2023 WPT Prime Vietnam Main Event Sets Several New Records With Stellar Turnout on Day 1c

Crown Poker Club in Ha Noi

It was an incredibly busy day at the Crown Poker Club in Ha Noi and the second-ever World Poker Tour Prime stop in Vietnam set new records for WPT as well as live poker events in one of the hotbeds of the Asia-Pacific region.

After two very promising starting days with 626 entries, the third and final flight of the 2023 WPT Prime Vietnam Main Event fully tested the capacities of the venue. Once the dust had settled and alternate number 179 took a seat, a staggering 525 entries were added to the tally, which skyrocketed to 1,151 total entries.

This outcome set several records along the way. It is the biggest WPT Main Event in Asia, the second-largest WPT Prime Main Event in history, the largest non-High Roller event in terms of entries for Vietnam and the biggest cash prize pool for the same metric as well.

A total of 145 players share a portion of the VND 25,343,869,000 prize pool ($1,079,611) but just 143 hopefuls are set to return for Day 2 when the race towards the final table commences. Khanh Nguyen receives a min-cash worth VND 39,000,000 ($1,661) for his shorter stack on Day 1a while Chu Hong Fu and Kunal Patni split the same amount after they were eliminated on the Day 1c bubble on different tables.

Ngoc Anh Cao was responsible for bursting the bubble when he won a flip with queens against the ace-king of Fu, while the turned set of fives for Patni was cracked by a gutshot and nut flush draw of Ta Son Tung. Ironically, Patni had previously welcomed his foe to the table with the words “no fight” after both shared the same table on Day 1a and Tung went from big stack to busto.

Ngoc Anh Cao

Cao (795,000) and Tung (630,000) finished the night inside the top five on the leaderboard, which Dong Kyu Kim topped with a stack of 805,000. Ha Trung Nguyen (646,000) and Nang Quang Nguyen (564,000) also bagged up very healthy stacks for Day 2 as well.

Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1c:

1st: Dong Kyu Kim (South Korea) – 805,000
2nd: Ngoc Anh Cao (Vietnam) – 795,000
3rd: Ha Trung Nguyen (Vietnam) – 646,000
4th: Ta Son Tung (Vietnam) – 630,000
5th: Nang Quang Nguyen (Vietnam) – 564,000
6th: Minh Duc Pham (Vietnam) – 562,000
7th: Gia Trung Nguyen (Vietnam) – 519,000
8th: Cong Xuan Le (Vietnam) – 517,000
9th: Nam Hai Hoang (Vietnam) – 480,000
10th: Vamerdino Magsakay (Philippines) – 465,000

The entire poker room was bursting with action right from the start and the attendance of the inaugural WPT Prime Main Event at the very same venue one year ago was already toppled during the first level. From there on, the number of entries kept on growing every other minute and every single table and seat was occupied to accommodate the massive turnout.

Three former winners of the mid-stakes circuit were among the contestants but they all came up short of keeping the hopes of a second victory alive. Defending champion Zarvan Tumboli, David Erquiaga, and Marc Inizan all bowed out before the bubble.

Last year’s runner-up Ashish Munot fell victim to the hot run of Nam Hai Hoang when his ace-five suited failed to get there versus pocket queens. Another finalist from 2022, Trung Van Nguyen, became the de facto bubble boy without any pay day before the grand spectacle culminated a few minutes later.

Across the three starting days, 143 players bagged up chips and will return to their seats at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday, Max 28, 2023, to the poker room at Crown Poker Club. The action resumes with two and a half minutes remaining in level 15 at blinds of 3,000-6,000 and a big blind ante of 6,000 before they will increase right away.

As of Day 2, the level duration increases from 40 to 60 minutes each with a break every two full levels. The WPT Action Clock comes into play, giving all contenders 30 seconds to act for each decision with additional time banks at their disposal. The penultimate tournament day will play down to the nine-handed final table, which is then streamed with cards-up coverage the following day.

Stay tuned right here on WPT.com to find out who becomes the next WPT Prime Main Event champion.