Poker Dream 7 Vietnam: Nguyen Thi Bao An wins the Main Event for VND 2.3BN (~USD 96K)

Six days of Poker Dream 7 Vietnam Main Event action completed through at the prestigious Hoiana Resort & Golf in Hoi An over the past week and welcomed hundreds of players to its tournament tables. With the great turnout, the largest single offering in the country crushed its VND 20BN (~USD 820) guarantee and generated a jaw dropping VND 22,639,945,500 (~USD 928,440) prize pool, having collected a total of 1,351 entries across its qualifying rounds.

By the time the money trickled in, 143 survivors returned to the felt and kept their eyes locked on the VND 3,810,000,000 (~USD 156,240) first prize listed up top. The Final Day saw only ten runners remain with the final table set shortly after, led by Day 2 chip leader Pham Quyet Tien.

Main Event Final Table Recap

Over seven hours of final table action played out before Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Bao An was crowned as Poker Dream’s first female Main Event champion in brand history. Nguyen clinched her maiden win after defeating France’s Malouch Jean Mathieu in heads up play and successfully claimed the Dream Golden Dragon trophy up for grabs. Prior to this, a three way ICM deal was already in place which guaranteed Nguyen Thi Bao An VND 2,344,965,500 (~USD 96,160) in prizes. A smashing return for the local runner, Nguyen Thi Bao An secured her Main Event ticket by winning the Halloween Costume Championship Contest in the preseason festivities, and carried on to take it all the way down.

The final table kicked off with Nguyen Thi Bao An delivering the first elimination, crushing shortest stacked Nguyen Minh Thanh’s with . Nguyen Duc Anh on the other hand, was careful with his stack and managed to double up then proceed to win a flip against Nguyen The Anh to knock the latter out.

With seven players remaining, aggressive Malouch bagged two eliminations – Yashiro Naoki in 7th and Pham Quyet Tien in 6th place, to pile in quite a healthy stack. Nguyen Quang Hung who at one point, sat on top of the ranks saw his chip count dwindle down following a number of busted opens and bets. Down to 12 big blinds, he failed to win a flip vs Malouch and was left packing out of the Main Event games in 5th place. Malaysia’s Chong Khai Bin followed shortly after with his micro stack succumbing to Malouch once more.

By three handed, an ICM deal was put in place with Malouch in for the largest cut at VND 2,830,000,000 (~USD 116,050) for holding roughly 50% of the chips in play. Nguyen Duc Anh who started the final table with the shortest stack, secured the second place payout and bowed out after his was outflopped by Nguyen Thi Bao An’s .

On to heads up play, Malouch had almost a 2:1 advantage but quickly lost his lead after a failed triple barrel bluff. The aggressive cash game player fired through with , and Nguyen Thi Bao An called all the way for her tournament life with a pair of fours . With the tables turned, Nguyen Thi Bao An claimed the victory shortly after Malouch open shoved 36 big blinds with , called by his opponent with . The board missed to pair either player, giving Nguyen Thi Bao An the final win and the Main Event title.

Poker Dream 7 Vietnam Main Event Final Table Results

*Denotes deal was made

Poker Dream 7 Vietnam Main Event Review

Dates: October 3-8, 2023
Buy in: VND 8,500,000 (~USD 366) – VND 25,500,000 (~USD 1,099)
Guarantee: VND 20,000,000,000 (~USD 820,000)
Prize Pool: VND 22,639,945,500 (~USD 928,440)
Total Entries: 1,351
ITM: 159 players

Day 1 Results

1A: 81 entries / 5 advanced
1B: 77 entries / 4 advanced
1C: 151 entries / 16 advanced
1D: 228 entries / 35 advanced
1E: 119 entries / 12 advanced
1F: 30 entries / 3 advanced
1G: 263 entries / 40 advanced
1H: 65 entries / 4 advanced
1J: 111 entries / 17 advanced
1K: 58 entries / 6 advanced
Offsite: 17 advanced

Day 1 Live Updates
Day 2 Qualifiers
Day 2 Recap

*All photos by Poker Dream