Winfred Yu Among Big Stacks on Day 1b as 2022 Poker Dream Vietnam Main Event Surpasses 800 Total Entries
After a strong turnout on the first starting day, the final two flights followed in the same path. As a result, the 2022 Poker Dream Vietnam VND 25,000,000 (~ $1,019) Main Event set a new attendance record in the second edition of the new Asian-based live poker circuit generated a total of 822 total entries across all three flights.
The initial VND 10,000,000,000 guarantee for the crown jewel of the stop at the luxury five-star Hoiana Resort & Golf near Hoi An was essentially doubled and toppled the 654 entries of the inaugural Poker Dream Malaysia 2022 Main Event at the Resorts World Genting in Kuala Lumpur. While more than 1,000 entries were one hurdle too high this time, it would be no surprise to see that number fall in upcoming editions.
Day 1b represented the strongest starting day as a total of 377 entries were recorded, of which 85 players survived the 12 levels of 40 minutes each. Essentially one out of four players advanced and Hung Thanh Phan was the only other player to accumulate more than ten times the 30,000 starting stack as he finished the night with 310,000 on the live stream feature table. Big stacks were accumulated by Nam Hoang Nguyen (285,500), Chuong Hong Tran (273,500), and Changhwan Lee (261,500).
The top ten for Day 1b also features Winfred Yu with 228,000 in chips, who sits in fourth place of Hong Kong's all-time money list according to The Hendon Mob. With more than $6.8 million in cashes, he has been a regular fixture on the Triton High Roller Series and is considered a close ally for the new up and coming live poker series.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hung Thanh Phan | Vietnam | 310,000 | 103 |
| 2 | Nam Hoang Nguyen | Vietnam | 285,500 | 95 |
| 3 | Chuong Hong Tran | Vietnam | 273,500 | 91 |
| 4 | Changhwan Lee | South Korea | 261,500 | 87 |
| 5 | Tien Minh Ngo | Vietnam | 261,000 | 87 |
| 6 | Nghia Trong Nguyen | Vietnam | 246,500 | 82 |
| 7 | Kevin Ang | Malaysia | 243,000 | 81 |
| 8 | Prommin Talordpong | Thailand | 234,000 | 78 |
| 9 | Winfred Yu | Hong Kong | 228,000 | 76 |
| 10 | Thien Van Ha | Vietnam | 226,000 | 75 |
Other notables with above-average stacks include Jehun Hong (225,000), Super High Roller finalist Zhi Yi Ning (219,000), Chin Wei Lim (181,000), Seokyoung Lee (180,000), Cuong Van Nguyen (153,500), and Nang Quang Nguyen (127,000). Super High Roller third-place finisher Hamish Crawshaw bagged just shy of the average with 103,500, as did Taiwan's Chi-Jen Chu (108,500) and Devan Tang (81,000).
Many further familiar names of the Asia-Pacific region were not as fortunate and failed to bag up chips for the night including Abhinav Iyer, Kunal Patni, Kartik Ved, Lester Edoc, Sung Joo Hyun, Natural8 ambassador Phachara Wongwichit, Vincent Huang, and Ngoc Anh Cao.
Guest appearances were also made by seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Men "The Master" Nguyen and two-time champion John "The Razor" Phan. Neither of them made it through Day 1b and were also no longer in contention by the time the late registration for the turbo heat 1c closed.
The final turbo heat with a level duration of 20 minutes reeled in another 152 entries with the top 36 finishers to lock up a seat for Day 2 in order to match the average stack of the previous two flights. That brings the total number of survivors to 192 hopefuls and they will be back at 1pm local time on Saturday, October 22, 2022.
Day 1c was topped by Vincent Huang, who was involved in many all-in showdowns during the extended final level. The Aussie bagged a very healthy 285,000, while Trung Van Nguyen advanced with 232,500 and Ha Thanh Duong finished the night with 218,000 as third-biggest stack. Notables to advance also included Peter Sim, Jack Wu, Kunal Patni and Kartik Ved as well as Kannapong Thanarattrakul.
When the action resumes, the blinds in level 13 will be 1,500/3,000 with a big blind ante of 3,000. On the penultimate tournament day, the level duration increases to 50 minutes each and it is expected that up to 12 levels are scheduled. A winner will then be crowned the following day and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor until the conclusion of the tournament.