Hamish Crawshaw opened to 400,000 with the and Wei Hsiang Yeu then piled it in for 3,000,000 in the small blind. Eng Soon Ewe in the big blind flat-called and Crawshaw folded.
Wei Hsiang Yeu:
Eng Soon Ewe:
The one overcard never came on the runout as Ewe's set of jacks earned the pot. Yeu departed in 7th place and collected VND 935,960,000 for his efforts.
Hamish Crawshaw min-raised to 500,000 with the and Eng Soon Ewe called in the small blind with the . Dung Tien Pham then pushed for 4,500,000 in the big blind with and Crawshaw called while Ewe got out of the way.
The flop gave Pham more outs, as did the turn. However, the river brought no help for the last local player and he collected VND 1,182,000,000 for the efforts.
Danny Tang raised to 600,000 as the first player to act with the . He was called by Hamish Crawshaw in the big blind, who came along with . The flop went check, check, and the turn gave Crawshaw trips nines. He now bet 1,000,000 and Tang checked his remaining stack before making the call.
They headed to the river that gave Tang the queen-high straight. Crawshaw now bet 3,000,000 and Tang carefully counted what he had left over once more before calling and raking in the large pot.
In a min-raised pot that started with a button raise by Devan Tang and his , Tzer Chiuan Lim had just called in the small blind with the and that invited Hamish Crawshaw out of the big blind with .
The flop was checked and the followed on the turn. Lim now bet 800,000 and Crawshaw raised to 2,000,000 to then call the shove by Lim for 3,100,000 total.
Lim needed help with his overpair and found none on the river to become the fifth place finisher, taking home 1,516,000,000 for the efforts.
Danny Tang made it 800,000 to go from under the gun and Eng Soon Ewe simply shipped it in for 10,650,000 on the button. Tang gave it some thought and then called with the superior stack.
Eng Soon Ewe:
Danny Tang:
The flop gave Tang all hearts in the deck on top of his two overcards. However, the turn and river ensured that Ewe dodged them all and doubled into the lead.
Danny Tang raised to 2,100,000 with 50,000 behind and Hamish Crawshaw called in the big blind. Prior to the flop, Crawshaw had already exposed his cards to then bet 100,000. Tang called it off and there was some confusion as the floorman was called to explain what had happened.
Danny Tang:
Hamish Crawshaw:
"Can we please finish this hand?" Tang inquired and the turn as well as river ended his run. More discussions broke out thereafter as Crawshaw was initially given a three-hand penalty. While Crawshaw vaulted back into second place, Tang was eliminated in fourth and received VND 1,882,000,000 for the efforts.
In the second hand of heads-up play, Devan Tang on the button raised to 1,500,000. Eng Soon Ewe three-bet to 5,000,000 and Tang double-checked his cards before he pushed all-in for 13,000,000 to get snap-called.
Devan Tang:
Eng Soon Ewe:
The flop instantly gave Ewe the top two pair and there was no miracle this time for Tang on the turn, the river was another blank. Escape artist Tang had to settle for second place which comes with a payday of VND 3,634,000,000.
For Ewe, the second participation in a Poker Dream Super High Roller ended with a success story as he will lift the trophy and collect the top prize of VND 5,230,000,000.
The second ever Super High Roller tournament of the new Asia-based Poker Dream live poker series has crowned a winner. In the early morning hours, Malaysia's Eng Soon Ewe came out on top of a 92-entry strong field and defeated Hong Kong's Devan Tang in a heads-up duel that lasted all but two hands.
With a buy-in of VND 230,000,000 ($9,900), it was the most expensive tournament of the schedule at the luxury five-star Hoiana Hotel complex near Hoi An on the Vietnamese coastline. The biggest slice of the VND 19,699,960,000 ($806,053) prize pool was shared between the top two finishers. Ewe took home VND 5,230,000,000 for his efforts while Tang had to settle for VND 3,634,000,000.
That both would end up to battle for the golden dragon trophy seemed unlikely as Ewe survived the money bubble on a nub while Tang saw his stack reduced to under three big blinds on the final table. Yet they overcame the established poker pros Hamish Crawshaw and Danny Tang, who had to settle in third and fourth place respectively.
Final Table Result 2022 Poker Dream Vietnam Super High Roller
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in VND)
Prize (in USD)
1
Eng Soon Ewe
Malaysia
VND 5,230,000,000
$213,993
2
Devan Tang
Hong Kong
VND 3,634,000,000
$148,691
3
Hamish Crawshaw
New Zealand
VND 2,403,000,000
$98,322
4
Danny Tang
Hong Kong
VND 1,882,000,000
$77,005
5
Tzer Chiuan Lim
Malaysia
VND 1,516,000,000
$62,029
6
Dung Tien Pham
Vietnam
VND 1,182,000,000
$48,363
7
Wei Hsiang Yeu
Malaysia
VND 935,960,000
$38,296
8
Zhi Yi Ning
Malaysia
VND 729,000,000
$29,828
9
Eng Siang Ewe
Malaysia
VND 552,000,000
$22,586
Ewe's brother Eng Siang Ewe also reached the final table albeit as the far shortest stack, having doubled his brother two times in quick succession leading up to the last redraw of the tournament. Wei Hsiang Yeu was among the notable finalists while well-known Triton High Roller participant Wai Leong Chan finished in tenth place.
Kartik Ved, Ferdinand Putra, and Chi-Jen "Justin" Chu all earned cash prizes and the last player to leave empty-handed was Lester Edoc, who couldn't get there with king-nine against Yeu's pocket aces.
The inaugural Poker Dream Super High Roller champion Chi Zhang bowed out on the final three tables and was one of many high-profile casualties of the day. Victor Chong, Paul Phua, Mike Takayama, Winfred Yu, Abhinav Iyer, Elton Tsang, Sung Joo Hyun, and Seung Mook Jung all came up short of a cash prize.
When the money bubble had been reached, it seemed destined for Danny Tang to win the trophy. With two massive pots he skyrocketed to the top spot after he first tripled up with aces full against two opponents with trips eights and then dispatched Nang Quang Nguyen in a set-over-set scenario.
However, Tang's lead faltered when Crawshaw assumed control only for Ewe to burst into the lead with five players remaining when he won a large flip with sixes against the ace-king of Tang. There was no miracle comeback for one Tang while the other, Devan Tang, was seemingly unbeatable in all-in showdowns and escaped numerous times against Crawshaw.
Once the two big names were gone and heads-up play was set, it took all but two hands for Ewe to finish the job. In a preflop coin flip, his ace-jack suited was up against pocket nines and both overcards appeared on the flop to seal the victory for the Malaysian.
While the Super High Roller has wrapped up, poker enthusiasts from near and far can look forward to a busy schedule for the remainder of the series on October 23. The VND 25,000,000 Main Event kicks off on Thursday, October 20, 2022 and comes with a massive VND 10,000,000,000 guarantee, the largest in the poker history of Vietnam.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide updates from the flagship tournament of the series.