USOP Taiwan Day 5 highlights: 95 advance at Mini Main; Jeong Yim leads HR Megastack; Romain Bier, Yun Li win trophies

Asia-Pacific
Live Poker
01/09/2024

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U Series of Poker (USOP) wrapped up another exciting day at the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan. On Day 5, the room was quickly abuzz as the Mini Main drew a large crowd to well exceed its guarantee and high-profile players flocked for the High Roller Megastack. The day closed with Chau Hau Tsai and Jeong Yim as chip leaders, Romain Bier scoring a career third USOP title, and Yun Li locking up her first USOP win. Here are the highlights.

Mini Main Event – update

The final two entry flights of the Mini Main brought a surge of 546 entrants. With an initial 201 joining on Day 1A, the cumulative entries soared to an impressive 747. This more than tripled up the NTD 2 Million prize pool, reaching a substantial NTD 6,521,300 (~USD 210,600).

As the day concluded, 69 players secured their spots, making a total of 95 players advancing to the Day 2 / ITM round. Taiwan’s Chau Hau Tsai claimed the overall chip lead with 107 bb, closely followed by Hong Kong’s Alan Lau King Lun with 102 bb. UK’s Thomas Liffick rounded out the top three with 99 bb.

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Alan Lau King Lun

Play resumes on Wednesday, January 10 at 12:15pm. Everyone is guaranteed a piece of the boosted pot, for the eventual champion, a seven figure NTD payout awaits. We will have the official prize posted once it has been made available.

Date: January 7 to 9, 2024
Buy in: NTD 10,000 (~USD 320)
Guarantee: NTD 2,000,000 (~USD 64,663)
Entries: 747
Prize pool: NTD 6,521,300 (~USD 210,600)
ITM: 95 advance

Chips in play: 22,410,000
Average stack: 235,895
Day 2 openingblinds: 4,000-8,000 ante 8,000

