SOMUCHPOKER

USOP Taiwan Day 3 highlights: Clement Haro, Ying Zhe Huang, Chia Yun Wu, Wei Jen Wang win trophies; SS challenge down to final 9

SMP Editor
SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief
usoptaiwan 6
usoptaiwan 6

To date, the theme of the festival has been first time U Series of Poker (USOP) winners. That trend continued with Clement Haro, Ying Zhe Huang, Chia Yun Wu, Wei Jen Wang, and Tan Ong Kwan claiming trophies on Day 3 of festivities. In addition, the Superstar Challenge bagged up at the Final 9 led by UK’s Matthew Belcher. Here are the highlights.

CLEMENT HARO scores a mil at Mystery Bounty

clementharo 2
clementharo 2

French Poker Team “Cimitarra” is off to a great start with their very own Clement Haro rising from 9 bb at the final table to champion at the Mystery Bounty.

“It feels good to win, especially when friends are around! It’s my first win in live. Effectively I started the FT with 9 bb. I can’t say that I owned my opponents post-flop or that I put a lot of pressure by 3-betting light, I just pushed my stack many times on the middle and got lucky.”

For Haro’s maiden live title, he pocketed NTD 768,600 plus 6 bounties amounting to NTD 337,000 (one bounty was the second largest worth NTD 250K), for a career high grand total payout of NTD 1,105,600 (~USD 35,700). He became the first player to win NTD seven figures!

Wai Huen Lee draws biggest bounty

leewaihuen 4
leewaihuen 4

Hong Kong’s Wai Huen Lee was the most envied player after he drew the lone big bounty reward of NTD 450,000 (~USD 14,470). Lee earned NTD 25,900 for 27th place plus two bounty rewards to bring his grand total payout to NTD 555,900 (~USD 17,950) putting him top five in winnings.

Date: January 5 to 7, 2024

Buy in: NTD 16,500 (~USD 530)

Guarantee: NTD 3,000,000 (~USD 96,450)

Total entries: 388

Total prize pool: NTD 5,645,400 (~USD 181,510)

