Once again, U Series of Poker (USOP) has broken bounds! At USOP Hanoi, high roller events have been enjoying the same level of popularity as lower-tiered events, a fact that was overwhelmingly evident during the much-anticipated Superstar Challenge.
Conceived by host venue Crown Poker Club, the beloved homegrown tournament attracted an outstanding 94 entries (52 unique) to easily surpass the previous 62-entry Vietnam record for a shattering VND 10.2 Billion (~USD 424,000) prize pool.
Hoang Hai Nam aka Luckyman9999
After two days of intense showdowns and fantastic poker action, Vietnam’s own Hoang Hai Nam “Luckyman9999” staged an impressive comeback at three-handed to steal the win and lock up a career high payout of VND 3,000,000 (~USD 124,560).
This specific event had posed a significant challenge for Hoang in the past. Last year, he narrowly missed the top spot twice at previous festivals, finishing in runner-up position. However, in this latest showdown, he conquered, defeating Malaysia’s Ian Lee at heads up.
You can relive the final table race to victory via the livestream channel:
Date: September 3 to 4, 2023
Buy in: VND 120,000,000 (~USD 5,074)
Guarantee: VND 2,500,000,000 (~USD 103,800)
Entries: 94 (42 unique)
Prize pool: VND 10,212,100,000 (~USD 424,000)
ITM: 14 places
Place
Player
1
Hoang Hai Nam
3,000,000,000
2
Lee Tse Ian
1,900,000,000
3
Oshiro Gakuto
1,170,000,000
4
Nguyen Van Sang
781,100,000
5
Abhinav Iyer
576,000,000
6
Allen Michael Josheph
456,000,000
7
Pham Alan Anh-Minh
385,000,000
8
Agarwal Sahil
336,000,000
9
Do Quang Trinh
298,000,000
10
Teoh Minh Hong
270,000,000
11
Pham Duy Anh
270,000,000
12
Kitazato Yohei
270,000,000
13
Husson Pierre
250,000,000
14
Benloch Florent Remi
250,000,000
Event Recap
The Superstar Challenge was a two-day affair attracting many well known high profilers. Among them were David Erquiaga, Alex Lee, William Jia, Nguyen Quang Minh, to mention a few. While all of them missed the mark, it was Yeh Hung-Wei who fell the hardest with 
unable to improve against Michael Allen’s 
on the bubble.
Day 2 proceeded with 14 players returning led by Hoang. Pierre Husson was hunting down his third final table but it was not to be as the Frenchman finished 13th. WSOP Online bracelet winner Teoh Ming Hong aka Paul Teoh exited in 10th place to form the final table.
Make sure to relive the action via the livestream. To briefly retell Hoang’s swinging game to the top. At three-handed, the majority of chips were divided between Hoang and famous Japanese star GACKT. The top two switched when Lee doubled up through Hoang with 
full house over 
straight on a board 
.
Following the loss, Hoang continued to drop down to just 7 bb when he landed a much needed double up off Lee. The momentum carried, and mixed with timed aggression, Hoang reclaimed the top spot. To reach heads up, Hoang hero-called on a board 
to eliminate GACKT who pushed with 
. Hoang had set.
Heads up was just one hand. Hoang pushed with {s}, Lee called for his tournament life with 
, the board ran 
.
Tags:
Live Poker, News, USOPHanoi2023
