board runs A♣ A♦ 7♣ K♥ 4♠ . Young is out in 16th place.

Utg David Erquiaga opens 110,000, cutoff Drasko Boskovic calls, button Cai Zhao Tian hams (435,000), Erquiaga opts to fold while Boskovic makes the call.

Boskovic 8♣ 9♣ Chi K♦ K♥

When the flop lands 8♠ 8♥ 2♠ , Boskovic jumped to trips, and with turn A♠ river 5♥ , that was it for Chi. 

17 players remaining, each one guaranteed VN₫ 44,700,000 but all eyes are on the VN₫ 800,100,000 (~USD 32K) top prize. 

Three way all in preflop, Hung Wan T♥ T♠ , Teo Loong Hui Q♣ Q♦ , Tiger Ong A♦ Q♠ . When the board runs 6♠ 9♥ A♥ 3♥ T♣ , Hung sweeps as Ong goes down. 

Chris Wang three-bet shoves, initial raiser Artem Utevskii folds. Next hand, Wang shoves again, still no callers. 

After dropping to the danger zone, Kyle Bao Diep found the moment to shove then met his end with Ace-Five dominated by Young Whan Bae’s Ace-Queen. 

20 players continue to battle for the title and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize.

Down to 10 bb, utg+1 Chris Wang shoves, cutoff Kyle Bao Diep re-pops all in, and with no other callers both open up. Wang has 8♣ 9♣ , Diep A♦ J♣ . Wang spikes a pair on board 9♥ 6♥ 3♠ 3♥ 6♦ for a double up as Diep plunges to 5 bb. 

Drasko Boskovic opens from utg+2 then calls small blind David Erquiaga’s 555,000 shove. Boskovic dominates with a strong A♣ K♦ but Erquiaga finds luck to improve his A♦ 4♠ on board 5♠ 9♠ 3♦ 4♣ Q♥ . 

Preflop punches between Juan Gelez and David Erquiaga lead to shoves. Erquiaga 8♠ 8♥ , Gelez A♥ Q♠ , board runs J♠ 4♠ 2♣ T♠ Q♦ . Gelez spikes the higher pair for a huge double up.

Vladimir Litasov cleans out Vitalii Polikarpov with A♠ J♠ staying ahead of 7♦ 6♦ on a board 5♠ 6♥ 3♦ 8♦ J♣ . 

Action folds to the button, Vitalii Polikarpov shoves his last 7 bb holding J♠ 8♥ then drops to one small blind after losing to shorter stacked Young Whan Bae A♦ Q♥ . 

Cutoff Jeremy Chan min-raises and finds two callers to the flop A♣ J♠ T♥ . Chan c-bets 110,000, button David Erquiaga calls, big blind folds, turn comes {5d]. Chan checks, Erquiaga bets 270,000, Chan folds. 

23 players continue to battle for the title and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize.

Nguyen Tuan Anh three-bets all in and is ahead A♥ J♠ of caller Yoon Gwon Woo’s A♠ 7♦ . However, it was short lived with the board 7♠ 5♠ K♦ Q♣ 6♦ to send Nguyen packing.

Darragh Curtin all in for 70,000, Vitalii Polikarpov three-bets 140,000, cutoff Kyle Bao Diep shoves his last 190,000, Polikarpov calls to attempt a double knockout.

Curtin J♦ 6♦ Diep J♣ J♠ Polikarpov A♥ T♥

Board runs K♠ 8♣ 3♣ 6♠ 4♦ , Diep ships, Curtin dries up.

On a raised pot preflop, Corey Van Jaarsveldt check-calls for his remaining chips with A♥ 9♣ and is way behind Teo Loong Hui’s 6♠ 6♥ set on a flop 7♦ 6♦ J♥ . The turn 8♠ brings Jaarsveldt a bit of hope but with the river 4♠ he goes bust.

Just under half of the field remain with 32 players scattered around the floor. Redraw at 27 players. Hunt for the coveted tite and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize continues.

Mark Kavalev shoves his last 15 bb with A♠ 9♣ only to find he is dominated by caller Cai Zhao Tian’s A♥ Q♣ . No change comes on a board Q♠ 7♣ 3♥ 6♥ A♦ to send Kavalev to the rail.

Three way all in preflop, Mark Kavalev A♥ J♥ , Juan Gelez 7♣ 7♠ , Nguyen Tuan Anh A♦ A♠ , board comes K♣ T♣ 8♠ 3♦ 4♣ . Nguyen triples up, Gelez wins side pot.

Big blind Teo Loong Hui calls hijack Young Whan Bae’s min-raise then check-raises all in on the flop 3♦ 4♥ 2♣ . Young folds.

Top 10 in chips

Action folds to the small blind Kirill Gladchenko who jams his last 12 bb holding K♠ 4♦ but can’t get past the big blind Cai Zhao Tian who calls with A♣ 7♠ . Gladchenko misses the board completely.

Looking down at A♦ A♠ Radoslaw Kopec opens, then happily calls Nguyen Manh Hung’s three-bet shove. Nguyen has K♠ T♠ . A bit of a scare on the flop Q♣ J♣ 3♣ , then with the turn 6♣ and river 6♥ , rockets hold to rail Nguyen.

From utg, Mark Kavalav opens, finds one caller, then button Cai Zhao Tian three-bets all in for 220,000. Kavalev joins with a four-bet shove, initial caller folds.

