2023 WSOP: Vietnam’s Thai Ha breaks curse, wins $1500 Short Deck for career first bracelet

Vietnamese online pro Thai Ha secured a long-awaited career milestone by clinching his very first gold bracelet at Event 83: $1500 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em.

Ha’s triumph came after two heart-wrenching runner-up finishes at the 2019 WSOP and WSOPE, where he fell just short in both the $10,000 Short Deck NLH and the €25,500 Short Deck High Roller NLH events. Topping a field of 363 entries, Ha mounted a comeback during heads up to claim the coveted gold and $111,170.

SMP: How does it feel to finally win a bracelet having come close a couple of times?

Thai Ha: It feels really good, a relief because I finished second twice in this same game that I love the most. I play so much Short Deck, I’m glad I won it. It was a long grind. I was behind at the start and we were so deep, like 200 ante deep, that we had to play slow. So ya it feels really good that I was able to grind it out and win it.

SMP: Showdowns are big at Short Deck, what hands swung the tide your way at heads up?

Thai Ha: There were two big hands, I had Jack-10 the nuts straight and he had 10-6 on a 7-8-9 board. Then the second one when I made a hero call with Jack-6 two pair on a Jack-6-7-8-King board. Those were the two biggest hands before the all in.

SMP: You mentioned Short Deck is your game of choice, how much of it do you play live and online?

Thai Ha: Right now I still play more online but I will start playing more live tournaments. The problem with Short Deck is that there aren’t that many live tournaments running. You just have to play very high stakes. Yesterday, this was the only Short Deck event running. So you have no choice but to play online.

SMP: Why is Short Deck your game of choice?

Thai Ha:There’s more action, it’s more fun and enjoyable. You get to play more hands. In No Limit the play is so slow and a long grind. This game at least you get to play many hands instead of fold most of the time.

SMP: What’s next for you?

Thai Ha: There’s the $10,000 Short Deck event in a few days, I will definitely play that one.

SMP: One last question, are you planning to attend any events in Asia?

Thai Ha:I don’t have Asia planned at the moment but we’ll see because Poker Dream will run some Short Deck events and I am in talks with them on running more Short Deck events. So possibly in the near future.

SMP: Thanks for taking the time Thai and congratulations!

Event details

Buy in: $1,500

Entries: 363

Prize pool: $484,605

ITM: 55 places

Final table payouts