Super High Roller

Edgaras Kausinis overcame a three-to-one chip disadvantage while heads-up with Azizjon Rakhimov to bounce back and win the Super High Roller title in the USOP Hai Phong Grand Finale.

The turning point for Kausinis was when his flush doubled him up against the two-pair or Rakhimov. The final blow was to see his pocket tens hold up against A♥ 4♦ to award him the championship.

When Kausinis was asked in which moment did he know he was going to win it. He replied, "This is poker, you never know and you have to get lucky and he [Rakhimov] is very good."

He explained how the experience was up and down. He lost a big pot to a straight and won a big pot with a flush. So it really could go anywhere. "You really have to be in a position to be lucky."

When asked what he plans to do now after winning the championship - his very quick reply was, "Sleep!"

Edgaras Kausinis took home the USOP trophy and the champion's cash prize of VND 2,770,000,000 (~USD 110,00).

Rakhimov raised to 1,000,000 with A♥ 4♦ and Kausinis three-bet to 2,700,000 with T♦ T♣. Rakhimov shoved all-in and Kausinis snap called.

Board ran Q♦ K♣ 5♣ 7 J♠ and Rakhimov is eliminated in 2nd place, and the championship is awarded to Edgaras Kausinis.

Kausinis limps with 3♠ 3♥ and Rakhimov raised to 1,500,000. Kausinis shoved all-in and Rakhimov folded.

Azizjon Rakhimov completed with K♥ 4♠ and Edgaras Kausinis checked with 7♦ 2♦ to see a flop J♦ 3♦ K♣. Kausinis check-rasised to 1,000,000 Rakhimov's bet 300,000. Rakhimov called to see 4♦ on turn.

Kausinis bet 1,700,000 and Rakhimov called The river came 2♠. Kausinis shoved 4,700,000 and Rakhimov called.

Kausinis doubled to become chip leader

First few hands are uneventful Few raises and folds. Kausinis though getting the bigger pots to climb back in.

Azizjon Rakhimov raised to 600,000 with K♣ T♣ from UTG and was defended by Yee Wing Lee with J♦ 8♦ on big blind.

Flop came J♣ 9♣ 3♦ . Le made two pair, but Rakhimov had a flush draw. Rakhimov c-bet for 400,000. Lee raised to 1,300,000. Rakhimov answered by shoving all-in. Lee made the snap call.

Board completed 9♠ K♠ to give Rakhimov a pair king to eliminate Lee in 3rd place.

All three players are picking their spots. Small bets. Small raises. No one really calling a complicated board. Playing position is crucial. No one wants to make a mistake.

Edgaras Kausinis found A♥ 7♦ on button and raised to 600,000. Azizjon Rakhimov makes the call with A♠ 8♣ in big blind.

Flop arrived 8♥ 2♥ 6♠ . Rakhimov check-called the 400,000 bet of Kausinis to open a 5♠ on the turn. Both check to see a Q♦ on river. Rakhimov fired 1,200,000 and Kausinis called and shipped his chips to Rakhimov.

Action folded to the blinds. Small blind Edgaras Kausinis shoved all-in for 15 million to pressure the big blind of Yee Wing Lee . Kausinis had K♥ 9♦. Lee called and showed A♠ 3♣.

Board ran 7♥ J♥ 3♥ 6♣ J♣ and Lee doubled up.

Action folded to the blinds. Yee Wing Lee limped with A♥ 4♠ and Azizjon Rakhimov checked his 6♥ 4♣ to see a flop of Q♥ 6♦ 2♦. Both check to see an A♣ on the turn, then check to see a 6♠ on the river.

Lee led out with 300,000 and Rakhimov re-raised to 2,000,000. Lee tanked before finally making the call. Lee's stack get's decimated.

Yee Wing Lee was stuck in the middle of a warzone with the two big stacks passing around chips with raises. Lee had been able to pick some spots to push all-in, but no one waned to double him up.

The blinds were beginning to pressure him.

The board showed 5♠ 6♦ 9♥ 7♦. The pot was 2 Million. Rakhimov bet 750,000 and Kausinis shoved all-in with a quick call from Rakhimov. River was A♠ and Rakhimov doubled up.

Yee Wing Lee avoided much confrontation and is hoping to pick his spots, letting Edgaras Kausinis and Azizjon Rakhimov battle while he flied under the radar.

Kausinis used big stack to bully around.

Both Edgaras Kausinis and Azizjon Rakhimov go all-in pre-flop. Kausinis with A♥ Q♦ versus Rakhimov J♥ T♠. Kausinis at risk.

Board ran 2♦ 8♦ A♣ 5♦ 3♥ to give biggest pot of tournament so far to Kausinis.

