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

Asia-Pacific
Live Poker
11/20/2023

superstar challenge winner 4

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.

nguyenquanghuy1

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.

superstar challenge final table

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 8c8h dodging over cards AcQh, later followed by AcAh dominating Ad10c.

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 As9d outdrawing Ad10c. Same as well for Jerome Tan (4th) who was ahead at the showdown with AcKc but Shin’s AdJd prevailed with three diamonds on the flop. To reach heads up, Shin out-flipped Mike Takayama (3rd) with AdKc pairing the King on the flop to dust JcJd.

Heads up: Nguyen Quang Huy vs Jaewook Shin

sschallengehup

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 Jh9d straight winning a big pot against Nguyen’s KcQd top pair on the turn.

Back on top with a 2:1 advantage, Shin went on to close it out wit Qh6c canceling out Nguyen’s 2d2c on a board running 10cJh8d10d8h. 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

1 Jaewook Shin ₫3,967,000,000
2 Nguyen Quang Huy ₫2,413,000,000
3 Mike Takayama ₫1,481,000,000
4 Win Meng “Jerome” Tan ₫1,043,200,000
5 Dylan Foster ₫758,600,000
6 Junhyoung Ki ₫635,800,000
7 Jeffrey Lo ₫534,600,000
8 Alan Pham ₫437,100,000
9 Alan Khoo ₫361,300,000
10 Seung Mook Jung ₫303,400,000
11 Le Ngoc Minh ₫303,400,000
12 Nam Hyung Kim ₫303,400,000
13 Hon Cheong Lee ₫260,100,000
14 John Perry ₫260,100,000
15 Victor Chong ₫260,100,000
16 Nguyen Trung Quan ₫231,200,000
17 Romain Dours ₫231,200,000
18 Hwany Lee ₫231,200,000
19 Masato Kashiwabara ₫216,700,000
20 Nguyen Nang Quang ₫216,700,000

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.

Author:triccia