WPT Prime Vietnam: Bien Mai, Duy Thuc Nguyen, Pham Quang Huy win trophies

WPT Prime Vietnam awarded a few more side event trophies with Bien Mai, Duy Thuc Nguyen, and Pham Quang Huy earning their first ever WPT wins. Have a read on those victories down below.

The inaugural series has been running since May 19 at the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi to conclude on May 30. With sizable turnouts seen daily, it is shaping up to be the tour’s richest event in the country. To date, nine trophies have been claimed and over VN₫ 14.5 Billion (~US$ 636,440) already paid out. More events have yet to be conquered including the festival headliner Main Event which features an VN₫ 8 Billion (~US$ 346,477) guaranteed prize pool. Make sure to check the schedule for all the info.

Full WPT Prime Vietnam schedule
Main Event details and structure

Event 7: SuperStack – BIEN MAI – VN₫ 205,500,000 (~US$ 8,867)

The SuperStack is always a very popular WPT side event with early birds starting off 400 BB deep. Even for players that sign up at the last second, it is still a decent 33 BB. At the series, the tournament did not disappoint. It filled a large portion of the floor, seeing 120 uniques and 37 re-entries for 157 total entries. After a lengthy 11 hours of play, the title came down between Bien Mai and Deepstack Cheap Freeze champion Ngo Minh Tien. Instead of playing for it, they let luck decide with one fast flip. Ngo had , Mai opened a premium , the board favored Mai as it ran for a victorious straight. Mai captured his first ever WPT trophy and an ICM payout of VN₫ 205,500,000 (~US$ 8,867).

Brief recap of the event, Ba Tran delivered the bubble with pocket Tens standing firm against King-Eight offsuit. He went on to reach the final table and was first to exit in 9th place. Leading up to heads up, Mai cleaned out several players that included Vu Thai Bao in 5th place. This was Vu’s third final table, bringing him up to 485 points in the Player of the Festival race. The next two to go were Manh Truong Nguyen (4th) and Hanna Azimai (3rd), both players axed by Ngo. Heads up was one no-look showdown. Ngo missed out on a second series title however he did earn a chunk of POF points to stay in the upper ranks.

Buy in: VN₫ 6,600,000 (~US$ 285)
Entries: 157 (120 unique, 37 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 913,740,000 (~US$ 39,428)
ITM: 20 places

Payouts in Vietnamese Dong

*Heads up ICM deal

Event 8: Single Day High Roller – DUY THUC NGUYEN – VN₫ 1,040,500,000 (~US$ 44,900)

Noteworthy attendance at the Single Day High Roller event finding 77 runners to pony up the VN₫ 55,000,000 (~US$ 2,373) buy in. This was the first of three high roller events scheduled. Among the many decorated players in attendance were 2019 WPTDeepStacks Vietnam Main Event champion Vincent Chauve who cashed out in 9th place and Bounty Event winner Christopher Mateo in 7th place. The main highlight of this event was undoubtedly the rise of the short stacks, most notably, Duy Thuc Nguyen, who went from 30 BB down to 6 BB, back up to 20 BB, down to 6 BB again, then to champion.

Recapping Nguyen‘s ride, at eight-handed, he lost two shoves to plunge to just 6 BB. The first dip was to Peerathat Sukpaisarn and the second was to short stacked Chi Chung Ho with banging into . Before Nguyen risked his tournament life, Ho continued to climb, winning two more shoves, one of which sent Sukpaisarn out in 8th place with trips Sixes cracking . Nguyen had it all in next with and found a Jack on the turn to survive Mateo’s . After Vu Duc Trung finished off Mateo (7th), Ho swung, losing a chunk to Nguyen’s set. Ho recovered by railing Van Tai Tran (6th) but missed the board holding against Nguyen’s to fall in 5th place. Vu eliminated Thibaut Blondel to bring in a big lead entering three-handed.

Despite Vu’s stack, it was Nguyen putting pressure. Dennis Ng took a stand and scored a double up with over flush over flush on a board . Down to just 5 BB, it seemed like the end for Nguyen but three all in wins against Vu nursed him back to health while Vu was out in 3rd place with outdrawn by Nguyen’s , king on the flop. Heads up was a grind with Nguyen and Ng keeping fairly even. After one level, they opted for an ICM deal then played for the trophy. It lasted one hand with Ng, Nguyen, the board . This was Nguyen’s first known live win and personal high score of VN₫ 1,040,500,000 (~US$ 44,900)

Buy in: VN₫ 55,000,000 (~US$ 2,373)
Entries: 77 (49 unique, 28 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 3,734,500,000 (~US$ 161,145)
ITM: 10 places

Payouts in Vietnamese Dong

*Heads up ICM deal

Event 10: Hyper Turbo – PHAM QUANG HUY – VN₫ 55,000,000 (~US$ 2,373)

The Hyper Turbo blew past in just under four hours and nearly taking it down was Vietnam’s Vu Thai Bao who continued to impress, reaching his fourth final table. He picked up 225 POF points to catapult to the top with 710 points. We will have the official update for you once it released. Denying Vu the win was fellow countryman Pham Quang Huy Pham who crippled Vu at heads up with straight over two pairs on a board . This led to the final hand with Pham’s shove further improving to straight to dust .

Buy in: VN₫ 3,300,000 (~US$ 142)
Entries: 51 (38 unique, 13 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 148,410,000 (~US$ 6,404)
ITM: 7 places

Payouts in Vietnamese Dong

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you daily recaps and highlights of the inaugural WPT Prime Vietnam from start to finish.

Event articles:

WPT Prime debuts in Hanoi
Launch day of WPT Prime Vietnam
WPT Prime Vietnam – Day 1 results
WPT Prime Vietnam – Day 2 results
WPT Prime Vietnam – Locals heat up Day 1C
WPT Prime Vietnam – Day 3 results
WPT Prime Vietnam – Filipinos dominate
WPT Prime Vietnam – Phuong Xu wins the Opener