From bubble to champion, Nishant Sharma wins Poker Dream Main Event in Vietnam
India’s Nishant Sharma has etched his spot in Poker Dream history after going from bubble boy to Main Event champion. Sharma shared,
“It’s very unreal. I was literally going home after getting bubbled but then I saw there were just three minutes left in the last flight of the Main Event, the Hyper Turbo. So I thought to myself I was playing good so why not. Let’s give one more try. And for some reason I’ve always been lucky at the fourth bullet.”
On the final day of registration, with three flights running, Sharma bubbled Flight F then found redemption at Flight H. Sharma went on to bag the second largest stack at the end of Day 2 and dominated the final day. He defeated Vietnam’s Ngo Quoc Phu at heads up to lock up an ICM deal payout of VN₫ 3,756,953,000 (~USD 147,720) and the new Poker Dream Main Event Dragon Trophy.
Read up on his road to victory via the live updates:
Poker Dream Vietnam 10 – Live Updates 2024: Main Event – Final Day
Poker Dream Main Event Review
The 10th edition of Poker Dream took place at New World Hoiana in Hoi An, Vietnam from April 29 to May 5, 2024. This marked the brand’s third visit to this stop, coinciding with its second year anniversary. Out of the 22 event schedule, the spotlight shined on the Main Event which drew 752 entries to generate a brand record prize pool of VN₫ 21,685,320,000 (~USD 852,670) in the country.
Buy in: VN₫ 36,000,000 (~USD 1,545)
Guaranteed: VN₫ 20,000,000,000 (~USD 789,110)
Entries: 752
Prize pool: VN₫ 21,685,320,000 (~USD 852,670)
ITM: 108 players
Final Day recap
From 106 players at Day 2, only 16 returned on the final day. One of the most consistent tournament deep runners, Vietnam’s Nguyen Quang Huy carried in the largest stack, India’s Nishant Sharma trailed by just 1 bb, and in the same neighborhood was Korean ace Namhyung Kim.
Leading up to the final table, Sharma dominated the action, eliminating Dmitrii Gnusaev (13th) and David Erquiaga (11th) to carry in a towering stack of 25% of the chips in play into the final table. Meanwhile, no action was seen from Nguyen and Kim swung then exited in 10th place.
As Sharma continued to dominate the final table, amassing 45% of the chips after cleaning out Danny Huynh in 8th place, he then proceeded to claim 70% of the chips by eliminating Raghav Bansal (4th) and Wang Xiaoyu (3rd).
Despite the massive advantage at heads up against Vietnam’s Ngo Quoc Phu, it was a hard closer with Ngo grinding to steal the lead. Sharma recovered and after a series of tugs, Sharma pulled ahead leading to the final hand. On a board showing 
, Ngo shoved 
, Sharma snap-called with 
higher straight.
Final 9 payouts
| Place | Player | Payouts in VN₫ | ~USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nishant Sharma | 3,756,953,000 | 147,720 |
| 2 | Ngo Quoc Phu | 2,734,647,000 | 107,520 |
| 3 | Wang Xiaoyu | 1,753,020,000 | 68,935 |
| 4 | Raghav Bansal | 1,320,900,000 | 51,943 |
| 5 | Nguyen Quang Huy | 1,047,100,000 | 41,176 |
| 6 | Popitukkul Sutipong | 799,100,000 | 31,424 |
| 7 | Huynh Danny | 572,400,000 | 22,509 |
| 8 | Minami Keita | 384,200,000 | 15,108 |
| 9 | Wu Yuanning | 300,800,000 | 11,829 |
For the full results, head to Poker Dream 10 Vietnam Festival Results
Poker Dream Vietnam 10 – 2024: Festival Results
