On just the second day of USOP Hai Phong, a new record was set! The festival opener – Madness Kick Off Event – crushed all of its past numbers with a massive turnout of 1,324 entries across four entry flights. The largest crowd was seen at Day 1C drawing 492 entries followed by Day 1D’s 445 entries. With buy in at VN₫ 9 Million each, the prize pool soared over VN₫ 10 Billion, doubling up the already boosted guarantee. Here are the highlights, numbers, and other festival Day 2 results.
USOP Hai Phong – Madness Kick Off Event
Date: September 11 to 12, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 9,000,000 (~US$ 360)
Guarantee: VN₫ 5,000,000,000 (~US$ 203,200)
Entries: 1,324
Prize pool: ~VN₫ 10.2 Billion (~US$ 414,000) – to be confirmed
ITM: 167 players
Day 1 Results
Day 1A: 183 entries / 23 advanced
Day 1B: 204 entries / 26 advanced
Day 1C: 492 entries / 62 advanced
Day 1D: 445 entries / 56 advanced
Total entries: 1,324
Total ITM / Day 2 qualifiers: 167 players
At the conclusion of the final two flights, ruling over the 167 advancing players was Day 1C flight leader Johnni Nielsen from Sweden who bagged a massive 1,100,000, which is equivalent to 138 bb based on the Day 2 starting blinds. Nielsen has been spotted at the previous USOP event in Danang, cashing at two events, however he has yet to rein in a victory. Ranked second, though far behind the leader by 43 bigs, is Day 1D leader Pham Bao with 761,000 (95 bb) and in third rank is Vu Ta Nhat with 716,000 (90 bb).
For the full chip count list, head to the link provided —> Chip Counts
*At this time the official prize pool and payout distribution has not been released. We will have that posted as soon as it is made available. Day 2 gets underway at 11am on Friday, September 13, 2024. We will bring you as much action as possible via the Daily Updates.
Top Ten – Entering Day 2
| Player | Stack | BB |
| Nielsen Johnni Peer | 1,100,000 | 138 |
| Pham Ngoc Quoc Bao | 761,000 | 95 |
| Vu Ta Nhat | 716,000 | 90 |
| Ni Baiyu | 669,000 | 84 |
| Abbasov Khayal | 659,000 | 82 |
| Nguyen Than Minh | 627,000 | 78 |
| Pham Chi Quang | 609,000 | 76 |
| Nguyen Manh Cuong | 604,000 | 76 |
| Dang Quyen Anh | 580,000 | 73 |
| Dao Van Vu | 570,000 | 71 |
High Roller Charity – Day 1 recap
The High Roller Charity Event drew 57 heroes to the felt, each one contributing a portion of their buy in to help the relief efforts caused by Typhoon Yagi to the coastal city of Hai Phong. Day 1 ended with William Jia eliminating Martin Sedlak on the bubble then bagged up the third largest stack. Jia was bested by Tobias Bui in second rank, and earning the leader’s status was Tran Viet Anh Hiep with a hefty 109 bb stack.
Also making the cut was Hoang Hai Nam in fourth rank. Hoang is well known for his incredible performance at USOP Hanoi where he won back-to-back super high roller events. Hoang enters Day 2 with a healthy 57 bb.
