Germany’s Konstantin Held takes down USOP Hai Phong Billionaire Club Challenge
“It’s amazing, what’s special for me is, Josh Mccully, my good friend won this event the last time. Him and me are good friends, we chopped WPT Main Event, so me winning this trophy now feels good and I can’t wait to see him in a few weeks.”, commented Held following his win.
Listing the heftiest buy-in across the U Series of Poker Hai Phong lineup, the Billionaire Club Challenge drew in a total of 52 (40 unique) entries across twelve levels of registration, and saw only 17 hopefuls remain by the time the final numbers were in. Germany’s Konstantin Held towered over the field to start the day, having won a massive flip against Vietnam superstar Dao Minh Phu the night prior.
Armed with a commanding lead, Held coursed through the last four tables with ease, not once relinquishing the advantage. Held continued to chip up throughout the day with one of his biggest pots – K♦K♣ against 10♥10♣, having sent Nguyen Nang Quang headed for the rails three to the final table.
The German pro’s momentum ceased to falter all the way through, having wielded his massive stack with precision across the final table rounds. Held eliminated five of his opponents in quick fashion and closed out the win in just four hours of play. For his victory, Held takes with him VN₫ 4 Billion (~US$ 162K) in prizes, along with the last USOP Elite trophy across the Hai Phong series.
“I was obviously lucky, the first day I won two massive flips against a local legend for a lot of chips. You’ve gotta win those. Today was smooth sailing for the most part. When I needed to have it, I had it and when I was bluffing, people would fold. I won the all-ins on the final table and was just in an amazing position to always put pressure, no one could really do anything.”
Another impressive feat under his belt, the highly decorated pro has been crushing the scene all around, having won the inaugural WPT Cambodia Championship back in January and a WSOP bracelet win just earlier this month.
Date/s: September 19-20, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 250,000,000 (~US$ 10,000)
Guarantee: VN₫ 4,000,000,000 (~US$ 162,660)
Prize pool: VN₫ 11,731,200,000 (~US$ 477,070)
Entries: 52 (40 unique)
ITM: 8 places
Billionaire Club Challenge Full Payouts
1st Konstantin Held – VN₫ 4,000,000,000
2nd Cheng Mingcong – VN₫ 2,520,000,000
3rd Park Joong Kwan – VN₫ 1,650,000,000
4th Zheng Xiaosheng – VN₫ 1,114,600,000
5th Victor Chong – VN₫ 808,400,000
6th Nguyen Duc Anh – VN₫ 632,500,000
7th Nguyen Khoa Anh – VN₫ 525,700,000
8th Nguyen Albert Thien Loc – VN₫ 480,000,000
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