After a little under eight hours of final table battle, Sam Chen Yu Hung from Taiwan emerged victorious in the U Series of Poker Taiwan Main Event. Overcoming a 2:1 heads-up deficit against South Korea’s Gyeong Byeong Lee, Sam grinded his way to the chip lead and sealed the title with a straight over Lee’s flush draw. Hung claimed TWD 5,383,700, while Lee took home TWD 3,774,000.
Hosted at the CTP Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City from January 11 to 15, 2024, the TWD 33,000 buy-in USOP Taiwan Main Event had a guaranteed prize pool of TWD 15,000,000 (~USD 482,230). The tournament received overwhelming response, drawing in a whopping 1,100 entries across four starting flights and generating TWD 32,010,000 (USD 1,030,500) in prize pool. This was the third consecutive seven-figure prize pool for the event and was distributed among the top 140 players.
The USOP Main Event final table began with Gyeong Byeong Lee in the lead. Hong Kong’s Yu Chen was the first to bow out, falling to Yu Sheng Lin. Chip leader Lee extended his lead further by railing Malaysia’s Webster Chin Wei Lim in 8th place. Lim was followed by Po Wen Fang who lost a flip against Hung to exit in 7th place. The next to fall was Vietnam’s Minh A Nguyen exiting in 6th place.
Down to five-handed play, Hung eliminated Germany’s Oliver Schulze with his pocket Threes beating Ace-Seven offsuit. A little later, Hung ousted Chi Jen Chen, bringing the field to three players and taking the lead. However, Lee quickly reclaimed the lead by eliminating Yu Sheng Lin in 3rd place.
Hung ten staged a strong comeback in the heads-up, winning a big pot with A7 against 74 offsuit. From there on, he continued his momentum and South Korea’s Lee could not stop his surge.In the final hand, Lee moved all-in on the flop 5h 4c 3c with Qc 10c for a flush draw. Hung snap-called with 7c 6d for a flopped straight. The turn As and the river Ah completed the board, giving Hung the coveted title. Unfortunately for Lee, he had to settle for the runner-up payout worth TWD 3,774,000.
Final Table Payouts (TWD)
- Sam Chen Yu Hung – 5,383,000
- Gyeong Byeong Lee – 3,774,000
- Yu Sheng Lin – 2,449,000
- Chi Jen Chen -1,815,000
- Oliver Schulze – 1,372,000
- Minh A Nguyen – 1,109,000
- Po Wen Fang – 916,000
- Chin Wei Lim – 726,000
- Yu Chen – 538,000
Image Credit: SMP
