The Grand Loyal Poker Club was buzzing with action last week as players grabbed seats for the room’s first homegrown festival of the year. Running from March 7 to 13 was the Hanoi Spring Championship Series which drew a total of 1,092 entries across nine events and generated an overall prize pool exceeding VN₫ 5 Billion (~US$ 218,480).
Walking away the richest was Huỳnh Ngọc Cường for his victory at the Main Event. At the side games, the highest earners were Vũ Thái Bảo, Phan Trọng Linh, Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh, and Hái Lê. Here’s a look at all the results.
*All photos courtesy of Grand Loyal Poker Club
Main Event: HUỲNH NGỌC CƯỜNG – VN₫ 510,300,000 (~US$ 22,300)
Last year, Huỳnh Ngọc Cường delivered an outstanding performance at Asia Poker League Hanoi, shipping both the Main Event and Kickoff Event at the Grand Loyal Poker Club. This past Sunday, Huỳnh stunned the crowd once again by winning his career second Main Event title to bank the highest series payout of VN₫ 510,300,000 (~US$ 22,300). He also placed 5th at the K.O Bounty 2 event for VN₫ 4,800,000 (~US$ 210). These latest cashes boosted Huỳnh’s total live earnings on The Hendon Mob to US$ 91K.
The Main Event saw 390 take to the races and with buy in at VN₫ 6,600,000 (~US$ 288), the 1.3BN guarantee was history. In its place was a richer VN₫ 2,269,800,000 (~US$ 99,180) of which 49 players earned a cut. The final day kicked off with 59 in the field. Among them were notable pros Pham Bao, Tien Pham, and Macaron Tran. Anonymous player “Mr Sugar” carried in the biggest stack while eventual champion Huỳnh was way down in 37th rank. By the time the final table was formed, Mr Sugar dwindled to 15 BB and was first to depart in 8th place. Up top was Nguyễn Hồng Quận aka Charlie and Huỳnh was ranked 3rd.
After a lengthy six hours of play, Huỳnh eliminated Nguyễn Viêt Sơn in 3rd place to kick off the heads up round. Fairly close in stacks, Charlie had 40 BB and Huỳnh with 37 BB. On the first hand, Huỳnh overtook then proceeded to dominate the action throughout. Half an hour in, with Huỳnh far ahead at 61 BB to Charlie’s 18 BB, the final hand was tabled. Huỳnh had 
, Charlie with 
, the board ran 
for a crushing full house.
Dates: March 10 to 13
Buy in: VN₫ 6,600,000 (~US$ 288)
Guarantee: VN₫ 1,300,000,000 (~US$ 57,000)
Entries: 390
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,269,800,000 (~US$ 99,180)
ITM: 49 places
Final table payouts
1st Huỳnh Ngọc Cường – VN₫ 510,300,000
2nd Nguyễn Hồng Quận – VN₫ 305,000,000
3rd Nguyễn Viêt Sơn – VN₫ 210,000,000
4th Nguyễn Văn Chiến – VN₫ 157,000,000
5th Kimotsuki Koshihito – VN₫ 120,000,000
6th Trần Hoài Anh – VN₫ 93,000,000
7th Trần Thanh Vinh – VN₫ 74,000,000
8th Mr Sugar – VN₫ 58,000,000
Warm Up Event: NGUYỄN THỊ KIỀU ANH – VN₫ 152,000,000 (~US$ 6,640)
Excitement at the get-go with 355 pulling up seats to the series opener Warm Up Event. At VN₫ 2,200,000 (~US$ 96) buy in each, the 500M guarantee was given the boot for a heftier VN₫ 688,700,000 (~US$ 30,100) prize pool. Out of the top 54 players that reached the money, the largest pile went to Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh for her maiden victory. Nguyễn earned a career high VN₫ 152,000,000 (~US$ 6,640) and was awarded a trophy to commemorate her achievement.