Action folded to the blinds. Small blind Azizjon Rakhimov shoved all-in with A♠ 4♦ and Xu Xinyin called with T♠ 9♥.

Board arrived Q♠ Q♣ J♥ 2♠ A♣ and Xu Xinyin is eliminated at 4th place.

Both players put all-their chips in the middle for a showdown. Azizjon Rakhimov's 5♦ 5♠ vs A♦ 7♦ of Yu Xiangyu

Board came A♠ 5♣ K♠ K♣ 2♥ and Yu is sent to the rail at 5th place.

A lot of stolen pots and blinds. Nothing going beyond the flop.

Yu Xiangyu limped with Q♠ 5♦ then called the 525,000 raise of Edgaras Kausinis with J♣ 4♥.

Flop arrived 8♥ Q♣ 5♣ . Both check to see a 3♣ on turn. Yu checked. Kausinis bet 300,000 and Yu shoved all-in. Kausinis surrendered.

Action folded to blinds. Small blind Azizjon Rakhimov raise to 400,000 and Xu Xinyin used some time-bank tokens before shoving all-in with T♠ 7♥ and got Rakhimov to fold his Q♠ 4♦.

Edgara Kausinis on the button with T♣ 8♣ completed. Yee Wing Lee also called with J♠ 8♥ on small blind. Azizjon Rakhimov checked big blind with 7♣ 6♣.

Flop came 9♠ 7♠ 6♠ . All check for 2♥ on turn. Checked to Rakhimov who fired 400,000. Kausinis called. Lee called. River arrived 4♣. Lee checked. Rakhimov fired 1,000,000. Kausinis called to take down the pot and get the chip lead.

Edgar Kausinis made the call from small blind with A♣ 7♦ and Yee Wing Lee checked the big blind with 9♣ 7♥.

Flop arrived J♣ 9♦ T♦ and both checked to see a 2♥. Both checked to see a 8♥ on river. Both players made a straight Both players chop.

Action folded to Xu Xinyin on the button who shoved all-in with K♦ 8♠ for 3,200,000. Yu Xiangyu with A♦ T♦ in small blind folded and Xinyin got the blinds.

Azizjon Rakhimov raised to 300,000 from button with T♣ 9♣. Xu Xinyin found 7♥ 7♦ in small blind and called.

Flop arrived 2♣ 5♥ 3♠.Xinyin checked and Rakhimov fired 250,000 and Xu called to see a turn 4♦.

Xu check-called the Rakhimov bet of 400,000. Xu checked and Rakhimov showed the pair nine for the pot.

Yu Xiangyu raised to 300,000 from under the gun with A♦ 6♣. Edgaras Kausinis called with 7♥ 7♣ from small blind. Big blind Xu Xinyin with K♣ Q♠ shoved all-in for 3,800,000. Everyone folded.

Yu Xiangyu raise to 300,000 from cut-off with A♦ 9♠. Yee Wing Lee called frmo small blind with Q♦ J♣.

Flop of K♠ 8♣ 4♦ was checked to see T♣ turn. Lee bet out 250,000 and Yu folded.

Action folded to the blinds. Small lind Edgaras Kausinis limped with 9♥ 7♦ and Yee Wing Lee checked holding 4♣ 3♦

Flop arrived 8♦ 9♠ 2♥. Kausinis led out with 150,000 and Lee folded.

Azizjon Rakhimov raise to 300,000 from cut-off with Q♣ J♥ and Edgar Kausinis defended the big blind with K♠ 9♦.

Flop arrived T♠ 5♥ 4♥. Both check to see a 7♣ on turn. Kausinis fired 350,000 and Rakhimov surrendered.

The coverage was interrupted midway, but Xu Xinyin must've called the all-in shove of Azizjon Rakhimov with A♥ T♥ for 3,800,000, risking halh her stack with 7♥ 7♠.

When coverage continued we saw Xu Xinyin shoving all-in with pocket nines and not getting any callers.

Meanwhile, let's update the chip stacks:

Xu Xinyin raised to 300,000 from hi-jack with A♣ Q♠. Hari Varma on the button three-bet with K♥ Q♦ for 2,000,000. Xu called.

Flop arrived J♦ 8♠ 3♥ Xu shoved all-in and Varma called.

Board completed 3♣ 7♥.

Hari Varma found K♦ K♣ on small blind and limped. Edgaras Kausinis on big blind with J♣ 6♥ raised to 350,000 and Varma pushed all-in to let Kausinis fold.

Azizjon Rakhimov raised to 300,000 with Q♠ J♣ on hi-jack and Hari Varma called on big blind with K♥ T♥.

Flop arrived A♠ 2♠ T♠. Varma checked and Rakimov fired 150,000 and Varma called to see a 9♠ turn.

