For the last six days, poker fans have gathered in Hanoi for the U Series of Poker (USOP) Vietnam. Although we are well into the festival now, most of the events earlier events were smaller tournaments and side games. Today marks the start of the USOP Main Event.
The organizers are expecting an even bigger crowd for the USOP Vietnam main event. The number of players might even be larger than last year’s gathering which had 1,043 entries! Aside from being the main event, this tournament is also offering huge prize money to the winner which will attract some of the best poker players in the world.
Poker Stars Joining the USOP Main Event
So far, the other events of the USOP Vietnam tournament have been a complete success with many of them exceeding their expected betting guarantee! The Mini Main Event yesterday managed to attract over 500 entries. This has set a high bar for what will happen in the USOP Main Event.
It has gotten the attention of many big names in the poker world. Among the people interested in joining our David Erquiaga, Nevan Chang, Zong Chi He, Anton Lu, Max Menzel, Brendon Rubie, Roland Kivi, Huu Dung Nguyen, Vu Thai Bao, Bao Pham, and Triton champion Dao Minh Phu. Even Japanese popstar GACKT has said he plans on attending the USOP Main Event.
One person who everyone is paying close attention to is Filipino poker Star Edwin Dela Cruz. He had previously won a USOP Main Event title in Taiwan earlier this year and is looking to add a second win in Hanoi.
Details About the USOP Main Event
The USOP Main Event is the most important event in the festival and has become the ultimate goal for every poker player to win, and this year is no different. To enter this tournament, you need to give a buy-in of VN₫ 22,000,000 (US$ 930), but while this might be expensive for some people, the rewards are even bigger.
Aside from the bragging rights of winning, this event promises many prizes. Probably the most impressive is a guaranteed prize pool of VN₫ 10,000,000,000 (~US$ 425,350) which will be divided among the top players. This makes it one of the largest prize pools in the festival, beat out only by the high roller events. Aside from the money, the winner also gets to walk home with a stunning 18K gold-plated trophy.
For players looking to register for the main event, they have until the end of Level 10. Day 1 will have increasing blinds every 40 minutes (20 minutes for the Turbo version). For Day 2 and Day 3, the blinds will increase every 60 minutes, giving the game a slower pace. If you register last minute, you will still have 20 BB to play with so you still have a chance of winning. Just keep in mind that Day 1 Flights are finished when only 12.5% of players remain so don’t delay for too long.
While we are approaching the end of USOP Vietnam now, we have been following this event since the very beginning, even before it started.
To know more about what was happening before the start of the event, check out our news post about the USOP Vietnam Countdown.