Record Breaking USOP Grand Finale Main Event Down To 27 Players; Jon Rounce-Sue Leads The Pack

The U Series of Poker – USOP Grand Finale witnessed a day of exciting moments filled with emotional highs and lows as Day 2 of the record breaking Main Event took charge of the Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai Phong, Vietnam. From a thunder of 1,958 entries, 240 returned to action, and just under twelve hours, the heat concluded with 27 players remaining. At the top of the leaderboard was New Zealand’s Jon Rounce-Sue with 10,525,000 (105 bb) in chips.

Read up on the action via the SMP Live Updates.

USOP Grand Finale Main Event

The USOP Grand Finale Main Event came out boasting of a VND 40 Billion guarantee and  after a record turnout of 1,958 entries, it smashed that figure to bits for a prize pool of VND 57,976,380,000 (~US$ 2,285,700). This was the largest prize pool in USOP Main Event history and in just several hours, it will award the largest first prize in USOP history of VND 9.2 Billion (~US$ 362,700).

That crowning will be seen on Monday, December 9 when the remaining 27 players return for the final race. With no past champion in the lineup, a new name will be added to the roster and become the 8th winner in USOP Main Event history. Be sure to follow the action via the live updates.

Main Event Review

• Date: December 5 to 9, 2024
• Venue: Pullman Grand Hotel, Hai Phong, Vietnam
• Buy in: VND 35,000,000,000 (~US$ 1,400)
• Guarantee: VND 40,000,000,000,000 (~US$ 1.576 Million)
• Entries: 1,958
• Prize pool: VND 57,976,380,000 (~US$ 2,285,700)
• ITM: 244 players

Jon Rounce-Sue Closes Day 2 As Chip Leader

Starting the day with a healthy 41 bb, New Zealand’s Jon Rounce-Sue was seen chipping up all day while eliminating several players along the way. Already leading the charts before the last hand of the day, Rounce outdrew Bao Qiang Ho into 28th place to widen his lead further and bag up over 105 bb.

Locking up second rank was the recently crowned Korea Poker Cup Main Event winner Joris Michl with 9,820,000 (98 bb), and to round out the top three was Aussie player, Ryan Hong with 7,265,000 (72 bb) in chips.

Players from Australia have been dominating the second half of the festival with Mai Nguyen bagging the Day 1C lead and eventually finishing in 84th place. Higher up the rung was the 2024 WPT Australia runner-up Travis Endersby in 32nd place. This was another commendable finish for Endersby who reached the final table of the record breaking Madness Kick Off event.

Impressively maintaining high rankings were Day 2 entering chip leaders Choi Hun Tae and Yankai Zhang, sitting ranked 4th and 5th. UK’s Jun Li must also be acknowledged having climbed up the rung from near bottom with 3 bb to a final day spot in 19th rank. Li will have to continue the hard work with just 14 bb entering the final day.

You can read up on the action via the USOP Grand Finale – Main Event Live Updates.

Player Of The Year Update

In other news, the Player of the Year race has a clear leader as of December 8, 2024. Taiwan’s Tao Wei Chang aka David Chang has 5,995 points, Nikolai Babushkin is ranked second with a distant 3,760 points, and in third rank is Xiaotong Yu with 3,680 points.

For those who may not know, Chang was the first ever USOP Player of the Series winner earning points since his strong run at the USOP season opener in Taiwan. With such a big lead, it will be exciting to see if anyone will be able to catch up.

The USOP POTY will be the first to clasp the exclusive 18K gold bracelet, frosted with 312 Mozambique diamonds.

Links:

USOP Grand Finale – Schedule
USOP Grand Finale- Photos
USOP GF – Festival Results