Kavalev A♥ K♣ Chi J♣ J♥

When the flop land Q♦ T♦ 4♣ , Chi stays ahead until the turn K♠ gives Kavalev the higher pair. The river A♠ adds more thrill as Chi lands the straight to double up.

Chip leader Drasko Boskovic raises 30,000 and Kim Tae Jin calls. Flop comes A♠ 7♣ Q♣ , Boskovic c-bets 30,000, Kim shoves 160,000, quick call by the leader Boskovic who turns over A♦ T♠ top pair. Kim is behind Q♦ J♥ then goes bust after missing the turn 2♦ and river 3♥ .

From utg+2, Darragh Curtin shoves his last 8 bb with A♠ Q♥ , cutoff Yoon Gwon Woo calls with K♦ Q♣ and is dominated. No change as the board runs J♣ 6♥ 8♠ 9♥ 2♠ for a double up to Curtin.

43 players continue to battle for the title and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize.

Drasko Boskovic raises 25,000 from cutoff then calls small blind Juan Gelez’s 75,000 three-bet. More chips land on the flop Q♥ J♥ 2♦ with Gelez firing 50,000 then calling Boskovic’s raise to 100,000. This bring the K♥ turn, Boskovic sends out another 100,000, Gelez check-calls. On the 8♣ river, Boskovic shoves, Gelez tanks using up all of his time-banks, then mucks. Boskovic drags in the huge pot well over 1M.

All in preflop between small blind Kyle Bao Diep and big blind Tolin Jargalyn. Diep has A♦ T♠ , Jargalyn 7♦ 7♥ , board runs low for the pocket pair to hold.

The Naing is now sitting on around a million in chips after knocking out Nguyen Quang Huy. According to The Naing it was all in preflop with his pocket Nines holding against Nguyen’s Ace-Jack offsuit.

Action folds to the small blind Hung Wan who bumps it up to 36,000, Cai Zhao Tian defends the big blind, flop comes Q♣ {65s} 5♦ . Hung c-bets 25,000, Chi check calls. On the 6♥ turn, Chi leads out 60,000, Hung check-calls. The 7♥ river completes the board. Hung checks once more then folds to Chi’s 177,000 shove.

Utg+1 Tiger Ong raises 25,000, button David Erquiaga calls, and both go to the flop 2♥ 7♥ 9♦ . Erquiaga bets 28,000, Ong check-calls, leading to the turn 4♠ . Erquiaga takes the reins again with an 85,000 bet, Ong tanks using one time extension then folds.

Facing a min-raise, cutoff The Naing calls, small blind Le Giang Nam three-bets 80,000, initial raiser folds, The Naing four-bets all in for 486,000, Le folds.

Blinds are up again, 50 players remain in the battle for the title and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize.

Utg+1 Shaun Conroy raises 25,000, button Artem Utevskii three-bets 50,000, Conroy answers with a four-bet jam (329,000) which is enough to take down the pot.

Yoon Gwon Woo min-raises from utg+1 and cutoff Nguyen Thien Han calls to see the flop A♥ K♣ 7♣ . Woo c-bets 22,000, Nguyen raises 48,000, Woo three-bets all in, Nguyen tank-folds.

More preflop shoves around the room, this time granting a double up. Facing a raise, Jeremy Chan three-bet shoves his last 12 bb holding Q♦ J♦ , and initial raiser Guy Taylor calls with T♣ T♠ . The board favors Chan as it spreads A♠ T♥ 9♦ 2♦ 8♣ for a straight.

Vladimir Kisterev defends his big blind by calling Nguyen Anh Minh’s 67,000 shove. Kisterev goes on to ship it with 2♥ 2♣ standing firm against K♣ Q♦ that missed the board.

Blinds are up, 11 players dropped in the opening round leaving 57 players to battle for the title and the VN₫ 800 Million top prize. Artem Utevskii maintains his lead with 850,000 (85 bb).

Cutoff Gavin Flynn Q♠ J♣ shoves his last 8 bb and is on a fifty-fifty against caller Sergei Poltavets 9♠ 9♥ . With the board running Q♦ 9♣ T♣ 4♣ 3♠ , Flynn misses and busts.

Drasko Boskovic min-raises from utg, cutoff The Naing three-bets 48,000, Boskovic calls. At the flop 8♠ 4♠ 3♣ , The Naing fires 60,000, Boskovic believes and folds.

Button Yoon Gwon Woo opens, Yankai Zhang defends the big blind, both see the flop J♥ 2♥ J♠ . Zhang leads out 45,000, Woo calls, turn drops 9♥ . Zhang checks, Woo jams 160,000, Zhang folds.

Another big stack on the move with Day 1A chip leader Le Giang Nam sending Mengran Wang to the rail with K♠ Q♥ outdrawing A♥ 9♥ on board Q♠ T♥ 3♦ A♦ J♠ .

Looking down at A♥ A♣ Drasko Boskovic opens then faces a jam of 209,000 by Yechi Palach A♠ K♦ . Easy call for Boskovic who goes on to ship it on board Q♥ T♠ 6♥ 4♥ 8♦ . And just like that, Boskovic zooms to second rank.

Chip leader Artem Utevskii has just widened his lead a bit more in a hand against Bui The Nguyen. Defending his big blind from a raise, Utevskii check-called the board K♥ J♦ 6♠ 3♥ A♣ resulting in Nguyen having to expose the Q♠ 9♦ bluff. Utevskii dragged in 132,000 from Nguyen with K♣ 7♥ .