Buy in: VN₫ 55,000,000 (~US$ 2,200)
Guarantee: VN₫ 1,500,000,000 (~US$ 60,960)
Entries: 57 (43 unique)
Player prize pool: VN₫ 2,622,000,000 (~US$ 106,560)
Relief Collection: VN₫ 171,000,000 (~US$ 6,950)
ITM: 9 places
Final Table by Stack
| Player | Flag | Stack | BB |
| Tran Van Viet Anh Hiep | Vietnam | 2,720,000 | 109 |
| Tobias Bui | Vietnam | 2,095,000 | 84 |
| William Jia | Australia | 1,930,000 | 77 |
| Hoang Hai Nam | Vietnam | 1,430,000 | 57 |
| Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 1,180,000 | 47 |
| Ryan Plant | UK | 645,000 | 26 |
| Max Buschmann | Germany | 555,000 | 22 |
| Ngo Khoa Anh | Vietnam | 475,000 | 19 |
| Do Xuan Huan | Vietnam | 375,000 | 15 |
*based on Day 1 running blinds 10,000-25,000 ante 25,000 (1:49 remaining)
Tao Wei Chang Making A Bid For Second USOP POTS Title
Taiwan’s Tao Wei Chang aka David Chang picked up where he left off at USOP Danang by dominating the felt to lock up a title at the Midweek Event. Chang topped the 43 entry field for a payout of VN₫ 92,000,000 (~US$ 3,740).
Buy in: VN₫ 6,600,000 (~US$ 264)
Entries: 43 (37unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 242,500,000 (~US$ 9,855)
ITM: 5 places
A bit of background on Chang, he is the first player to be awarded the USOP Player of the Series title back in March in Danang. Looks like he is gunning for a back-to-back!
Anton Lu Wins Mini High Roller
Sweet landing for Australia’s Anton Lu who arrived at USOP Hai Phong today, avoiding the typhoon and its aftermath, then went on to win the Mini High Roller. Lu topped the 31 entry field to rake in the VN₫ 274,100,000 (~US$ 11,140) top prize and his career second USOP title.
The final hand saw Lu check-raise on a flop 
then push on the turn 
. China’s Yilu Yuan called with less behind holding 
top pair. Lu ahead with 
. The river was 
.
Date: September 12, 2024
Buy in: VN₫ 22,000,000 (~US$ 880)
Guarantee: VN₫ 500,000,000 (~US$ 20,320)
Entries: 31 (27 unique)
Prize pool: VN₫ 582,800,000 (~US$ 23,685)
ITM: 4 places
| Place | Player | Flag | Payout in VN₫ |
| 1 | Anton Lu | Australia | 274,100,000 |
| 2 | Yilu Yuan | China | 157,300,000 |
| 3 | Jianqiang Jiang | China | 93,200,000 |
| 4 | Xinxing Tang | China | 58,200,000 |
Zsolt Soros Wins Pot Limit Omaha Turbo
Light turnout at the Pot Limit Omaha Turbo with only 14 entries (9 unique). With buy in at VN₫ 6,000,000 (~US$ 240) each, the prize pool amounted to VN₫ 71,000,000 (~US$ 2,885). Only the top two were guaranteed pay however an ICM deal was struck by the last three players then they played for the trophy. Hungary’s Zsolt Soros won it for his first ever USOP win and a payout of VN₫ 20,576,000 (~US$ 836).
Nguyen Trung Hieu Takes Down Win The Button Hyper Turbo
One of the cheapest and fastest events in the festival roster was the Win The Button Hyper Turbo with buy in at just VN₫ 4,000,000 (~US$ 160). This drew 21 entries (18 unique) for a prize pool of VN₫ 71,064,000 (~US$ 2,890). At three-handed, with the money intact, an ICM deal was struck then they played for the trophy. Nguyen Trung Hieu emerged victorious for his first ever USOP win and a payout of VN₫ 24,841,000 (~US$ 1,009). This was also Vietnam’s first win of the festival.
USOP Hai Phong runs from September 11 to 23, 2024 at the Dream Dragon Resort. In partnership with Crown Poker Club and Lucky Poker Tour, a total of 66 trophy events have been lined up with buy ins catering to all types of players and wallets. At the end of festival Day 2, seven trophies had already been claimed leaving 59 for the taking. Make sure to browse the schedule for all of the event information and head on over to the felt.
Links:
USOP Hai Phong – News
USOP Hai Phong – Daily Updates
USOP Hai Phong – Schedule / Player Guide
USOP Hai Phong – Photos
USOP Hai Phong – Festival Results
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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