Running full steam at the Pullman Grand Hotel in Hai Phong in Vietnam, the U Series of Poker (USOP) Grand Finale has crossed its halfway mark, crowning more than two dozen of champions. One of the latest events to conclude at the ongoing series was Event #16: Mini Main Event enticing players with its massive VND 15 Billion GTD ($ 590,000).
Featuring a buy-in of 20,000,000 (~USD 780), the tournament drew an impressive 1,166 entries, building a prize pool of VND 19,728,720,000 ($ 777,000) and comfortably surpassing the specified guarantee.
Following four starting flights and one more day of intense action, China’s Ma Houhai grabbed the Mini Main title, following an ICM deal with Ha Van Thien of Vietnam. Ma took home a career-best VND 2,835,000,000 ($111,000) along with the coveted USOP trophy, while Thien walked away with VND 2,600,000,000 ($102,000) as the runner-up. This marked Ma’s second live poker title and boosted his live winnings to over $149k.
Final Table Payouts (VND)
1-Ma Haohui – 2,835,000,000*
2-Ha Van Thien – 2,600,000,000*
3-Jules Rohr – 1,500,000,000
4-Irvan Pramana Iliadi – 1,117,400,000
5-Zheng Jie – 850,000,000
6-Wang Chen – 682,000,000
7-Fan Yingkun – 546,820,000
8-Haver Kamper – 422,000,000
9-Li Xinze – 321,000,000
Only 144 players returned for Day 2, all guaranteed at least VND 35,000,000 ($1,300) from the prize pool of VND 19,728,720,000 ($777,000). China’s Yang Xudong began the day as chip leader but could not make it all the way, exiting in 18th place (VND 141,000,000). Biao Guo of China started Day 2 with the second-largest stack of 715,000, but only managed to reach the 19th spot (VND 121,000,000).
Team India Performance In Event #16: Mini Main Event
Following their power-packed performances at the recent Poker Dream 13 in Malaysia APT Phu Quoc, Indian players are making significant impact with over 7 final table finishes and 28 cashes. In this event too, an impressive 8 Indians scored ITM finishes with WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Shushant leading the charge with the deepest run, finishing 10th for VND 241,000,000 ($9,480). Here is the list of Indians who cashed the mini main event.
| Rank | Name | Prize | Approximate INR |
| 10 | Aditya Sushant | VND 241,000,000 | $9,480 |
| 14 | Siddharth Karia | VND 181,000,000 | $7,120 |
| 33 | Kartik Ved | VND 92,000,000 | $3,620 |
| 45 | Ritwik Khanna | VND 72,500,000 | $2,850 |
| 62 | Harsh Bubna | VND 57,500,000 | $2,260 |
| 100 | Ayush Arya | VND 39,500,000 | $1,555 |
| 127 | Amit Kaushik | VND 37,000,000 | $1,455 |
| 141 | Ashish Munot | VND 35,000,000 | $1,375 |
Ankit Bhansali Wins Midweek Superstack of USOP Grand Finale 2024
After several close calls, Team India finally clinched its first USOP trophy at the ongoing series. Winning India its first trophy was none other than Ankit Bhansali, who recently made headlines for winning the DPT Grand NLH Bounty in Goa. He emerged victorious in Event #27: VND 10 Million Midweek Superstack after beating a massive field of 465 entries.
Bhansali eventually overcame none other than the in-form Kunal Patni in the heads-up, claiming his maiden USOP title and a career-best a career-best VND 724 Million (INR 24.15 Lakhs) payday – his first cash in the series. Patni walked away with VND 666 Million (INR 22.22 Lakhs), following a heads-up deal with Bhansali.
This was the third final table of the series for Patni who had the USOP Hanoi 2023 Event #34: VND 66 Million High Roller – The Finale over a year ago. With three final table scores to his name already, Patni is currently leading the Indian charge.
The Midweek Superstack had a VND 900 Million guarantee and did well drawing an impressive 465 entries and taking the prize pool to VND 3.934 Billion. Among those who finished in the money was India’s Sumit Sapra who finished 54th for VND 16 Million ( INR 53,000).
Final Table Payouts (VND)
1. Ankit Bhansali – 724,000,000*
2. Kunal Patni – 666,000,000*
3. Khoi Nguyen – 358,000,000
4. Duy Anh Pham – 245,000,000
5. Xiangyu Zhao – 190,000,000
6. Yuanxi Chen – 159,000, 00
7. Sang Jun Lee – 130,000,000
8. Chun Chieh Liu – 104,000,000
9. Phi Hung Do – 83,000,000
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Image Credit: USOP/SMP
