Fresh Faces at USOP Hai Phong

Only having been established in 2023, U Series of Poker has grown to become a popular stop for players all around the globe, with its previous showing at Da Nang, Vietnam being its largest one to date. While it took six months for the brand to make a return, its Hai Phong games drew in a worthy turnout with 1,507 entries in for the Main Event alone.

Across the Hai Phong festival, Somuchpoker was able to get up close with newcomers Jia Chi Lee, Jayden Zalac, Park Joong Kwan, and Zhichen Yu, for an inside look on their personal experience.

The first female crowned across the USOP Hai Phong series saw Taiwan’s Jia Chi Lee reign victorious across the Women’s Event. Lee outlasted the 29 entry field and claimed the VN₫ 70,104,000 (~US$ 2,850) top prize for her second career USOP title.

“It’s my second time to play in Vietnam. I like to play poker, so any tournament, I can go. I think Vietnam field is friendly.”, commented Lee following her victory.

“The Women’s field is the same.. I like to play poker, I just play the same way, men play better.”, she added.

SMP: Welcome to USOP! How are you finding your first experience here in Vietnam?
Zalac: I love it here in Vietnam, the tournaments are well scheduled. The dealers are always on point, the staff out front is great too. Everything, great experience, great food too. The typhoon at the start, but they recovered well.

SMP: Being an online player, Are you looking to transition more to live poker? How do you adapt to the changes?
Zalac: In the past couple years, I’ve mixed in some live but it has been mainly online. The past couple years online, it’s been a little bit of an adjustment with the slow pace. I think I need to remember to focus more on the table and watch what my opponents are doing. Otherwise, now I’m happy with mainly doing online and sometimes live here and there, especially more series here in Vietnam.

SMP: Can we expect to see you across more events in Asia? What other festivals do you plan to attend?
Zalac: Yes, 100%. I always be regularly in touch, especially Australia being sort of close by. Yeah, I’ll be in the mix regularly.

SMP: What brings you to USOP hearing that this is your major festival experience? How do you feel about it?
Park: I live in Vietnam currently. There was a big issue in the Saigon Poker room where I used to play so I checked out and I said I will try my first shot here in USOP. I was a bit excited and nervous but then I have my style of playing. I feel comfortable.

SMP: What made you play the Billionaire Club Challenge with such a high buy-in?
Park: I don’t like playing low cost buy-in tournaments because I think people all-in too often, so I wanted to play in higher stakes where they gamble less.. But then I saw myself gambling more.

SMP: What made you go into poker?
Park: I was an SAT tutor. I was like number 1 in Korea. I had this dream because I thought poker was something that I could do well. I thought I could use my talent in playing poker because I like joking around and tricking people with my face. So I saved up, and I think I saved up enough to become a poker player.

SMP: Where are you planning to head to after this event?
Park: I will be participating in all high stakes events. Like APT Taipei, Cyprus, EPT, and WSOP Paradise. Maybe Triton, if most of the famous players will go then I will play because my goal is to meet them once in the table.

Another newcomer, Zhichen Yu bagged two victories across the Hai Phong games, having shipped a Mini High Roller for VN₫ 382,900,000 (~US$ 15,560). Yu followed his win with another title at the 6-card PLO event for an additional VN₫ 60,340,000 (~US$ 2,450) in cashes. Relatively new to tournament poker, Yu’s success at this season’s USOP festivities stands to be an unforgettable feat for the Chinese runner.

“This is my first time playing in USOP. I only started playing this February. I played cash games before but I love to play MTT recently. Cash games and MTT’s are totally different games. My friend told me to come to try USOP, and I’ll be back again to this series.”, related Yu.

USOP Hai Phong – News
USOP Hai Phong – Main Event Updates
USOP Hai Phong – Schedule / Player Guide
USOP Hai Phong – Photos
USOP Hai Phong – Festival Results