Player 姓名 Flag Stack BB
Chau Hau Tsai 蔡少華 Taiwan 852,000 107
Lau King Lun Alan Lau King Lun Alan Hong Kong 817,000 102
Thomas Liffick Thomas Liffick UK 789,000 99
Kai Liang Chang 張凱量 Taiwan 668,000 84
Zi Wei Tung 童梓惟 Taiwan 622,000 78
Yu Yong Lin 林煜湧 Taiwan 571,000 71
Chris Shiao 蕭淳瑋 Taiwan 563,000 70
Jung Chou Chen 陳榮州 Taiwan 558,000 70
Li Wei Wang 王立為 Taiwan 552,000 69
Zhi Yu Wang 王智宇 Australia 545,000 68
John Jay Magadan John Jay Magadan Philippines 533,000 67
Wing Sze Ho 何詠詩 Hong Kong 515,000 64
Rundulf Martin Gonzales Rundulf Martin Gonzales Philippines 444,000 56
Yan Xin Ng 黃衍心 Singapore 406,000 51
Hsin Hui Peng 彭新輝 Taiwan 351,000 44
Fan Yu Tseng 曾凡語 Taiwan 350,000 44
Ging Yu Huang 黃敬淯 Taiwan 346,000 43
Dexter Santos Dexter Santos Philippines 345,000 43
Cheng En Tsai 蔡承恩 Taiwan 336,000 42
Chien Hsiang Hung 洪健祥 Taiwan 324,000 41
Chih Feng Li 李志峯 Taiwan 317,000 40
Kai Jan Chou 周楷然 Taiwan 311,000 39
Yan Wen Yee Yan Wen Yee Malaysia 308,000 39
Nguyen Thanh Phat Nguyen Thanh Phat Australia 304,000 38
Xiang Guang Chang Xiang Guang Chang Malaysia 298,000 37
Jereld En Zhi Sam 沈恩至 Singapore 298,000 37
Tzu Shiang Chen 陳梓翔 Taiwan 283,000 35
Chun An Chou 周俊諳 Taiwan 280,000 35
Jennifer Cassell Jennifer Cassell Australia 280,000 35
Chia Ta Tsai 蔡佳達 Taiwan 279,000 35
Federico Faranda Federico Faranda Germany 268,000 34
Meng Song Kuo 郭孟松 Taiwan 261,000 33
Shao Hung You 游少鴻 Taiwan 260,000 33
Jhan Sing Lai 賴展興 Taiwan 255,000 32
Ya Ting Chou 周雅婷 Taiwan 254,000 32
Duc Kien Tran Duc Kien Tran Vietnam 249,000 31
Leong Juns Leong Juns Malaysia 240,000 30
Kuan An Chen 陳冠安 Taiwan 238,000 30
Chien Wei Lin 林健偉 Taiwan 234,000 29
楊翔安 楊翔安 Taiwan 228,000 29
Oliver Schulze Oliver Schulze Germany 223,000 28
Meng Ling Lin 林孟伶 Taiwan 206,000 26
Kuo Wei Kao 高國崴 Taiwan 205,000 26
Pak Hei Chan 陳柏熙 Hong Kong 204,000 26
Fu An Huang 黃福田 Taiwan 198,000 25
Chih Wei Chen 陳志惟 Taiwan 182,000 23
Kuang Hung Lee 李光紘 Taiwan 181,000 23
Choi Yun Lam Kevin Choi Yun Lam Kevin Hong Kong 177,000 22
Yashiro Naoki Yashiro Naoki Japan 176,000 22
Napat Buranatavonsom Napat Buranatavonsom Thailand 173,000 22
Shmuel Yacov Aizih Shmuel Yacov Aizih Israel 173,000 22
Masato Nagamine Masato Nagamine Japan 160,000 20
Yiu Cheong Ho 何耀昌 Hong Kong 160,000 20
Hsien Lee Chu 曲獻立 Taiwan 155,000 19
Tan Ong Kwan Tan Ong Kwan Malaysia 154,000 19
Hak Do Kim Hak Do Kim Korea 151,000 19
Chi Ho Ling Chi Ho Ling Hong Kong 149,000 19
Sorawit Suriyakarn Sorawit Suriyakarn Thailand 149,000 19
Romain Bier Romain Bier France 146,000 18
Nguyen Huu Cao Tri Nguyen Huu Cao Tri Vietnam 144,000 18
Tuck Heng Wang Tuck Heng Wang Singapore 139,000 17
Chang Le Lin 林長樂 Taiwan 138,000 17
Wei Hao Huang 黃偉豪 Taiwan 135,000 17
Hsu Sheng Chang 張旭昇 Taiwan 133,000 17
Wai Shun Poon 潘韋信 Hong Kong 132,000 17
Pi Ying Hsu 許必穎 Taiwan 132,000 17
Paul Yugendra Paul Yugendra Malaysia 128,000 16
Kai Hung Hu 胡凱閎 Taiwan 126,000 16
Justin Geronimo Justin Geronimo Philippines 122,000 15
Kaiser Huang Kaiser Huang Taiwan 121,000 15
Yick Kuen Kiew 邱一均 Singapore 114,000 14
Shao Tang Lu 呂紹堂 Taiwan 111,000 14
Chien Yu Lin 林千聿 Taiwan 109,000 14
Yun Ping Li 李允平 Taiwan 105,000 13
Lai Koon Lim Lai Koon Lim Singapore 103,000 13
Haram Joo Haram Joo South Korea 92,000 12
Tse An Lee 李哲安 Singapore 90,000 11
Masayuki Murata Masayuki Murata Japan 88,000 11
Chi Jen Chen 陳紀任 Taiwan 87,000 11
Seo Hojin Seo Hojin Korea 87,000 11
Si Yang Phua Si Yang Phua Singapore 86,000 11
Yung Yu Chen 陳永裕 Taiwan 84,000 11
Shun Jian Yu 余順堅 Singapore 75,000 9
Wai Huen Lee 李煒桓 Hong Kong 73,000 9
Ta Wei Wei 魏大為 Taiwan 68,000 9
Yuan Fu Lo 羅元甫 Taiwan 58,000 7
Tsung En Yeh 葉琮恩 Taiwan 55,000 7
Ka Hei Choi 蔡家熙 Hong Kong 52,000 7
Jonathan Looi Jonathan Looi Malaysia 51,000 6
Aladin Reskallah Aladin Reskallah France 50,000 6
Dou Houng Chien 簡道桓 Taiwan 45,000 6
Kei Hong Leong Kei Hong Leong Singapore 32,000 4
Zong Chi He 何宗奇 Taiwan 25,000 3
Yi Chun Lin 林怡君 Taiwan 24,000 3
Wen Yen Chiu 邱文言 Taiwan 13,000 2

High Roller Megastack – Day 1 update

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Punnat Punsri – Photo by USOP

The High Roller Megastack continued to demonstrate its popularity with 92 top guns signing on at NTD 100,000 (~USD 3,200) each. This generated a prize pool of NTD 8,120,900 (~USD 262,260) which was over three times the advertised guarantee. The event bagged up at ITM of 14 players led by USOP newcomer Jeong Yim from South Korea.

