Duy Thuc Nguyen Wins 2023 WPT Prime Vietnam; Chak Lam Tsang Finishes as the Runner-Up (VND4,173,000,000/$177,764)

Duy Thuc Nguyen

Hand #138: Duy Thuc Nguyen raises it up to 750,000 on the button and Chak Lam Tsang defends the big blind.

On a flop of , Tsang check-raises once more from 500,000 to 1,400,000 and Nguyen calls. That leads them to the turn on which Tsang jams with fewer than ten blinds behind.

Nguyen double-checks his cards and calls!

Chak Lam Tsang:
Duy Thuc Nguyen:

Nguyen is ahead with the turned straight and Tsang needs a jack or eight to double. A brick follows with the on the river and the new champion is crowned.

Duy Thuc Nguyen – Winner of 2023 WPT Prime Main Event (VND4,173,000,000/$177,764)
Chak Lam Tsang – Eliminated in 2nd Place (VND2,785,000,000/$118,637)

Chak Lam “Nathan” Tsang

It was a dominating performance by the last local player in contention, who started the final table third in chips behind Tsang and third-place finisher Xizhen Huang.

Nguyen quickly pulled into the lead with sheer aggression and had fortune on his side when his ace-four suited cracked the pocket aces of Satoshi Kuriga. Jaeho Lee was another victim of the hot run of Nguyen when he was unable to win a flip with nines against ace-king suited. He also had to overcome the Aussies Julian Warhurst and Phillip Nguyen, the latter of which he knocked out with a dominating ace.

Yuhan Liu survived all-in showdowns three times before his ace-eight was crushed by Nguyen’s pocket jacks. Huang and Tsang doubled through the chip leader before they got it in preflop with a suited king and an off-suit ace. Tsang came out on top but was crushed in just nine hands of heads-up play by the relentless aggression of Nguyen.

The 2023 WPT Prime Vietnam stop at the Crown Poker Club set new heights for live poker events in the country and for the mid-stakes tour on the one year anniversary. Hijack Poker brought a group of poker enthusiasts all the way from Western Australia for the event alongside plenty of poker pros from India, while CTP Club from Taiwan was represented by dozens of players as well. The next WPT Prime stop in Asia will take place in August in Taipei City at the new Asian Poker Arena.

A total of 1,151 entries make it the biggest WPT Main Event in Asia, the second-largest WPT Prime Main Event in history, and the largest non-High Roller event in terms of entries for Vietnam. Furthermore, the VND 25,343,869,000 ($1,079,611) prize pool is the biggest for a non-High Roller Event as well. Other Side Events also impressed as well, setting the bar for future editions in Ha Noi very high.

2023 WPT Prime Vietnam Final Table Result

1st:  Duy Thuc Nguyen (Vietnam)  –  VND 4,173,000,000 / $177,764*
2nd:  Chak Lam “Nathan” Tsang (Hong Kong)  –  VND 2,785,000,000 / $118,637
3rd:  Xizhen Huang (China)  –  VND 2,060,000,000 / $87,753
4th:  Yuhan Liu (China)  –  VND 1,539,000,000 / $65,559
5th:  Phillip Nguyen (Australia)  –  VND 1,161,000,000 / $49,457
6th:  Jaeho Lee (South Korea)  –  VND 885,000,000 / $37,700
7th:  Julian Warhurst (Australia)  –  VND 681,000,000 / $29,010
8th:  Satoshi Kuriga (Japan)  –  VND 530,729,000 / $22,608
9th:  Jinlong Hu (China)  –  VND 417,000,000 / $17,764

* The winner also receives the $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas on top of his cash prize.