ITM: 49 players

*Payouts do not include bounties

Rank

Player

Flag

Payout in NTD

1

Clement Haro

France

768,600

2

Tsu Lin Tsao

Taiwan

538,000

3

John Perry

Australia

345,000

4

Chien Yun Wang

New Zealand

228,000

5

Justin Jerome Geronimo

Philippines

176,000

6

Chang Huan Bin

Malaysia

146,000

7

Kean Wei Tan

Malaysia

122,000

8

Kuanyu Lin

Taiwan

99,500

9

Gingyu Huang

Taiwan

77,000

10

Zhe Ming Lee

Taiwan

64,500

11

Zong Chi He

Taiwan

64,500

12

Chih Wei Chen

Taiwan

64,500

13

Po Yuan Huang

Taiwan

54,300

14

Yong Jie Syu

Taiwan

54,300

15

Shao Hong Yu

Taiwan

54,300

16

Chang Hau Huang

Taiwan

44,500

17

Jamel Sarray

Italy

44,500

18

Kar Wee Chee

Malaysia

44,500

19

Hsien Lee Chiu

Taiwan

37,100

20

Ryuji Ito

Japan

37,100

21

Justin Tsui

Australia

37,100

22

Kai Yi Sun

China

30,800

23

Jae Won Choi

Hong Kong

30,800

24

Yiu Cheong Ho

Hong Kong

30,800

25

Edwin Dela Cruz

Philippines

25,900

26

Masato Nagamine

Japan

25,900

27

Wai Huen Lee

Hong Kong

25,900

28

Jian Yu Chen

Taiwan

21,100

29

Kyle Bao Diep

Vietnam

21,100

30

Nguyen Dieu Phuong Linh

Vietnam

21,100

31

Yu Hsiu Juan

Taiwan

21,100

32

Fan Yu Tseng

Taiwan

21,100

33

Aladin Reskallah

France

21,100

34

Chau Hau Tsai

Taiwan

21,100

35

Chien Fa Chou

Taiwan

21,100

36

Chieh Chi Liu

Taiwan

21,100

37

Li Han Huang

Taiwan

19,300

38

Yu Kai Wang

Taiwan

19,300

39

Yu Hua Chang

Taiwan

19,300

40

Tse An Lee

Singapore

19,300

41

Lin Nien Heng

Taiwan

19,300

42

Jasper Liu

Taiwan

16,300

43

Patrick Liang

Taiwan

19,300

44

Hong Yu Hsieh

Taiwan

19,300

45

Jun Li

United

19,300

46

Yi Hsiang Lu

Taiwan

17,600

47

Le Ngoc Minh

Vietnam

17,600

48

Chi Jen Chen

Taiwan

17,600

49

Tao Chu

Taiwan

17,600

Superstar Challenge – Final Table

The biggest names in the APAC circuit came out for the Superstar Challenge with 62 ponying up the NTD 160,000 (~USD 5,120) buy in.

punnat 3
punnat 3

Among the new high roller arrivals were Triton champions Punnat Punsri, Webster Chin Wei Lim, South Korea’s Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim, and France’s Anthony Cierco.

The Superstar Challenge was the most expensive event scheduled. The prize pool surged to NTD 9,021,000 (~USD 291,330) with the top 10 earning a cut.

usoptaiwansschallengeft
usoptaiwansschallengeft

Day 1 bagged up at the final 9 players led by UK’s Matthew Belcher with 36 bb. Also in the lineup, sitting with the second largest stack was Vietnam’s Hoang Hai Nam. He will be looking to score his second Superstar Challenge title.

The remaining players are guaranteed to earn NTD 306,700 (~USD 9,900) each. Awaiting the eventual winner is a mighty NTD 3,067,000 (~USD 99,000) first prize. Action resumes on Monday, January 8 at 2:15pm. Follow the action via the livestream on U Series of Poker YouTube channel.

Date: January 7 to 8, 2024

Buy in: NTD 160,000 (~USD 5,120)

Guarantee: NTD 3,500,000 (~USD 113,030)

Entries: 62

Prize pool: NTD 9,021,000 (~USD 291,330)

ITM: 10 places

Chips in play: 12,400,000

Average stack: 1,377,778 (23 bb)

Final table opening blinds: 30,000-60,000 ante 60,000

Final Table by chip rank – 9 players

Seat

Player

Flag

Stack

BB

6

Matthew Belcher

UK

2,185,000

36

2

Nam Hai Hoang

Vietnam

2,055,000

34

5

Samuel Wilkinson

UK

1,980,000

33

1

Chia Hsiang Ko

Taiwan

1,480,000

25

3

Yan Wen Yee

Malaysia

1,400,000

23

9

Chih Wei Fan

Taiwan

1,310,000

22

4

Kean Wei Tan

Malaysia

800,000

13

7

Anton Lu

Australia

665,000

11

8

Punnat Punsri

Thailand

535,000

9

YING ZHE HUANG wins first USOP title at Sunday Super Stack

yingzhehuang
yingzhehuang

Local player Ying Zhe Huang made his mark at the Sunday Super Stack, outlasting a roaring 187 entry field for a career high payout of NTD 501,000 (~USD 16,180). This amount lone was more than double his current live earnings!

Impressive run as well for 2nd placer, Junya Matsukawa, earning his first ever live tournament payout of NTD 341,800 (~USD 11,040).

Date: January 7, 2024

Buy in: NTD 12,000 (~USD 385)

Guarantee: NTD 1,000,000 (~USD 32,150)

Entries: 187

Prize pool: NTD 1,977,200 (~USD 63,570)

