USOP: Poker2U Taiwan Series Main Event shatters guarantee, draws 1,043; Ching Wei Chen 陳靖惟 leads 132 players into Day 2
The first ever U Series of Poker live festival sponsored by popular online poker app Poker2U drew a massive turnout at the Main Event to easily shatter its TWD 10M guarantee. The largest crowd was seen on Friday, February 18, 2023 with Day 1C attracting 385 entries and Day 1D Turbo adding 196 more to the numbers. Combined with the 462 entries of the previous starters (Day 1A – 261, Day 1B 201), the inaugural event amassed a record field of 1,043 entries for an international event in Taiwan.
The inaugural title chase resumes on Saturday, February 18 at 1pm at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club). The 132 returning players are each guaranteed a piece of the bloated TWD 18,210,800 (~$600,200) prize pool. However, the goal is to reach the final table of 9 players and be one step closer to the glorious trophy and the hefty top prize. Today’s blinds increase at slower 50 minute pace.
The official prize pool and payout breakdown will be posted soon. Players are guaranteed a minimum TWD 29,800 return and the champion is slated to pocket an enormous TWD 3,060,000 (~$100,000).
Main Event numbers
Day 1A: 261 entries / 33 advanced
Day 1B: 201 entries / 26 advanced
Day 1C: 385 entries / 49 advanced
Day 1D (Turbo): 196 entries / 25 advanced
*Note there was one double qualifier, Chia Hsiang Ko, 119K will be removed from Day 2 play.
Buy in: TWD 20,000 (~$660)
Guarantee: TWD 10,000,000 (~$329,600)
Entries: 1,043
Prize pool: TWD 18,210,800 (~$600,200)
ITM: 133 players
Leading in the pack is Day 1C leader Carter Ching Wei Chen with a commanding 735,000 (123 BB) stack. This was another impressive performance by Chen who opened the series with a victory at the Kick Off event.
Trailing by 8 BB is Day 1D flight leader Peter Kok Wai Sim who will bring in the second largest stack 672,000 (112 BB). To round out the top three is Yuan Qi Mai with 599,000 (100 BB). Mai enjoyed a late day surge to earn his high rank. The top three are the only players entering with 100 BB and more.
Notables making it through at the final stretch were Taiwanese high roller Justin Chi Jen Chu, WSOP Online bracelet winner Siyang Phua, online satellite winner Murat Yesniyazov, and USOP Ambassador David Erquiaga, who survived a called shove during the bubble round.
You can read up on the Day 1 action and follow today’s race via the Live Updates.
Day 2 starting chip counts
Chips in play: 31,171,000
Average: 236,143
Opening blinds: 3,000-6,000, 6,000 BB Ante
Time: 1pm
Level intervals: 50 minutes
| Player | Flag | Chips | BB | |
| Ching Wei Chen | 陳靖惟 | Taiwan | 735,000 | 123 |
| Kok Wai Sim | Malaysia | 672,000 | 112 | |
| Yuan Qi Mai | 麥元祈 | Taiwan | 599,000 | 100 |
| Edwin Dela Cruz | Philippines | 573,000 | 96 | |
| Hsiao Molly | 蕭又寧 | Taiwan | 551,000 | 92 |
| Xin Hua Lai | 賴新華 | Singapore | 548,000 | 91 |
