Madness Kick Off

277 entries (197 unique) punched their ticket worth VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430) for a seat on the Day 1B flight and a chance to compete for 35 spots to bag some chips to carry on to the Day 2 Final on Sunday, December 1. All 35 are guaranteed at least a minimum share from the prize pool.

Leading the flight of 35 is Graeme Travis Endersby who bagged a total of 536,000 to carry into the Day 2 Final. Hongru Zhang has the second-ranked stack with 532,000 while Wongyu Kang gained the third biggest stack of 504,000 after bursting the bubble and shipping those chips.

Two more Day One flights of the Madness Kickoff will be played tomorrow on November 30.

Madness Kickoff Day 1B

Date: November 29, 2024

Buy-in: VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430)

Guarantee: VND 10,000,000,000 (~USD 400,000)

Entries: 277 entries (197 unique)

ITM: 35 players

Starting Stack: 25,000

Total Chips In Play: 6,925,000

Average Stack: 168,900

Blinds: 3,000/6,000 with ante of 6,000

Zhengong Zhou made a 10,000 min-raise from the cut-off and called the 30,000 three-bet of Nam Hoang Nguyen on the button. Both players were shown a flop of A♦ K♦ Q♦. Zhou check-called the 25,000 bet of Nguyen to see a T♠ on the turn. Zhou checked and folded when Nguyen pushed all-in.

Marc Erwann Troncay raised to 9,000 from middle position and was three-bet by Hongru Zhang in the small blind to 36,000. Troncay made the call and both were shown a flop of T♥ T♣ 3♣. Zhang led with a 32,000 bet that Troncay called to see a 8♦ turn.

Both slowed down to see a free 4♦ on the river. Zhang fired 100,000 and Troncay took a pause before counting the chips to match. Zhang showed K♦ K♣ and Troncay mucked with a heavy sigh.

SMP ran into Jason Lau at the break, wished him luck and encouraged him to win the Madness Kick Off. He said "Thank you!" with a fist bump.

SMP further joked - if this was the high roller, you would've won it already!

Jason Lau replied, "I busted out of the high roller (Single Day High Roller: Warm Up)" and smiled.

Players are on a quick break.

59 players are still in contention for the 35 qualifying slots to advance to Day 2 Final on Sunday December 1.

Here are some top chip counts:

Final Table of 9 players of the Single Day High Roller: Warm Up is ready to play and will be featured in the USOP Live Stream available at the following link:

U Series Of Poker Facebook

Meanwhile, here are the seat draws and chip counts

Seat 1: Do Anh Tai (Vietnam) - 895,000

Seat 2: Nevan Chang (Taiwan) - 2,380,000

Seat 3: Nguyen Trung Chien (Vietnam) - 1,155,000

Seat 4: Do Quang Trinh (Vietnam) - 950,000

Seat 5: Do Quang Thang (Vietnam) 600,000

Seat 6: Nguyen Dai Duong (Vietnam) 1,165,000

Seat 7: John Perry (Australia) 1,945,000

Seat 8: Zhao Jiaming (China) 765,000

Seat 9: Lee Hon Cheong (Hong Kong) 645,000

All 9 are guaranteed a minimum of VND 110,000,000 (~USD 4,300), but all will fiercely compete for the championship trophy and the winner's share of VND 1,110,000,000 (~USD 43,700).

There was already 60,000 in the pot with a flop that showed Q♦ J♦ 7♣. Three players were in the hand. Siddhart Karia checked his UTG option to the hi-jack player who passed it on the Koangho Lee on the button. Lee obliged by firing 20,000 with Karia being the only one to match to see a K♥ turn.

Both checked to see a 5♥ and river and checked to show their cards. Karia showed A♣ Q♣ while Lee didn't bother to open.

Here are some of the chip counts entering Level 13.

277 entries bought in for VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430) to grab a seat and compete for the VND 10,000,000,000 (~USD 400,000) guaranteed prize pool. 142 players remain to fight for 41 slots in order to advance to the Day 2 final on Sunday December 1.

Madness Kickoff Day 1B

Date: November 29, 2024

Buy-in: VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430)

Guarantee: VND 10,000,000,000 (~USD 400,000)

Entries: 277 entries (197 unique)

ITM: 35 players to advance to Day 2.

Starting Stack: 25,000

Total Chips In Play: 6,925,000

Average Stack: 48,700

Players Remaining: 142

Blinds: 1,000/1,500 with ante of 1,500

Nguyen Trung Chien took out Ivan Karatayeu as the bubble boy, allowing for the remaining 16 players to make it in the money.

All 16 players are guaranteed at least VND 80,000,000 (~USD 3,100), but are fighting for the champion's share of VND 1,110,000,000 (~USD 43,700) from the VND 3,948,000,000 (~USD 155,700) prize pool.

Spotted in the Madness Kickoff Day1B flight was Jason Lau, who just scored his biggest after bagging the championship of the High Roller event at APT Phu Quoc two weeks ago. Also in the flight is Macau's Jing Sun who made two final table appearances in last September's USOP Hai Phong, including a runner-up finish in that series' Madness Kickoff event. China's Zeyu Chen made 6 final table appearances in APT Phu Quoc, including two runner-up finishes in different PLO events.

One of the attractions in the opening day of the USOP Hai Phong Grand Finale is the Single Day High Roller: Warm Up, which brings with it a guaranteed prize pool of VND 1.28 Billion (~USD 50,500).

A total of 105 entries made the VND 44,000,000 (~USD 1,735) buy-in for a seat to boost the guarantee to a juicy VND 3,948,000,000 (~USD 155,700). Only the top 16 will make it into the payout circle for at least a minimum share of VND 80,000,000 (~USD 3,100) from the prize pool.

After fourteen (14) 30-minute levels, only 42 players remain. All eyes are on the top prize of VND 1,110,000,000 (~USD 43,700).

Single Day High Roller: Warm Up

Date: November 29, 2024

Buy-in: VND 44,000,000 (~USD 1,735)

Entries: 105 (84 unique)

Prize Pool: VND 3,948,000,000 (~USD 155,700)

ITM: 16 places

Starting Stack: 100,000

Total Chips In Play: 10,500,000

Average Stack: 250,000

Players Remaining: 42

Next blinds: 4,000/8,000 with ante of 8,000

Players are on a short break.

Here are some of the key players to look out for in the Day 1B flight of the Madness Kickoff:

Russia's Ilia Timofeev busted out on the Day 1A flight and will be back with a vengeance for the Day 1B flight. Timofeev has nearly USD 100,000 in total live earnings and an ITM finish in this event will surely make him cross that milesone.

Vietnam's The Anh Tran made a runner-up finish in the NLH Turbo Double Stack event at the APT Phu Quoc earlier this November and earned his biggest career cash. Tran will look to take that momentum in this event.

Johnni Peer Nielsen of Sweden won the Madness Kickoff event in the USOP Hai Phong back in September and also won the Tag Team Event in the same series. Nielsen is hoping for a back-to-back win if he can secure a championship in this Madness Kickoff.

Cards are in the air for Day 1B with 39 players filling up the tables.

Madness Kickoff Day 1B

Date: November 29, 2024

Buy-in:VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430)

Guarantee: VND 10,000,000,000 (~USD 400,000)

Entries: 39 entries

ITM: TBD