The return of U Series of Poker to Danang, Vietnam, kicked off with a bang as international players dominated the action at USOP Danang 2024. Held at the Pullman Danang Beach Resort, opening day wrapped up with five players crowned, including Australia’s Anton Lu, who triumphantly broke the runner-up curse. Scroll down for the highlights.
USOP Danang 2024 – Festival Results
Anton Lu cruises to victory at USOP Danang HR Warm Up
In February 2023, Australian online player Anton Lu took a trip to Taiwan to attend the launch of USOP. This marked his first ever live tournament experience. Since then, Lu has become a familiar face across Asia’s live poker scene, securing titles at various festivals all over the region.
Arriving at USOP Danang 2024, Lu had built an impressive track record of 11 USOP final tables of which four were runner-up finishes, but no victory. That all changed at the High Roller Warm up where Lu dominated the final table to finally rein in the elusive USOP win along with a sweet score of VN₫ 796,600,000 (~USD 32,160).
“It obviously feels great! This was my first USOP trophy. I’ve had several 2nd place finishes so it feels good to finally win one.”
Lu’s victory came just one day after he took down the Vietnam Poker League (VPL) Super High Roller event in Hanoi. Watch the hot-handed Lu at the USOP Danang HR Warm Up final table livestream via the link provided:
Event Payouts
Date: March 19, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 44,000,000 (~USD 1,811)
Guarantee: VN₫ 1,200,000,000 (~USD 49,160)
Entries: 67 (51 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,599,600,000 (~USD 105,000)
ITM: 10 places
*Double bust on the bubble, split 10th place cash
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in VN₫
|
| 1 | Anton Lu | Australia | 796,600,000 |
| 2 | Oliver Biles | UK | 531,100,000 |
| 3 | Seung Mook Jung | Korea | 354,000,000 |
| 4 | Yu Xiao Tong | China | 246,100,000 |
| 5 | Jack Salter | UK | 178,600,000 |
| 6 | Sean Ooi | Malaysia | 135,600,000 |
| 7 | Vlada Stojanovic | Serbia | 107,900,000 |
| 8 | Martin Sedlak | Germany | 90,300,000 |
| 9 | Pickle Rick | Viet Nam | 79,700,000 |
| 10-11 | Mike Takayama | Philippines | 39,850,000* |
| 10-11 | Khoi Nguyen | Viet Nam | 39,850,000* |
Event Recap
The High Roller Warm Up was the first of twelve in the festival’s High Roller Series schedule. The VN₫ 44,000,000 (~USD 1,811) buy in drew 67 entries for a prize pool of VN₫ 2,599,600,000 (~USD 105,000). During hand for hand, Khoi Nguyen and Mike Takayama were eliminated at separate tables to deny the bubble and split last place cash. This kicked off the final table with Anton Lu closely trailing the leader Sean Ooi.
While Ooi witnessed heavy swings, Lu was on a consistent rise, eliminating Martin Sedlak (8th) and Vlada Stojanovic (7th) to plant himself firmly at the top. From there, he never looked back. Lu eliminated Seung Mook Jung in 3rd place and entered heads up with a massive 100 bb to 6 bb advantage against Oliver Biles. It didn’t take long to close it out. The final hand was Lu 
, Biles 
, all in at the flop. The board completed 
.
Strong presence by Chinese players Wenhua Yin and Yinfei Xiao
USOP has witnessed a surge in Chinese player attendance, with several trophies claimed at previous brand festivals. This time around, they made an even stronger showing. At opening day, Wenhua Yin came close to back to back USOP Danang Deepstack titles, finishing runner up to Vietnam’s Huynh Ngoc Thai. After an ICM deal where Wenhua was guaranteed the higher payout, Huynh went on to claim the USOP Danang 2024 Deepstack trophy.
