The World Poker Tour is back in Vietnam staging its biggest international event in the country in nearly three years. The tour’s much anticipated new series WPT Prime kicked off today May 19 at the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi and will run a total of 12 days, concluding on May 30. For those new to the venue, expect fast action throughout with 30 second shot clocks introduced at the start of every side event.
Full WPT Prime Vietnam schedule
The day’s highlight was the WPT Opener which featured a VN₫ 2.5 Billion guarantee. After eight rounds of registration, it was a roaring start with 123 total entries (89 unique, 34 re-entry). Among the players in action were some of Asia‘s finest such as WSOP bracelet winner Kartik Ved and 2021 WPTDS Vietnam High Roller champion Nang Quang Nguyen, however both bumped the rail early on. The starting day closed when Australian Phillip Nguyen’s pocket Nines held against a player’s Ace-Eight offsuit.
Out of the day’s 15 survivors, Vietnam‘s Hoang Nevar amassed the largest pile equivalent to a whopping 16 starting stacks. A couple of Nevar’s biggest pots were railing Nguyen Tan Phat with 
ace on the flop to outdraw 
and calling out a big river bluff bet by Julien Melet with mid pair that exposed the missed flush draw. Also making the cut was Indian online beast Gaurav Sood who racked up the sixth largest stack.
The remaining players have a few days off as they await the results of the next two entry days. They can rest comfortably knowing they are all in the money. Day 2 is on Sunday, May 22 at 11am.
Buy in: VN₫ 8,800,000 (~US$ 380)
Guarantee: VN₫ 2,500,000,000 (~US$ 107,933)
Day 1A : 15 advanced out of 123 entries
Day 1B: Friday, May 20 at 11am – play to ITM
Day 1C: Saturday, May 21 at 11am – play to ITM
Day 1A chip counts
| Player | Country | Chips |
| Nguyen Hoang (Nevar) | Vietnam | 411,000 |
| Than Nguyen (Baobei) | Vietnam | 339,000 |
| Phillip Nguyen | Australia | 336,000 |
| Bui Duc Thien | Vietnam | 315,000 |
| Nguyen Duy Vu (Emit) | Vietnam | 288,000 |
| Gaurav Sood | India | 255,000 |
| Julien Melet | France | 216,000 |
| Nguyen Duy Anh | Vietnam | 201,000 |
| Lok Ching Li | Australia | 149,000 |
| Bu Duc Tu (Tobias) | Vietnam | 136,000 |
| Dinh Van Tien (Davati) | Vietnam | 117,000 |
| Prommin Talordpong | Thailand | 107,000 |
| Ng Tien Anh (Lx Nguyen) | Vietnam | 97,000 |
| Pham Hong Phuc | Vietnam | 96,000 |
| Tran Duc Kien | Vietnam | 65,000 |
| Chips in play | 3,075,000 | |
| Average stack | 205,000 |
Event 2: Deepstack NLH – VU THAI BAO – VN₫ 97,600,000 (~US$ 4,214)
Many of the opener’s fallouts dragged their feet to the other side of the room for the next event on deck, the Deepstack NLH with buy in of VN₫ 4,400,000. The event drew a crowd of 74 entries for a prize pool of VN₫ 287,120,000. Just under six hours of play, the bubble burst on Hong Kong‘s Chi Chung “Eddie” Ho who called Tran Van Nang‘s shove with 
that stayed behind 
. From there, it took another two and a half hours to reach heads up. At three-handed, Vu Thai Bao shipped a three-way shove holding 
king on the flop to boot out Nguyen Quang Hieu‘s 
and double up through Nguyen Huu Manh‘s 
. Two hands later it was all over. Bao triumphed when his 
found a queen on the board to oust 
.
With the conclusion of this event the Player of the Festival race has officially begun. All of the players that cashed earned POF points. Bao shares the top spot with Hyper Turbo champion Nguyen Manh Tuan.
Buy in: VN₫ 4,400,000 (~US$ 190)
Entries: 74 (62 unique, 12 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 287,120,000 (~US$ 12,396)
ITM: 10 places
Payouts
1st Vu Thai Bao – Vietnam – VN₫ 97,600,000
2nd Nguyen Huu Manh – Vietnam – VN₫ 56,000,000
3rd Nguyen Quang Hieu – Vietnam – VN₫ 35,000,000
4th Vu Quoc Khanh – Vietnam – VN₫ 23,700,000
5th Sunaga Ryuto – Singapore – VN₫ 17,900,000
6th Vu Duc Trung – Vietnam – VN₫ 14,600,000
7th Tran Van Nang – Vietnam – VN₫ 12,600,000
8th Pham Van Trung – Vietnam – VN₫ 11,200,000
9th Le Quoc Son – Vietnam – VN₫ 9,800,000
10th Diep Quoc Bao – Vietnam – VN₫ 8,720,000
Event 3: Hyper Turbo – NGUYEN MANH TUAN – VN₫ 30,500,000 (~US$ 1,316)
To welcome in the evening sluggers, a Hyper Turbo event was scheduled with buy in of VN₫ 3,300,000. It drew 21 entries for a prize pool of VN₫ 61,110,000. USA’s Duy Ho came from behind to reach heads up however he could not lift the trophy, instead, he lost the deciding flip against Nguyen Manh Tuan. Tuan earned 300 POF points to share the top spot with Deepstack NLH winner Vu Thai Bao. All the players that cashed in this event also earned POF points.
Buy in: VN₫ 3,300,000 (~US$ 143)
Entries: 21 (19 unique, 2 re-entry)
Prize pool: VN₫ 61,110,000 (~US$ 2,638)
ITM: 3 places
Payouts
1st Nguyen Manh Tuan – Vietnam – VN₫ 30,500,000
2nd Duy Ho – USA – VN₫ 18,300,000
3rd Trinh Van Quan – Vietnam – VN₫ 12,310,000
Player of the Festival update
With two events completed, the Player of the Festival race is up and running. Here are the current standings. The player that accrues the highest number of points at the end of the series will win a WPT Passport worth US$ 5,000 to any WPT Main Tour.
| NGUYỄN MẠNH TUẤN | 300 |
| VŨ THÁI BẢO | 300 |
| DUY HỒ | 225 |
| NGUYỄN HỮU MẠNH | 225 |
| NGUYỄN QUANG HIẾU | 175 |
| TRỊNH VĂN QUÂN | 175 |
| VŨ QUỐC KHÁNH SG | 150 |
| SUNAGA RYURO | 125 |
| VŨ ĐỨC TRUNG | 100 |
| TRẦN VĂN NĂNG | 75 |
| PHẠM VĂN TRUNG | 60 |
| LÊ QUỐC SƠN | 50 |
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you daily recaps and highlights of WPT Prime Vietnam from start to finish.
Event articles:
WPT Prime debuts in Hanoi
Launch day of WPT Prime Vietnam
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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