Other notables making the cut were Thailand’s Punnat Punsri, Australia’s Yita Choong, Malaysia’s Webster Chih Wei Lim, South Korea’s Seung Mook Jung, and Hong Kong’s Ivan Hon Cheong Lee to mention a few.

When play resumes, everyone is guaranteed NTD 190,800 (~USD 6,160), however what they will be aiming for is the hefty NTD 2,463,300 (~USD 79,550) top prize.

Date: January 9 to 10, 2024
Buy in: NTD 100,000 (~USD 3,200)
Guarantee: NTD 2,500,000 (~USD 80,740)
Entries: 92
Prize pool: NTD 8,120,900 (~USD 262,260)
ITM: 14 places

Chips in play: 23,000,000
Average stack: 1,642,857

Jeong Yim Korea 3,625,000
Punnat Punsri Thailand 2,990,000
Hoong Kiat Alex Malaysia 2,605,000
Win Meng Tan Malaysia 2,015,000
Yita Choong Australia 1,750,000
Paul Nattapatsiri Thailand 1,685,000
Webster Lim Malaysia 925,000
Seung Mook Jung Korea 640,000
William Jia Australia 635,000
Matthew Belcher Uk 570,000
Hon Cheong Lee Hong Kong 427,000
Anton Lu Australia 420,000
Dae Woong Song South Korea 340,000
Justin Tsui Australia 330,000

ROMAIN BIER wins career third USOP trophy at 6-Max Turbo

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Romain Bier – Photo by CTP

At the USOP season ender in Da Nang, Vietnam, Romain Bier lifted an impressive two trophies. The winning streak continued at season opener USOP Taiwan. Bier outlasted the 70-entry field, denying Chang Xiang Guang a second series title, to capture a career third USOP trophy and NTD 123,600 (~USD 3,990).

Date: January 9, 2024
Buy in: NTD 6,000 (~USD 195)
Entries: 70
Prize pool: NTD 353,100 (~USD 11,400)
ITM: 9 places

Rank Player Flag Payout in NTD
1 Romain Bier France 123,600
2 Xiang Guang Malaysia 70,600
3 Yew Tong Malaysia 43,300
4 Chun An Chou Taiwan 30,900
5 Shuwei Huang Taiwan 23,800
6 Dexter Santos United States 18,500
7 Lasse Lien Norway 15,900
8 Chi Lun Huang Taiwan 14,100
9 Kai Liang Chang Taiwan 12,400

YUN LI wins first USOP title at Crazy Pineapple

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Yun Li – Photo by CTP

CTP regular Yun Li bagged a career first USOP title at the Crazy Pineapple event. Li outlasted the 37 entry field for a payout of NTD 64,800 (~USD 2,100). She became the third female to ship it at the ongoing festival.

Date: January 8, 2024
Buy in: NTD 5,000 (~USD 160)
Entries: 37
Prize pool: NTD 158,000 (~USD 5,100)
ITM: 5 places

Rank Player Flag Payout in NTD
1 Yun Li Taiwan 64,800
2 Tsz Man Lau Hong Kong 39,500
3 Ken Suen Hong Kong 23,700
4 Yung Yu Chen Taiwan 17,400
5 Masato Nagamine Japan 12,600

USOP Taiwan 2024

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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 four days in the books,18 have already been claimed.Time to win yours!

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

Main Event coming up!

The festival’s crown jewel MAIN EVENT will take the spotlight starting January 11. Event runs until January 15. For this edition, the guarantee has been bumped up to NTD 15,000,000 (~US$ 478,270), which is NTD 5M more than last year’s launch. To enter, four flights are scheduled.Buy in is NTD 33,000 (~USD 1,075).

Links:

USOP Taiwan – Coverage
USOP Taiwan – Player Guide

*Photos by CTP and USOP

Author:triccia