Date: March 19, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 6,000,000 (~USD 247)
Entries: 71 (57 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 371,900,000 (~USD 15,020)
ITM: 9 places
*Heads up ICM deal, played for trophy
| Place | Player | Flag | Payout in VN₫ |
| 1 | Huynh Ngoc Thai | Viet Nam | 97,700,000* |
| 2 | Yin Wenhua | China | 107,000,000* |
| 3 | Cheng Bao Qiang | China | 46,800,000 |
| 4 | Kawabata Kaisei | Japan | 33,500,000 |
| 5 | Le Tan Quang | Viet Nam | 26,100,000 |
| 6 | Yang Peng | China | 20,500,000 |
| 7 | Vo Dinh Tuan | Viet Nam | 16,200,000 |
| 8 | Ng Shun Hong | Singapore | 13,100,000 |
| 9 | You Hairong | China | 11,000,000 |
Over at the Pot Liimit Omaha Hi-Lo, the glory went to Yinfei Xiao after he overcame the 30 entry field. This was Xiao’s first ever USOP win. He walked away with the largest cut of the pie worth VN₫ 36,900,000 (~USD 1,490).
Date: March 19, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 3,000,000 (~USD 123)
Entries: 30 (21 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 78,500,000 (~USD 3,170)
ITM: 4 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in VN₫
|
| 1 | Xiao Yinfei | China | 36,900,000 |
| 2 | Le Buu Hoa | Viet Nam | 21,200,000 |
| 3 | Van Der Meeren Arthur Antonius Paulus | Netherlands | 12,500,000 |
| 4 | Vujanic Tanja | Australia | 7,900,000 |
Set over set sends Rungrot Nuannoi to victory
The first Mini High Roller event of the series was a heated battle for the trophy, extending well into the late hours of the night. With 50 entries, the field included notable heavy hitters like Michael Kim Falcon, Yita Choong, Calvin Tan, and Edward Yam.
After the bubble burst, Guy Taylor took command of the final table, seeming poised for victory. However, his hopes were crushed when his 
set on the turn clashed with Rungrot Nuannoi‘s 
flopped higher set on a 
board. The all in moves were made on the river, leaving Taylor unable to recover and settling for 3rd place. Backed by a dominating stack, Nuannoi emerged victorious, defeating Chang Tao Wei at heads up with 
spiking the Ten to overcome 
.
Date: March 19, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 22,000,000 (~USD 905)
Guarantee: VN₫ 500,000,000 (~USD 20,200)
Entries: 50 (40 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 970,000,000 (~USD 39,190)
ITM: 6 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in VN₫
|
| 1 | Rungrot Nuannoi | Thailand | 369,000,000 |
| 2 | Chang Tao Wei | Taiwan | 223,100,000 |
| 3 | Guy Taylor | UK | 140,200,000 |
| 4 | Edward Chun Ho Yam | Hong Kong | 102,300,000 |
| 5 | Li Chih-Feng | Taiwan | 75,300,000 |
| 6 | Zhao Xin | Australia | 60,100,000 |
First poker win for Viet Hung Do at Hyper Turbo
The fastest event on the opening day menu was the the Hyper Turbo with 46 entrants taking interest. The event wrapped up with local player Viet Hung Do earning his first ever live tournament win and turning his VN₫ 4,000,000 buy in into a handsome payout of VN₫ 61,000,000 (~USD 2,465). This is one very special trophy for the champ who overcame decorated players Craig Cooper and Vamerdino Magsakay at the final table.
Date: March 19, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 4,000,000 (~USD 165)
Entries: 46 (40 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 160,600,000 (~USD 6,480)
ITM: 6 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payout in VN₫
|
| 1 | Viet Hung Do | Viet Nam | 61,000,000 |
| 2 | Magsakay Vamerdino | Philippines | 36,900,000 |
| 3 | Cooper Craig Anthony | UK | 23,300,000 |
| 4 | Baatar Munkhsukh | Mongolia | 16,900,000 |
| 5 | Heo Seongdo | Korea | 12,500,000 |
| 6 | Chen Kun Chuan | Taiwan | 10,000,000 |
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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