Another six trophies were snatched up at the season finale of U Series of Poker (USOP) taking place at Furama Resort in Danang, Vietnam. The newly minted were Jae Wook Shin, Thomas Ward, Sergei Iablokov, Alen Bakovic, Lee Koangho, and Romain Bier who became the first player to win trophies in this series. Here are the highlights.
USOP Danang – Festival Results
USOP Danang – Coverage
USOP Danang – Photos
JAEWOOK SHIN ships the record-breaking Superstar Challenge
Date: November 19 to 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 120,000,000 (~$5,074)
Guarantee: VN₫ 4,000,000,000 (~$164,850)
Entries: 133 (89 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 14,449,100,000 (~$595,470)
ITM: 20 places
ROMAIN BIER lifts second trophy
Deja vu! The night prior, Romain Bier took down the Turbo event for his first ever USOP title. After a short night’s rest, Bier returned the next afternoon, and signed up to the Mini High Roller. At the crack of dawn, he defeated Hein Hiet Aung to become the first player to win two trophies in this series.
The fourth Mini High Roller scheduled drew the biggest field so far of 122 entries for a prize pool of VN₫ 2,366,800,000 (~$97,540). Bier’s ascent began in the 11th hour, it was just past 5am with three players remaining. He won a flip against Hein with 
staying ahead of 
. He built a commanding lead after winning two pots against Tan Ong Kwan then sent Tan packing in 3rd place on the next showdown.
Facing Hein at heads up, Bier lost a shove with 
behind 
then dropped further to lose top rank. A timely cooler switched them up. Bier doubled up with 
set over Hein’s 
top two pair on a board 
. He closed it out with over 
, all in on the flop of a board completing 
.
Date: November 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 22,000,000 (~$930)
Guarantee: VN₫ 400,000,000 (~$16,480)
Entries: 122 (90 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,366,800,000 (~$97,540)
ITM: 15 places
| 1 | Bier Romain Michel Alain | ₫703,000,000 |
| 2 | Hein Hiet Aung | ₫430,000,000 |
| 3 | Tan Ong Kwan | ₫262,000,000 |
| 4 | Thomas Gary Pound | ₫178,800,000 |
| 5 | Haro Clement Jean-Michel | ₫133,200,000 |
| 6 | Victor Chong | ₫105,600,000 |
| 7 | Yita Choong | ₫88,500,000 |
| 8 | Singh Aditya | ₫75,100,000 |
| 9 | Hong Jinho | ₫65,100,000 |
THOMAS WARD wins High Roller Bounty Hunter
Another high stakes event drew triple digits at USOP Danang with 105 entries to the High Roller Bounty Hunter. Among the newest faces to grace the felt were Simon Lim, Gavin Flynn, and Huy Pham who built a monstrous stack very early on. The bubble burst on Seung Mook Jung who called for his tournament life holding that was outdrawn by John Perry‘s 
on a board 
. The final table was formed at the fall of Dang Van Hien in 10th place.
Watch the final table race to victory via the link provided – High Roller Bounty livestream
The final table ran for three and a half hours. Just before the third hour, Ward eliminated Tomonari Nomura to face Huy Pham at heads up. Ward was backed by a massive chip advantage – 71 bb to 14 bb – which he never relinquished. Ward defeated Pham with 
dominating 
on a final board running 
.
Date: November 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 66,000,000 (~$2,791)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2,000,000,000 (~$82,420)
Entries: 105 (70 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 4,011,000,000 (~$165,300)
Bounty pool: VN₫ 2,100,000 (~$87,100)
ITM: 16 places
*Bounties not included
| 1 | Thomas Ward | ₫1,122,000,000 |
| 2 | Pham Quang Huy | ₫701,000,000 |
| 3 | Nomura Tomonari | ₫431,000,000 |
| 4 | Yang Peng | ₫305,600,000 |
| 5 | Nguyen Trung Quan | ₫239,700,000 |
| 6 | Hoang Hai Nam | ₫198,100,000 |
| 7 | Bui Quang Tung | ₫164,500,000 |
| 8 | Zheng Tianhao | ₫137,400,000 |
| 9 | Anton Lu | ₫112,300,000 |
Other Winners
SERGEI IABLOKOV wins big at Progressive Knockout
Another trophy for Russia as Sergei Iablokov crushed the Progressive Knockout event. Iablokov bulldozed through the final table to amass half of the chips in play by four-handed. He went on to rail Tan Xiaohui at heads up with 
standing firm against 
. In addition to the VN₫ 69,000,000 payout, Iablokov earned VN₫ 82,000,000 in bounties for a combined VN₫ 151,000,000 (~$6,260) payday.
Date: November 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 6,600,000 (~$279)
Entries: 70 (63 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 197,400,000 (~$8,130)
Bounty pool: VN₫ 210,000,000 (~$8,700)
ITM: 9 places
*Only first place payout includes bounties
| 1 | Iablokov Sergei | ₫151,000,000* |
| 2 | Tan Xiaohui | ₫39,700,000 |
| 3 | Hoang Nam Son | ₫25,000,000 |
| 4 | Voong Anuy | ₫17,800,000 |
| 5 | Nguyen Ha Bac | ₫13,800,000 |
| 6 | Jeorge Lagatuz | ₫10,800,000 |
| 7 | Joshua Figuerres | ₫8,500,000 |
| 8 | Litasov Vladimir | ₫6,900,000 |
| 9 | Mai Bien | ₫5,900,000 |
ALEN BAKOVIC wins Run It Twice
Canada has now picked up its second win with Alen Bakovic following in the footsteps of Tobias Bui. Bakovic took it to the limit at the Run It Twice event after striking a three-way chop. This was his first ever USOP victory.
Date: November 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 4,500,000 (~$190)
Entries: 44 (37 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 170,700,000 (~$7,030)
ITM: 6 places
*Three-way ICM deal, play for trophy
| 1 | Alen Bakovic | ₫43,000,000* |
| 2 | Hoang Quang Huy | ₫42,950,000* |
| 3 | Kai Yi Sun | ₫42,950,000* |
| 4 | Nguyen Duc Phuc | ₫18,000,000 |
| 5 | Jonathan Looi | ₫13,200,000 |
| 6 | Gatmanee Jitlert | ₫10,600,000 |
LEE KOANGHO turns third cash into victory at Hyper Turbo
Third time’s the charm! After three deep runs, South Korea’s Lee Koangho bagged a trophy at the Hyper Turbo. Lee outpaced the 72 entry field to to claim the title and the VND₫ 73,300,000 (~$3,040) first prize payout.
Date: November 20, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 3,400,000 (~$144)
Entries: 72 (54 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 209,500,000 (~$8,630)
ITM: 9 places
| 1 | Lee Koangho | ₫73,300,000 |
| 2 | Tan Kwang Chung | ₫42,100,000 |
| 3 | Lee Jungyeol | ₫26,400,000 |
| 4 | Jeong Hyun Woo | ₫18,800,000 |
| 5 | Yuan Xin | ₫14,800,000 |
| 6 | Ding Pin | ₫11,500,000 |
| 7 | Tan Hing Kang Jason | ₫9,000,000 |
| 8 | Hu Jinlong | ₫7,300,000 |
| 9 | Dong Yixuan | ₫6,300,000 |
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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