WPT Prime Vietnam: Phuong Xu claims series opener for career high VN₫ 745M

Big day for Vietnamese player Tu Phuong Nguyen aka Phuong Xu who came out victorious at the WPT Opener. Phuong entered Day 2 as one of the race leaders, was first to stack a million in chips, lucked out on a cooler at the final table, then out-flipped fellow countryman Nam Le for the trophy. Phuong pocketed a career-high VN₫ 745,000,000 (~US$ 32,154) on an even chop heads up deal.

On May 19, the World Poker Tour launched its brand new series WPT Prime at the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi, Vietnam with the first four days highlighting the WPT Opener. Three starting days were offered with each succeeding day seeing a significant rise in turnout. Day 1A set the pace at 123, Day 1B climbed to 185, and Day 1C crushed them both with a massive 288 entries. Added together, 596 entered for a guarantee smashing prize pool of VN₫ 4,624,960,000 (~US$ 199,610). Day 2 kicked off with all 74  qualifiers assured a piece of the pot. Watch some of the action via the video highlights or you can also read on for the recap down below. 

Buy in: VN₫ 8,800,000 (~US$ 380)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2,500,000,000 (~US$ 107,933)
Entries: 596 (386 unique, 210 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 4,624,960,000 (~US$ 199,610)
ITM: 74 players

Final table payouts in Vietnamese Dong

1st	Tu Phuong Nguyen	Vietnam	745,000,000*
2nd	Nam Le	Vietnam	745,000,000*
3rd	Philip Nguyen	Australia	395,000,000
4th	Van Hoang Nguyen	Vietnam	282,000,000
5th	Terry Nguyen	Vietnam	217,000,000
6th	Quang Minh Nguyen	Vietnam	178,000,000
7th	Bui Duc Thien	Vietnam	147,000,000
8th	Khac Thai Nguyen	Vietnam	117,000,000
9th	Duy Ho	USA	87,760,000

*Heads up even chop; rest of the payouts can be found below

Day 2 event recap and winner’s story

Eventual champion Phuong Xu carried in a huge 79 BB stack, just 1K behind Day 1C chip leader Huu Son Pham aka Mr Muoi. After two hours of action, Phuong jumped well ahead of the pack, becoming the first player to stack a million in chips. By the next break, new faces were at the helm, Bui Duc Thien and Nam Le with over 2M each. Impressively, all of the starting day chip leaders were still in the field until two of them banged heads leading to the end of Mr Muoi in 12th place. During the hand, Muoi’s was unable to improve against Day 1B captain Terry Nguyen . 

Emotions began to rise as players closed in on the final table. Australia’s Phillip Nguyen was happy to ladder up his short stack. After several uncalled shoves, he survived a coin flip to claim all of Hong Phuc Pham’s chips then followed it up with a double up through USA’s Duy Ho who bullied on the small blind only to run into big blind Phillip’s pocket Queens. The final table was formed at the fall of Trung Hieu Phan to the fiery Quang Ming Nguyen aka Mr Ngo.

Early fireworks at the table with big pairs causing havoc. On the first all in clash, Phuong got extremely lucky with pocket Kings spiking the two-outer to survive Thien’s pocket Aces.  On the flip side, not so successful for Duy who was sent packing by Terry in 9th place with pocket Jacks dominating pocket Fours. After the fall of Khac Thai Nguyen (8th), Phuong’s good fortune continued, finishing off Thien in 7th place with beating Ace-King. Opposite result however for Mr Ngo whose was outdrawn by Phillip’s eight in the window. For Terry, his final stand happened on a blinds versus blinds situation. Facing a board all his chips were in the middle with top pair that failed to improve on the river against Nam ‘s . 

From here, busts were quick. Nam stopped Day 1A chip leader Hoang Nevar in 4th place with both hitting the flop over top pair and Phuong emptied out Phillip to reach heads up against Nam. With both players even in chips, a deal was immediately struck to split the remaining cash down the middle then discussed who would claim the coveted trophy. In the end, they settled for a one hand flip. Phuong’s improved to trips Eights to dust Nam’s pair. 