| Hong Che Wang | 王洪哲 | Taiwan | 508,000 | 85 |
| Hieu Tran | Australia | 501,000 | 84 | |
| Yu You Ci Tsai | 蔡余有騏 | Taiwan | 484,000 | 81 |
| Chun Liang Kuo | 郭俊良 | Taiwan | 483,000 | 81 |
| Kar Hou Lin | 林嘉浩 | Malaysia | 468,000 | 78 |
| Carter Chen | Singapore | 463,000 | 77 | |
| Kuan Han Chen | 陳冠翰 | Taiwan | 452,000 | 75 |
| Duhan Lee | Korea | 436,000 | 73 | |
| Yao Yu Ho | 何曜宇 | Taiwan | 430,000 | 72 |
| Yu Che Liu | 劉運哲 | Taiwan | 425,000 | 71 |
| Chi Jen Chu | 朱啟仁 | Taiwan | 411,000 | 69 |
| Anton Lu | Australia | 410,000 | 68 | |
| Kwong Yuen Pang | Malaysia | 410,000 | 68 | |
| Siyang Phua | Singapore | 401,000 | 67 | |
| Fu Bang Huang | 黃富邦 | Taiwan | 392,000 | 65 |
| Yao Wei Huang | 黃耀緯 | Taiwan | 391,000 | 65 |
| Joseph Chan | Singapore | 389,000 | 65 | |
| Shannon Lee | 李漢權 | Singapore | 381,000 | 64 |
| Noel Llamedo | Philippines | 372,000 | 62 | |
| Yu Sheng Lin | 林祐聖 | Taiwan | 370,000 | 62 |
| Chih I Fang | 房志毅 | Taiwan | 369,000 | 62 |
| Kun Han Lee | 李昆翰 | Taiwan | 362,000 | 60 |
| Zac Duce | Australia | 362,000 | 60 | |
| Siu Ren Chen | 陳信任 | Taiwan | 345,000 | 58 |
| Tsung Ying Lee | 李宗英 | Taiwan | 336,000 | 56 |
| Chun Kit Lee | 李俊傑 | Hong Kong | 332,000 | 55 |
| Hong Leong Kho | 辜宏亮 | Malaysia | 329,000 | 55 |
| Lai Heng Foo | Malaysia | 320,000 | 53 | |
| Jason Lau Wai Kit | Malaysia | 316,000 | 53 | |
| Ljia Song Liu | 劉家菘 | Taiwan | 312,000 | 52 |
| Sin Rong Cion | 邱信融 | Taiwan | 305,000 | 51 |
| Michael Kravitz | United States | 304,000 | 51 | |
| Chin Yao Wang | 王靖堯 | Taiwan | 303,000 | 51 |
| Chien Fa Chou | 周建發 | Taiwan | 299,000 | 50 |
| Tiong Lek Lim | Malaysia | 292,000 | 49 | |
| Yung Bing Chu | 祝永斌 | Taiwan | 286,000 | 48 |
| Ori Kossonogi | Israel | 282,000 | 47 | |
| Li Wei Sun | 孫立偉 | Taiwan | 280,000 | 47 |
| Chi Han Hsieh | 謝其翰 | Taiwan | 279,000 | 47 |
| Tak Chung Yan | USA | 277,000 | 46 | |
| Kuan Yu Chen | 陳冠宇 | Taiwan | 274,000 | 46 |
| Lai Koon Lim | 林來昆 | Singapore | 273,000 | 46 |
| Murat Yesniyazov | Kazakhsatan | 269,000 | 45 | |
| Shen Sun Chou | 周學聖 | Taiwan | 267,000 | 45 |
| Tzu Yuan Fu | 傅子袁 | Taiwan | 263,000 | 44 |
| Yan Jie Wu | 吳彥杰 | Taiwan | 251,000 | 42 |
| Chien Te Lee | 李建德 | Taiwan | 251,000 | 42 |
| Wei Kai Lin | 林煒凱 | Taiwan | 246,000 | 41 |
| Chris Chen | 陳炫堯 | Taiwan | 244,000 | 41 |
| Yao Te Tsai | 蔡耀德 | Taiwan | 243,000 | 41 |
| Jack Lim | Malaysia | 241,000 | 40 | |
| Beng Wei Ong | Malaysia | 240,000 | 40 | |
| Chien Cjih Weng | 翁芊智 | Taiwan | 239,000 | 40 |
| Hua Wei Lin | 林華薇 | Taiwan | 231,000 | 39 |
| Nien Heng Li | 李念恆 | Taiwan | 230,000 | 38 |
| Kong Seong Su | Korea | 228,000 | 38 | |
| Yu Huan Ting | 丁郁桓 | Taiwan | 226,000 | 38 |
| Hyun Sup Kim | Korea | 226,000 | 38 | |
| Enoch Tan | Malaysia | 216,000 | 36 | |
| Kun Tai Lu | 盧坤泰 | Taiwan | 215,000 | 36 |
| Chih Wei Chen | 陳志惟 | Taiwan | 211,000 | 35 |
| John Koh | Singapore | 210,000 | 35 | |
| Tung Jung Wu | 吳東融 | Taiwan | 209,000 | 35 |
