Strong & Savvy Opening For USOP Grand Finale In Hai Phong; Hung Xuan Ha, Travis Endersby Top Madness Flights; John Perry Among Side Winners

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The U Series of Poker is back again in Hai Phong, Vietnam to end the year with a better offering of poker events from its last visit. Already underway, the USOP Grand Finale booked the bigger and more luxurious Grand Ballroom of the Pullman Grand Hotel to host over 69 events and 27 satellites running from November 29 to Dec 1, 2024.

Destined to make history by offering a staggering VND 100 Billion (~USD 4 Million) guaranteed in prizes throughout several major poker tournaments in the next 13 days, this is the largest guarantee offered by any brand in the country. For this, a total of 70 poker tables fill the ballroom along with a stage to perch a very eye-catching setup that will be used to livestream final table action via the USOP Facebook page and YouTube channel.

USOP Grand Finale Is Underway

John Perry wins USOP Grand Finale SD High Roller — John Perry

On its opening day, the USOP Grand Finale ran two guaranteed events. The VND 1.28 Billion (~USD 50,500) guarantee was offered at the Single Day High Roller: Warm Up with the 105 entries ponying up the VND 44 Million (~USD 1,735) buy in pumping the guarantee over three times to VND 3,948,000,000 (~USD 155,700). A total of 16 places were paid with John Perry of Australia taking home the championship trophy after defeating Yu Chung Chang of Taiwan in a tough back and forth heads-up battle.

After playing several hands, Perry and Chang struck an ICM deal then played for the trophy. Perry won it and earned VND 839,282,000 (~USD 33,100) while Chang walked away with the higher payout of VND 909,318,000 (~US$ 35,850).

Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Flag	Payout in VND	Payout in USD
1	John Perry	Australia	839,282,000	33,113*
2	Yu Chung Chang	Taiwan	909,318,000	35,850*
3	Jiaming Zhao	China	428,600,000	16,910
4	Anh Tai Do	Vietnam	313,200,000	12,357
5	Quang Trinh Do	Vietnam	244,800,000	9,658
6	Trung Chien Nguyen	Vietnam	196,400,000	7,749
7	Hon Cheong Lee	Hong Kong	161,600,000	6,376
8	Quang Thang Do	Vietnam	132,800,000	5,239
9	Nguyen Dai Dong	Vietnam	110,000,000	4,340

The Madness Kickoff was also launched as the first multi-day event of the series, offering a guarantee of VND 10,000,000,000 (~USD 400,000). Two day one flights (Day 1A and Day 1B) were included in the day’s schedule.

Staying true to its name, a roaring crowd filled the room. Day 1A saw 212 entries complete the VND 11,000,000 (~USD 430) buy-in with 27 contenders bagging their chips to move on to the Day 2 Final. Day 1B had more customers with 277 entries and ended up with 35 going to the Day 2 Final on December 1, where all qualifiers are guaranteed at least a minimum payout from the prize pool.

Read up on the action via the SP Live Updates.

Day 1A chip count leader Hung Xuan Ha amassed a total of 567,000 chips. Duc Minh Nguyen followed with the second highest stack of 450,000. Rounding up the top three of the flight was Khanh Ngoc Nguyen with 369,000 chips.

Meanwhile, Day 1B was led by Graeme Travis Endersby who bagged 536,000 chips. Not that far behind was Hongru Zhang with 532,000 followed by third-ranked Wongyu Kang with 504,000.

Read up on the action via the SMP Live Updates.

Two more flights will be played on November 30 with more entries expected to push the prize pool beyond the guarantee. The full chip counts from both flights will be made available alongside the chip counts of the other qualifiers from the last two flights before entering Day 2.

Other side events were also on the opening day itinerary, such as the Double Board – Single Winner, which had 8 entries ponying up the VND 4.5 Million (~USD 177) buy-in to build a prize pool of VND 30,080,000 (~USD 1,180). Two places were supposed to be awarded the share of the prize pool, but a three-way split was agreed upon by the top 3 for VND 10,027,000 (~USD 395) with the trophy and the title up for grabs. The championship was won by Xin Xing Tang of China taking the USOP trophy. Second place went to Hong Nhung Nguyen of Vietnam and third place to Tianbo Jiang of China.

The 7-Handed Hyper Turbo also played out with 51 hopefuls paying the VND 4 Million entrance fee (~USD 160) to build a prize pool of VND 172, 584,000 (~USD 6,800). Six places were paid with the trophy and the champion’s purse of VND 70,000,000 (~USD 2,760) awarded to Haoran Sun of China after taking out Taiwan’s Tao-Wei Chang in a heads-up battle. Chang took home a runner-up payout of 40,000,000 (~USD 1,570).

There are still more exciting events to follow with a lot more prizes to be guaranteed. Click on the following links below for more information:

Links:

USOP Grand Finale – Schedule
USOP – Live Updates & News

Pullman Hotel in Hai Phong — Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai Phong

For those that plan to check out the city, outside of the Pullman Grand Hotel, Hai Phong itself is an idyllic city deep with Vietnamese culture and history. Vietnamese food, of course, is a highlight unto its own and Hai Phong offers a lot of variety not just among the local cuisine, but some of the more imaginative international fusion of culinary offerings. Be sure to check it out while in Hai Phong.

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Pullman Grand Hotel Hai Phong

Author:JJ Duque