Both check to see a K♣ on the river. Varma checked and Rakhimov bet 1,000,000. Varma tanked and used some time-bank cards before calling and shipping the chips to Rakhimov.

Yee Wing Lee raised to 300,000 with K♠ K♥ on hi-jack. Small blind Ryan Hong three-bet to 950,000 with A♥ Q♦. Lee shoved all-in for 4,300,000, covering Hong's stack. Hong called.

Board ran 3♣ Q♠ K♣ 2♥ 6♦ to eliminate Hong and give Lee the chip lead.

Kausinis raised to 250,000 from cut-off with A♥ 6♥. Yee Wing Lee three-bet on the button to 700,000 with A♠ 9♦.

Kausinis shoved all-in and Lee called.

Board arrived T♦ K♣ 4♣ 7♣ 8♣ and doubled-up Lee.

Action folded to blinds, Edgar Kausinis raised to 240,000 with Q♠ Q♦ from small blind and big blind gave up.

Xu raised from UTG to 250,000 with K♥ J♣ and scooped the blinds.

Xinyin Xu raised to 250,000 with A♥ 8♥ on cut-off. Yu Xiangyu called with A♣ Q♥ on button.

Flop arrived J♠ 3♥ 4♦. Both check to see 4♣.

Both check to see 3♣. Both check to chop the pot.

Ryan Hong raised on the button to 240,000 wtih A♦ 4♣. Hari Varma defended with J♥ 9♥. The flop came 5♥ A♣ 5♦. Both chck to see a Q♠. Hong checked and Varma checked. 7♣ on the river. Hong checked and Varma fired 300,000 and Hong called to finish the trap.

Azizkon Rakhomiv raised to 200,000 with A♥ Q♣. Xu Xinyin three-bet to 600,000 K♣ Q♣. Yu Xiangyu four-bet to 1.4 Million with J♠ J♣ and everyone folded.

Hari Varma raised to 200,000 with 9♦ 9♠. Edgaras Kausinis called with Q♥ Q♥.

Kilian Kramer shoved all-in for 1,300,000 with 7♠ 7♦.

Varma folded. Kramer called.

Board ran A♣ 3♣ 6♠ 2♦ 9♥ to eliminate Kramer in 8th place.

Action folded to blinds. small blind kramer raised to 250,000 with Q♠ 4♣. Big blind Rakhimov shoved all-in and Kramer folded.

Next hand, action again folded to blinds Rakhimov min-raised when Xinyin Xu defended big blind with all-in shove and Rakhimov called

Xu: J♦ 9♦

Rakhimov: A♦ 6♦

Rakhimov led on flop of Q♥ 6♠ 8♦ then improved to a set on turn 6♣. River K♥ is not needed to send Rakhimov double-up.

Azizjon Rakhimov is depleted of energy and was seen almost falling asleep at the final table. Rakhimov has yet to play poker because right now he's just waiting for cards.

Hari Varwa raised to 200,000 with K♥ 6♦, but couldn't call the all-in shove of Yee Wing Lee to defend the big blind.

Hand after, Varma raised raise to 200,000 with A♦ Q♦ from cut-off and Kilian Kramer defended big blind with K♦ 8♦

Flop arrived K♥ Q♥ 7♦ Kramer check-called Varma c-bet of 150,000. A♣ arrived on the turn . Kramer checked and Varma

Bet 400,000. Kramer folded

Ryan Hong R250 from UTG+1 A♠ 5♠

Varma 3-bet 600,000 with A♣ T♠ and Hong folded.

Jianfeng Sun raised to 320,000 with A♥ 4♠ , leaving 100,000 in his stack. Ryan Hong called with T♦ T♣ and both saw a flop of 9♥ Q♥ 6♦. Sun shoved the remaining 100,000 and Hong called. Board ran 9♠ 6♠ and Sun exited the final table as the first casuatly.

Kausinis had K♦ Q♣ and raise to 200,000. Kramer 3-bet to 600,000 with A♠ J♥. Kausinis shoved all-in and Kramer folded

In the next hand, Kausinis found similar K♠ Q♣ and raised to 160,000. Yee Wing Lee saw J♠ J♦ and shoved all-in for 1,200,000. Kausinis folded this time.

Xinyin Xu raised to 165,000 from UTG with 5♠ 5♣. Yu Xiangyu 3-bet to 325,000 from UTG+3 with A♠ J♣

Xu called to see a T♠ 2♦ 4♣ flop.

Both check to see a 9♥ turn.

Both check to see a J♠ on the river.

Xu check-called Yu's 400,000 bet and gave up nearly 1M in chips.

