Van Lam Nguyen Claims Victory in USOP Vietnam Ha Long Bay 2026 Madness Kickoff

The U Series of Poker (USOP) Vietnam 2026 Ha Long Bay just kicked off with a massive bang at the InterContinental Ha Long Bay Resort . Running from May 19 to June 1, the festival started with its highly anticipated Madness Kickoff event, and it completely blew past expectations.

With a buy-in of VND 11 million (~USD 420), the tournament drew a huge field of 1,149 entries made up of 749 unique entries. That massive turnout generated a total prize pool of over VND 10,865,096,000 (~USD 412,060) , easily crushing the original VND 10 billion guarantee.

Van Lam Nguyen Wins USOP Vietnam 2026 Madness Kickoff

After nearly 15 hours of competitive poker action on Day 2, local grinder Van Lam Nguyen completed his final table rampage. Nguyen defeated countryman Tien Dat Nguyen in a quick heads-up match to secure the title.

Van Lam raised the Madness Kickoff trophy and banked the top prize of VND 1.8 billion (~USD 68,265). This marked his first-ever major championship title and a career-best cash score.

For Tien Dat, it was also a milestone moment. He pocketed VND 1.2 billion (~USD 45,505), for his second-place finish, securing his own biggest career live score.

#1 MADNESS KICK OFF (10,900,000 VND)

Total Prize USD

$412,060

Total Prize

₫10,865,096,000

Guaranteed

₫10,000,000,000

Entries

1,149

ITM

146

#	Payout	Player	SPI
1	₫1,800,000,000 $68,255	VL Van Lam Nguyen Viet Nam
2	₫1,200,000,000 $45,505	TD Tien Dat Nguyen Viet Nam
3	₫800,000,000 $30,335	VT Van Tai Tran Viet Nam
4	₫586,000,000 $22,220	DQ Dang Quyen Anh Viet Nam
5	₫478,190,000 $18,135	HH Hai Ha Tran Viet Nam
6	₫386,100,000 $14,640	JS Jungi Seo South Korea
7	₫305,600,000 $11,590	HY Haibiao Ye China
8	₫236,700,000 $8,975	XY Xiaotong Yu China
9	₫180,000,000 $6,825	VQ Van Quang Luong Viet Nam

Check the 145 Payouts & Results ...

Day 2 Action

Day 2 began at noon local time with over all chip leader Hai Ha Tran sitting on a mountain of 812,000 chips. Tran used that advantage well, riding his big stack all the way to the final table. Others were not as fortunate. Minh Huan Nguyen started the day second in chips and made a deep run, but fell just short of the final table. Indonesia’s Andy Kok , who started the day third in chips, suffered a painful exit in 65th place.

The field was packed with well-known players, and as the blinds kept going up, the pressure built and players started falling one by one. Sweden’s Johnni Nielsen, the USOP Hai Phong 2024 Madness Champion, was looking for a repeat but hit the rail early in 130th place. Germany’s Marvin Rettenmaier , a two-time WPT Main Event champion, started strong but bowed out in 71st place.

Australia’s Neng Zhao entered the day with a top-ten stack but lost a massive pot against Van Quang Luong, ending his run in 86th place. One of the highlights of the day came when Chinese players Yuequan Jia (22nd place) and Yiming Ji (34th place) clashed in a rare straight flush versus four of a kind hand.

It took over ten hours of grinding just to thin the field down, but the elimination of Yinan Zhou in tenth place finally locked in the official final table.

The Final Table Battle

Entering the final nine as the commanding chip leader was China’s Haibiao Ye with a massive stack. His nearest rivals were Vietnam’s Dang Quyen Anh and Tien Dat, who held identical stacks. Ye wasted no time using his big stack, quickly knocking out Luong in ninth place to extend his lead.

However, overconfidence proved to be his downfall. Ye attempted a huge, mistimed bluff against Vietnam’s Van Tai Tran, which blew up in his face and cost him a massive chunk of his chips along with the chip lead.

China’s Xiaotong Yu was the next to go in eighth place. Yu had survived on an amazing lucky streak earlier in the tournament just to make it this far, but the short stack finally crumbled against a surging Van Tai. Despite the early exit, the cash prize pushed Yu’s lifetime live tournament earnings past the USD 600,000 milestone.

Van Tai then finished the job against the former chip leader, eliminating Ye in seventh place. Ye turned three-of-a-kind, but Tran chased a flush draw and spiked it on the river. While it was a brutal exit for Ye after leading the pack, the deep run still marked his biggest career cash score.

Vietnamese Dominance Begins

South Korea’s Jungi Seo experienced a wild, roller-coaster ride at the final table. His run ended in sixth place when he got his pocket queens all-in against the pocket kings of eventual champion Van Lam. Seo’s elimination left an all-Vietnamese battlefield for the final five players.

Start-of-day chip leader Hai Ha looked primed to add a Madness trophy next to his APPT Cambodia 2025 Main Event  title, but his dream ended in fifth place when he ran into Van Lam.

Anh became the next victim of Nguyen’s unstoppable final table hot streak, bowing out in fourth place. After building a massive stack from his early final table clashes, Van Tai’s excellent run was cut short in third place by Van Lam.

Heads-Up: Nguyen vs Nguyen

Entering the heads-up match, Van Lam held a slight chip advantage and did not take long to close it out against Tien Dat Nguyen.

In the final hand, Van Lam held ace-five against Tien Dat’s king-eight. The board ran out clean, keeping the ace-five ahead the entire way. Tien Dat could not catch up, ending the match right then and there.

All photos courtesy of USOP.