Dates: March 7 to 10
Buy in: VN₫ 2,200,000 (~US$ 96)
Guarantee: VN₫ 500,000,000 (~US$ 17,500)
Entries: 355
Prize pool: VN₫ 688,700,000 (~US$ 30,100)
ITM: 54 places
Final table payouts
1st Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh – VN₫ 152,000,000
2nd Nguyễn Minh Hoàng – VN₫ 95,000,000
3rd Nguyễn Thái Dương – VN₫ 70,000,000
4th Lê Xuân Huy – VN₫ 52,000,000
5th Trần Anh Tuấn – VN₫ 39,000,000
6th Nguyễn Hữu Mạnh – VN₫ 29,000,000
7th Ngô Minh Tiến – VN₫ 21,500,000
8th Nguyễn Thùy Dương – VN₫ 16,000,000
Super High Roller: VŨ THÁI BẢO – VN₫ 292,000,000 (~US$ 12,760)
The second highest earner of the series was Super High Roller champion Vũ Thái Bảo who bested a field of 20 entries to clear a cool VN₫ 292,000,000 (~US$ 12,760). This was Vũ’s first known live win and largest recorded payout. Prior to his victory, Vũ’ cashed in 12th place at the Warm Up Event for a small score of VN₫ 9,800,000 (~US$ 428).
Dates: March 11 to 12
Buy in: VN₫ 33,000,000 (~US$ 1,442)
Entries: 20
Prize pool: VN₫ 582,000,000 (~US$ 25,430)
ITM: 3 places
Payouts
1st Vũ Thái Bảo – VN₫ 292,000,000
2nd Đào Minh Phú – VN₫ 174,000,000
3rd Teddy Phạm – VN₫ 116,000,000
Other results
High Roller Event
Date: March 10
Buy in: VN₫ 11,000,000 (~US$ 480)
Entries: 47
Prize pool: VN₫ 455,900,000 (~US$ 19,920)
ITM: 6 places
Winner: PHAN TRỌNG LINH – VN₫ 174,400,000 (~US$ 7,620)
Monster Stack
There was no shortage of action on the last day with the Monster Stack 300M guaranteed heating up the felt. In the rush, 120 entered for a smashing prize pool of VN₫ 480,000,000 (~US$ 21,000). Hái Lê claimed the biggest share worth VN₫ 138,600,000 (~US$ 6,056) for his victory. Based on his stats on The Hendon Mob, this was his first career win.
Date: March 13
Buy in: VN₫ 4,400,000 (~US$ 193)
Guarantee: VN₫ 300,000,000 (~US$ 13,150)
Entries: 120
Prize pool: VN₫ 480,000,000 (~US$ 21,000)
ITM: 15 places
Winner: HẢI LÊ – VN₫ 138,600,000 (~US$ 6,056)
K.O. Bounty 1
Date: March 7
Buy in: VN₫ 1,100,000 (~US$ 48)
Entries: 66
Main prize pool: VN₫ 32,010,000 (~US$ 1,400)
Bounty pool: VN₫ 33,000,000 (~US$ 1,440)
ITM: 8 places
Winner: VŨ VĂN QUYÊN – VN₫ 10,910,000 (~US$ 476)
K.O. Bounty 2
Date: March 11
Buy in: VN₫ 2,200,000 (~US$ 96)
Entries: 65
Main prize pool: VN₫ 63,050,000 (~US$ 2,755)
Bounty pool: VN₫ 65,000,000 (~US$ 2,840)
ITM: 8 places
Winner: ĐỖ TUẤN PHONG – VN₫ 21,150,000 (~US$ 924)
Deepstack Turbo
Date: March 9
Buy in: VN₫ 2,200,000 (~US$ 96)
Entries: 19
Prize pool: VN₫ 36,860,000 (~US$ 1,610)
ITM: 2 places
Winner: MAI BIỂN – VN₫ 25,860,000 (~US$ 1,130)
Hyper Turbo Event
Date: March 8
Buy in: VN₫ 1,100,000 (~US$ 48)
Entries: 10
Prize pool: VN₫ 9,700,000
Winner: DANIEL NGUYỄN – VN₫ 9,700,000 (~US$ 423)
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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