In the next hand,

Kramer K♦ T♠ min-raised and Xu defended the big blind with 4♣ 3♥. Both checked to river. Board showed 8♣ Q♥ 4♦ T♦ Q♣ Kramer bet 400,000 and Xu called losing to the pair ten.

Xinying Xu maybe feeling a little jittery on the final table with all the camera and lights.

Adam Martinsson's bust out at 11th place means there is one more out to go before the final table

Here are some top chip counts.

All the chips went in the middle before the flop. Kilian Kramer pushed with pocket 7♠ and Jianfeng Sun called behind with A♦ 9♦.

Board ran 9♣ 7♠ 3♣ 7♥ 8♦. There was a nine on the flop for Sun, but there was a 7 to give Kramer a set. The turn gave Kramer quads and that was the end of it.

Over a million chips were shipped Kramer's way, leaving Sun with crumbs.

We joined the hand with the all-in button on Yun Jungsup who was peeling his cards to Xinyin Xu. There was a T♥ on the top and Jungsup slowly revealed the bottom 9♥ as if in a magic show. Almost as if he pushed all-in blind. Xu's K♥ K♦ were already on the table with all the chips to be fought for.

The board came A♣ Q♠ K♠ to give Xu a set and Jungsup a gut-shot straight draw. The board completed 3♥ K♣ with Xu rivering quad kings to add emphasis on Jungsup's exit. Jungsup smiled all the way to the payout cage.

Yun Jungsup shoved all-in from under the gun for 1,420,000 and had a few players questioning their bravery with one player counting chips to feign a call and see a reaction. Everyone eventually folded and Jungsup scooped some blinds.

Action folded to the blinds when small blind Li Yongxin limped and Xinyin Xu checked her option to see a flop of T♦ 2♠ 9♠. Both checked to see a 9♦ on the turn. Yongxin check-called the 175,000 bet of Xu to see a 4♣ on the river. Both checked.

Li Yongxin flipped over A♦ K♦ which was drawing to a nut flush while Xu flipped over K♠ 2♣ to win the pot with a pair of deuces. Xu smiled and thanked the poker gods nothing catastrophic happened.

Dylan Foster busted out at 17th place for a payout of VND 160,000,000 (~USD 6,300), leaving the 16 players to collapse into the final two tables.

Edgaras Kausinis looks to be in the chip lead, making towers with his chip stack of 4,200,000.

There was around 480,000 in the pot beside a board that read 2♥ A♠ 5♦ 9♠. Kausinis fired 325,000 from the hi-jack. Xinyin Xu made a raise to 700,000 and Kausinis folded. Round 1 to Xu.

A few hands later, a pot of 600,000 sat beside a board that showed 8♠ 8♦ 4♠ J♠ T♣. Kausinis fired 275,000 and Xu tanked before folding. Round 2 to Kausinis.

Let's see how this table feud unfolds.

Adam Martinsson made the 80,000 min-raise from the lo-jack and Jianfeng Sun defended the big blind for a flop of 5♣ 5♦ 8♥. Both checked to see a 9♦ on the turn. Sun led for 260,000 and Martinsson called to see a 9♣ river. Sun checked and Martinsson led out for 750,000. Sun surrendered.

We didn't catch the hand, but the chips were shipped to Adam Martinsson.

The fans of Yohwan "Boxer" Lim who were 'seriosly documenting' his poker progress yesterday will be disappointed to return to the Pullman Hai Phong Grand Hotel to see their star missing from the table.

Here we go!

The USOP Hai Phong Grand Finale Super High Roller will crown a champion today at the Grand Ballroom of the Pullman Hai Phong Grand Hotel!

160 entries built a prize pool of VND 12,032,000 (~USD 473,000) which is 5x the original offering. The 24 qualifiers, who went through nearly 14 hours of poker action yesterday when the bubble burst, will take their seats today assured of a minimum VND 150,000,000 (~VND 6,000) payout.

Of course, they will fight their way up the payout ladder for bigger and better prizes with the top payout of VND 2.77 Billion (~USD 106,000) and a golden USOP trophy await the champion.

Leading the field of 24 in the chip counts is Korea’s Lee Juyeol who amassed a top-ranked 3,100,000 chips from a starting stack of 200,000. Next in rank would be Liu Defeng with 2,645,000 chips. Rounding up the top three was Kilian Kramer with 2,470,000 chips.

Some of the notable players who've been having success in this USOP Hai Phong Grand Finale series, but were unable to advance to Day 2 were:

High Roller: Warm Up Winner John Edward Perry; Mini High Roller champion Su Shanhe; Mini High Roller Runner-Up Natalia Rozova; Sunday Superstack Final Table Finalist Wencheng Lin and Superstar Challenge third placer Leo Du Boisbaudry.

The field is open for new names and faces to make their mark in USOP history, and today is one of those days!