Malaysian player Ian Lee emerged victorious after a four hour heads up battle at the U Series of Poker – USOP Danang 2024 record breaking Main Event! With both Lee and runner up Phan Quang Thai aiming for the massive top prize, no deal was discussed. Lee walked away banking VN₫ 7,120,000,000 (~USD 287,677) and his first ever poker career title. This was the largest first prize payout ever awarded to a player at the USOP.
“I’ve been on a marathon for three days and three nights coz I played Day 1B, I dropped, Day 1C, I dropped. Then I played Day 1D which finished at like 5am. So for like three days, I slept for I think only ten hours. Look now, three days, three nights, and I am here. The feeling is so amazing it’s like after so many hours and opponents are all so great and very skillful. Really takes perseverance. First time in my life.”
Indeed, getting to heads up was no easy task with some of the biggest names in poker vying for every chip. From a record 1,702 entries, the final day opened with 18 players led by New Zealand’s Thomas Ward and UK’s Gabriel Carter. To maintain focus, Lee shared,
“The opponents are all very strong but I believe that poker is a mind sport, mind game, so all you need is perseverance. The mindset is so important, you need to stay alive, think positive. At every break I meditate, I calm my mind and focus and try to relax.”
As the final table commenced, Vietnam’s Phan Quang Thai emerged as the new frontrunner. Several busts later, at five-handed, Lee picked up momentum, cleaning out Fan Ying Kun (5th) and Ward (4th) to overtake with a massive lead. The stage was set for heads-up play after Phan eliminated Carter in 3rd place. Lee was ahead 2:1 with players both very deep however there were multiple chances for Lee to close it out early.
“I grinded him down slowly then I lost three flips, that was so crazy. So I changed strategy, I just shoved any cards, all in and all in because the blinds were quite big. My momentum came back.”
.The final hand was Lee 
, Phan 
, board ran 
. This milestone win was Lee’s career first poker major. So how will the champ celebrate, he says,
“I vowed that if I win, I will stop two things, one is vaping, smoking, bad vices.”
Read up on Lee’s victory via the Final Day live updates.
USOP Danang 2024 Main Event final results
The USOP Danang 2024 Main Event attracted a record field of 1,702 entries to build the richest USOP prize pool of VN₫ 44,575,300,000 (~USD 1,800,000). The top seven players became billionaires and the top four won the equivalent of USD six figures. Make sure to read up on the action via the Live Updates.
Date: March 28 to April 1, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 30,000,000 (~USD 1,235)
Guarantee: VN₫ 15,000,000,000 (~USD 614,500)
Total entries: 1,702
Prize pool: VN₫ 44,575,300,000 (~USD 1,800,000)
ITM: 213 players
Day 1 results
Day 1A: 366 entries (282 unique) / 46 ITM
Day 1B: 416 entries (314 unique) / 52 ITM
Day 1C: 587 entries (411 unique) / 73 ITM
Day 1D: 333 entries (241 unique) / 42 ITM
Final Day payouts
| Place | Player | Flag | VN₫ | ~USD |
| 1 | Ian Lee | Malaysia | 7,120,000,000 | 285,944 |
| 2 | Phan Quang Thai | Vietnam | 4,916,000,000 | 197,430 |
| 3 | Gabriel Carter | UK | 3,422,000,000 | 137,430 |
| 4 | Thomas Ward | New Zealand | 2,504,200,000 | 100,570 |
| 5 | Fan Ying Kun | China | 1,877,100,000 | 75,386 |
| 6 | Chun Hao Zhang | China | 1,512,000,000 | 60,723 |
| 7 | Truong Vu Tran Khanh | Vietnam | 1,230,700,000 | 49,426 |
| 8 | Buyu Sakurai | Japan | 960,300,000 | 38,566 |
| 9 | Alok Birewar | India | 712,800,000 | 28,627 |
| 10 | Anthony Lewis | USA | 501,300,000 | 20,133 |
| 11 | Do Tuan Phong | Vietnam | 501,300,000 | 20,133 |
| 12 | Le Giang Nam | Vietnam | 501,300,000 | 20,133 |
| 13 | Le Ngoc Minh | Vietnam | 389,400,000 | 15,639 |
| 14 | Hyo Seok Park | Korea | 389,400,000 | 15,639 |
| 15 | Seung Hun Ko | Korea | 389,400,000 | 15,639 |
| 16 | Tae Hyoeng Kim | Korea | 302,300,000 | 12,141 |
| 17 | Jun Ma | China | 302,300,000 | 12,141 |
| 18 | Chang Xiang Guang | Malaysia | 302,300,000 | 12,141 |
Links:
USOP Danang 2024 – News
USOP Danang 2024 – Festival Results
USOP Danang 2024 – Player of the Series Leaderboard
USOP Danang 2024 – Schedule
USOP Danang 2024 – Photo Gallery
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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