ITM: 24 places

Rank

Player

Flag

Payout in NTD

1

Ying Zhe Huang

Taiwan

501,000

2

Junya Matsukawa

Japan

341,800

3

Chun Yu Yang

Taiwan

202,700

4

Zi Wei Tung

Taiwan

123,300

5

Yu Fan Tsai

Taiwan

95,000

6

Paul Yugendra

Singapore

78,900

7

Yu Yong Lin

Taiwan

67,200

8

Yuto Tamaki

Japan

58,600

9

Sheng Hong Yu

Taiwan

50,300

10

Ching Chia Lin

Taiwan

43,300

11

Kennie Tay

Singapore

43,300

12

Jun Li

United

43,300

13

36,600

14

Liang Sheng Yeh

Taiwan

36,600

15

John Tech

Philippines

36,600

16

30,400

17

Ai Ming Johnson

Singapore

30,400

18

Joe Chen

Taiwan

30,400

19

John Jay Magadan

Philippines

24,200

20

Thai Nguyen

Vietnam

24,200

21

Le Vu

Vietnam

24,200

22

Ming Jie Wu

Taiwan

18,300

23

Jihua Zhang

Taiwan

18,300

24

Cheli Lin

Taiwan

18,300

First win in 2024 for CHIA YUN WU at Short Deck

chiayunwu
chiayunwu

Considerably one of the most well known local players is Chia Yun Wu, winner of multiple Taiwan Millions Tournament (TMT) awards including Player of the Year numerous times. Wu added another feather to his cap after besting the 17 entry field of the Short Deck event for his first ever USOP title.

Date: January 7, 2024

Buy in: NTD 15,000 (~USD 480)

Entries: 17

Prize pool: NTD 222,700 (~USD 7,190)

ITM: 3 places

Rank

Player

Flag

Payout in NTD

1

Wu Chia Yun

Taiwan

111,400

2

Chun Nam Fung

Hong Kong

66,800

3

Shao Me Yang

Taiwan

44,500

TAN ONG KWAN wins first USOP title at Turbo

tanongkwan
tanongkwan

After five USOP final tables last year, Malaysia’s Tan Ong Kwan finally closed one out. Tan bested the 84 entry field of the Turbo event to claim his first ever live title and a payout of NTD 136,600 (~USD 4,400).

Date: January 7, 2024

Buy in: NTD 6,000 (~USD 190

Entries: 84

Prize pool: NTD 423,700 (~USD 13,683)

ITM: 11 places

Rank

Player

Flag

Payout in NTD

1

Tan Ong Kwan

Malaysia

136,600

2

Kuo Chen Hung

Taiwan

82,600

3

Yiu Cheong Ho

Hong Kong

51,400

4

Tsu Lin Tsao

Taiwan

34,700

5

Masato Nagamine

Japan

26,500

6

Yi Min Chang

Taiwan

21,200

7

Yunying Jheng

Taiwan

17,600

8

Oroku Maon

Japan

14,800

9

Takahito Oikawa

Japan

13,700

10

Peter Lin

Australia

12,700

11

Sebastian Tan

Singapore

11,900

WEI JEN WANG wins first USOP title at Double Board – Single Winner

weijenwang
weijenwang

The night wrapped up with another speedy and fun event, the Double Board – Single Winner, which was first introduced at USOP Da Nang. The event drew 39 runners. Taiwan dominated, claiming all five payouts. At the top was Wei Jen Wang for his first ever USOP title.

Date: January 7, 2024

Buy in: NTD 5,000 (~USD 160)

Entries: 39

Prize pool: NTD 166,500 (~USD 5,375)

ITM: 5 places

Rank

Player

Flag

Payout in NTD

1

Wei Jen Wang

Taiwan

68,300

2

Pi Ying Hsu

Taiwan

41,600

3

Tim Yeh Yeh Szu

Taiwan

25,000

4

Yang Jie Xu

Taiwan

18,300

5

Yuan Hsu Lee

Taiwan

13,300

USOP Taiwan 2024

Following a booming 2023, USOP opens the new year with a bigger and richer Taiwan festival. Compared to its launch last year, the schedule has increased from 23 trophy events to45 trophy events. With three days in the books, 13 have already been claimed. Time to win yours! Buy ins range from NTD 5,000 (~USD 160) up to NTD 160,000 (~USD 5,120).

usoptaiwantrophy 4 1
usoptaiwantrophy 4 1

In partnership with theChinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP),the festival runs fromJanuary 5 to 15, 2024 at the largest brick and mortar poker room in the region, Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City.

Main Event coming up!

In just a few days, the festival’s crown jewel MAIN EVENT will take the spotlight featuring a NTD 15,000,000 (~US$ 478,270) guarantee. Four entry flights are scheduled startingJanuary 11. Event runs until January 15. Buy in set at NTD 33,000 (~USD 1,075).

Links:

USOP Taiwan – Coverage
USOP Taiwan – Player Guide

*All photos by USOP and CTP

About the Editor

SMP Editor

The SMP Editor covers international poker and iGaming for SoMuchPoker, providing news, tournament coverage, and industry insights. With a focus on accuracy, clarity, and relevance, the editor helps readers stay informed about developments across the global poker community.