Jaewook ‘Justin’ Shin clinches the record-breaking USOP Superstar Challenge for ₫3.96 Billion (~$163.5K)

After an intense ten hour race, South Korea’s Jaewook “Justin” Shin emerged as champion in the fiercely contested USOP Danang Superstar Challenge. He eliminated the last five players, defeatingVietnam ace Nguyen Quang Huy at heads up. Shin’s efforts over the two-day event earned him a live tournament career-best VN₫ 3,967,000,000 (~$163.5K). In a brief post-victory interview, the champion expressed,

“I feel very tired, it was very long. I don’t play live tournaments so much anymore because it’s long, I grind online. I came here because my brother invited me. It was a good decision. It was my biggest win, six figures, but I want more.” (laughs)

Despite the fatigue, Shin’s triumph appears to have reignited his interest in live tournaments as he now plans to continue playing in live events.

Not to be overlooked is runner up Nguyen who also deserved plenty of recognition. The Vietnamese high roller delivered another standout performance with a second near victory. On opening day, Nguyen missed the High Roller Warm Up title by one spot.

Shin climbs out of the hole

It was a hard-fought title for Shin who was down to just 8 bb at bubble time. In Day 2, he recovered by getting lucky twice. He first landed a double up with Ace-Ten outdrawing Ace-Queen, then shipped another double with pocket Nines improving to a set to survive against pocket Tens.

At the final table, Shin entered as near-bottom with 14 bb then proceeded to drop to 5 bb before staging his comeback. At seven-handed, he earned two double ups against Jeffrey Lo. The first was dodging over cards , later followed by dominating .

Shin on a knockout spree

Now a threat, Shin went on to eliminate the next five players to seize the win. Junhyoung Ki (6th) was first to go followed by Dylan Foster (5th) with outdrawing . Same as well for Jerome Tan (4th) who was ahead at the showdown with but Shin’s prevailed with three diamonds on the flop. To reach heads up, Shin out-flipped Mike Takayama (3rd) with pairing the King on the flop to dust .

Heads up: Nguyen Quang Huy vs Jaewook Shin

The final stretch took two grueling hours. Shin led 63 bb to Nguyen’s 27 bb but was unable to keep it intact. Nguyen evened it up then the two tugged at the lead numerous times. The tide shifted in Shin’s favor with straight winning a big pot against Nguyen’s top pair on the turn.

Back on top with a 2:1 advantage, Shin went on to close it out wit canceling out Nguyen’s on a board running . Shin’s Queen played.

Relive the final table race via the livestream link below.

The high-stakes thrill of the USOP Danang Superstar Challenge lived up to the hype, amassing a record-breaking 133 entries. This easily broke past the previous high turnout set by the brand of 94 entries and generated a jaw dropping VN₫ 14,449,100,000 (~$595,470) prize pool.

Date: November 19 to 20, 2023

Buy in: VN₫ 120,000,000 (~$5,074)

Guarantee: VN₫ 4,000,000,000 (~$164,850)

Entries: 133 (89 unique)

Prize pool: VN₫ 14,449,100,000 (~$595,470)

ITM: 20 places

USOP Danang is ongoing at Furama Resort in Danang, Vietnam. Games kicked off on November 17 and will conclude on November 27, 2023. More trophies to be won with 22 out of 53 events completed.