Payouts 10th to 74th in Vietnamese Dong

10th	Trung Hieu Phan	Vietnam	72,500,000
11th	Hong Phuc Pham	Vietnam	72,500,000
12th	Huu Son Pham	Vietnam	72,500,000
13th	Van Hien Dang	Vietnam	58,000,000
14th	Anh Tuan Tran	Vietnam	58,000,000
15th	Minh Tuan Doan	Vietnam	58,000,000
16th	Pham The Quan Nguyen	Vietnam	48,500,000
17th	Le Ngoc Khanh	Vietnam	48,500,000
18th	Tuan Hung Nguyen	Vietnam	48,500,000
19th	Viet Khanh Nguyen	Vietnam	41,000,000
20th	Van Sang Nguyen	Vietnam	41,000,000
21st	Krishna Wadeesirisak	Thailand	41,000,000
22nd	Thanh Trung Nguyen	Vietnam	34,000,000
23rd	Duc Nhai Nguyen	Vietnam	34,000,000
24th	Vishal Bajaj	India	34,000,000
25th	Hoai Lam Vu	Vietnam	29,000,000
26th	Cong Huay Tran	Vietnam	29,000,000
27th	Gaurav Sood	India	29,000,000
28th	Van Tien Dinh	Vietnam	24,000,000
29th	An Khang Tran	Vietnam	24,000,000
30th	Duy Vu Nguyen	Vietnam	24,000,000
31st	Hai Le	Vietnam	24,000,000
32nd	Duc Kien Tran	Vietnam	24,000,000
33rd	Tien Trung Tran	Vietnam	24,000,000
34th	Tan Le	Vietnam	24,000,000
35th	Duc Thinh Nguyen	Vietnam	24,000,000
36th	Duy Tien Pham	Vietnam	24,000,000
37th	Ngoc Tu Pham	Vietnam	21,000,000
38th	Quyet Tien Pham	Vietnam	21,000,000
39th	Ha Tung Nguyen	Vietnam	21,000,000
40th	Dang Lam Hong Nguyen	Vietnam	21,000,000
41st	Quang Thang Do	Vietnam	21,000,000
42nd	Tri Minh Mai	Vietnam	21,000,000
43rd	Duc Tu Bui	Vietnam	21,000,000
44th	Trung Nghia Nguyen	Vietnam	21,000,000
45th	Kartik Ved	India	21,000,000
46th	Paul John Elliott	Australia	18,400,000
47th	Viet Nghia Vo	Vietnam	18,400,000
48th	Tien Thanh Nguyen	Vietnam	18,400,000
49th	Trung Ha Nguyen	Vietnam	18,400,000
50th	Dinh Trong Hoang	Vietnam	18,400,000
51st	Lasse Lien	Malta	18,400,000
52nd	Dinh Hai Le	Vietnam	18,400,000
53rd	Quang Tuyen Le	Vietnam	18,400,000
54th	Chi Chung Ho	Hong Kong	18,400,000
55th	Runch Pornraksamanee	Thailand	15,900,000
56th	Tuan Anh Nguyen	Vietnam	15,900,000
57th	Prommin Talordpong	Thailand	15,900,000
58th	Li Lok Ching	Australia	15,900,000
59th	Thanh Dat Pham	Vietnam	15,900,000
60th	Manh Tuog Ha	Vietnam	15,900,000
61st	Trung Thanh Hoang	Vietnam	15,900,000
62nd	Minh Khanh Le	Vietnam	15,900,000
63rd	Panitan Poopadsri	Thailand	15,900,000
64th	Duy Anh Nguyen	Vietnam	13,500,000
65th	Hanna Azimai	Australia	13,500,000
66th	Hong Tu Chiu	Vietnam	13,500,000
67th	Julien Melet	France	13,500,000
68th	Quoc Khanh Vu	Vietnam	13,500,000
69th	Duc Hanh Pham	Vietnam	13,500,000
70th	Thanh Tung Nguyen	Vietnam	13,500,000
71st	Maaku Tanaka	Japan	13,500,000
72nd	Thanh Tung Nguyen	Vietnam	13,500,000
73rd	Justin Skoulholt	USA	13,500,000
74th	Dao Ngoc Thang	Vietnam	13,500,000

That concludes the first WPT Prime Vietnam side event with a guaranteed prize pool. Up next is the Mystery Bounty featuring a VN₫ 1,000,000,000 (~US$ 43,310) guarantee. The event runs from May 23 to 24 with two starting flights offered. Buy in is VN₫ 11,000,000 (~US$ 476). Cards in the air at 11am and 330pm.

Full WPT Prime Vietnam schedule

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