| Lin Xhen Tan | Malaysia | 196,000 | 33 | |
| Chin Wei Lim | Malaysia | 193,000 | 32 | |
| Zhan Shuo Guo | 郭展碩 | Taiwan | 192,000 | 32 |
| Tharit Nanthana | Thailand | 187,000 | 31 | |
| Che Man Lin | 林哲漢 | Taiwan | 186,000 | 31 |
| Chang Le Lin | 林長樂 | Taiwan | 182,000 | 30 |
| Yong Hing Foo | 符永慶 | Malaysia | 181,000 | 30 |
| Eric Chan | Malaysia | 180,000 | 30 | |
| Yuanxi Chen | Singapore | 179,000 | 30 | |
| Ang Yang Siang | 洪揚翔 | Malaysia | 175,000 | 29 |
| Leaw Norman | Malaysia | 173,000 | 29 | |
| Tong Tan | 陳同 | Singapore | 168,000 | 28 |
| Sheng Wei Huang | 黃聖洧 | Taiwan | 164,000 | 27 |
| Chia Hsiang Ko | 柯家翔 | Taiwan | 162,000 | 27 |
| Sei Gai Kou | 黃政凱 | Japan | 157,000 | 26 |
| Sukumar Letchmunan | Malaysia | 157,000 | 26 | |
| 黃竹頤 | Taiwan | 150,000 | 25 | |
| Kean Wei Tan | 陳建偉 | Malaysia | 149,000 | 25 |
| Chih Yang Chen | 陳智揚 | Taiwan | 145,000 | 24 |
| Teng Kuei Hsu | 許登貴 | Taiwan | 145,000 | 24 |
| Meng Xuan Ang | Singapore | 140,000 | 23 | |
| Mei San Ang | Singapore | 136,000 | 23 | |
| Krit Skulgunbundit | Thailand | 134,000 | 22 | |
| Jason Tang | 唐杰森 | Taiwan | 133,000 | 22 |
| Kai Rong Wong | Malaysia | 131,000 | 22 | |
| Ashcey Quek | Singapore | 129,000 | 22 | |
| Tsun Shing Hui | 許晉誠 | Hong Kong | 128,000 | 21 |
| Wei Chen Liu | 劉威辰 | Taiwan | 128,000 | 21 |
| Andrew Yeo | 楊凱臣 | Singapore | 127,000 | 21 |
| Chuang Chie Kuan | Taiwan | 125,000 | 21 | |
| Chang Ming Lo | 羅章銘 | Taiwan | 122,000 | 20 |
| Lan Li | 李藍 | Singapore | 122,000 | 20 |
| Tien Loon Ling | 林夫倫 | Malaysia | 119,000 | 20 |
| Hon Cheong Lee | 李翰鏘 | Hong Kong | 116,000 | 19 |
| Diego Iglesias | Spain | 104,000 | 17 | |
| Jason Lee | Malaysia | 100,000 | 17 | |
| Jian Yu Su | 蘇建宇 | Taiwan | 100,000 | 17 |
| Ariuntemuujin Mvagmasueren | Mongolia | 98,500 | 16 | |
| David Erquiaga | Philippines | 97,000 | 16 | |
| Chih Feng Li | 李志峯 | Taiwan | 96,000 | 16 |
| Xiang Guang Chang | 曾祥光 | Malaysia | 95,000 | 16 |
| Wai Kiat Lee | Malaysia | 92,000 | 15 | |
| Jason Kah Chon | Malaysia | 90,000 | 15 | |
| Ming Juen Teoh | Malaysia | 89,000 | 15 | |
| Hao Ran Lee | 李浩然 | Taiwan | 89,000 | 15 |
| Chi Jen Chen | 陳紀任 | Taiwan | 87,000 | 15 |
| Jia Xiang Li | 李嘉祥 | Taiwan | 85,000 | 14 |
| Kar Sing Thong | Malaysia | 85,000 | 14 | |
| Darryl Boo | Malaysia | 82,000 | 14 | |
| Keng I Lin | Taiwan | 79,000 | 13 | |
| Kristof Segers | Belgium | 73,000 | 12 | |
| Yong Xin Shen | 沈永鑫 | Singapore | 70,000 | 12 |
| Benedict Koh | Singapore | 70,000 | 12 | |
| Chain Ru Chuang | 莊承儒 | Taiwan | 64,000 | 11 |
| Hung Cheng Lin | 林紘正 | Taiwan | 63,000 | 11 |
| Daniel Lim | 林坤廷 | Singapore | 61,000 | 10 |
| Meng Lin Lin | 林孟伶 | Taiwan | 57,000 | 10 |
| Hsiao Chung Wu | 吳孝忠 | Taiwan | 52,000 | 9 |
| Yan Chen Jiang | 江彥辰 | Taiwan | 36,000 | 6 |
| Wei Heng Pan | 潘暐衡 | Taiwan | 33,000 | 6 |
| Yang Yi Ang | 洪揚義 | Malaysia | 33,000 | 6 |
| Shi Hung Kao | 高示紘 | Taiwan | 33,000 | 6 |
| Fung Kong | 江豐 | Hong Kong | 3,000 | 1 |
