Closing the 2023 season with a bang is Poker Dream 7 Vietnam’s Main Event currently underway at the prestigious Hoiana Resort & Golf in Hoi An, Vietnam. The six day affair headlines the tour’s final series for the year with a massive ₫20 Billion (~US$ 820,000) guarantee. Running through the 8th, three of ten starting flights have so far played through with a total of 25 qualifiers having advanced into Day 2. Malaysia’s Tan Ong Kwan leads the charge with a 408,000 chip count from yesterday’s Day 1C, followed closely by local runner Phan Tuan Vinh with 377,000.
Another three Day 1’s are set to run today, October 5, again at different price points and tournament structures. This gives players a chance to jump in the Main Event action at any point of the day, early afternoon until late night. Tomorrow, October 6th concludes the qualifying rounds with Day 2 continuing on Saturday, October 7th at 13:00.
Main Event Day 1B and Day 1C Recap
Two flights played down yesterday with the first of the two, Day 1B, seeing only 4 runners out of the 77 entries move on to the next round. Malouch Jean Mathieu rose to the top after sending several opponents out one after the other with his pocket pairs seemingly unbeatable. Down to the last table, Malouch remained in top form, having delivered the last two knockouts to cap the day. Malouch was running hot and was ahead of his opponents in both occasions starting with 
against Ashiwardji Andy’s 
and 
against Lau Wing Yu’s 
for the bubble.
Day 1B
Date: October 4, 2023
Buy in: ₫8,500,000 (~US$ 366)
Entries: 77
Bagging time: 5% of field / 4 players
Day 1C featured a longer thirty minute blinds which saw its final sixteen players bag after nine hours of Main Event action. The more expensive flight commanded a bigger field of 151 entries but also played down to a larger 10% of the field. The night wrapped up after Thailand’s Punnat Punsri exited as the day’s bubble by the hands of Aimsaat Suppakrit. Punsri was crippled to 6.5 BB just a few hands prior after squeezing all-in from the blinds with 
against a late open and a call. Tran Hoang Nam however, took the spot and claimed the 45 BB pot with a better 
.
Following the Thai crusher’s exit, the numbers were in with Tan Ong Kwan in the lead across the 25 qualifier list. The Malaysian bagged the top spot after getting max value on a crucial hand where he rivered a boat against Chu Thai Thinh’s two pair. Chu called Tan’s all-in on the river and was eliminated after Tan revealed the full house. Tan then proceeded to knock out Nguyen Thanh Tung with 
against the latter’s 
to boost his stack past the 400,000 mark.
Day 1C
Date: October 4, 2023
Buy in: ₫17,000,000 (~US$ 733)
Entries: 151
Bagging time: 10% of field / 16 players
Top Chip Counts
| Tan Ong Kwan | 408,000 |
| Phan Tuan Vinh | 377,000 |
| Chu Chi Jen | 369,000 |
| Malouch Jean Mathieu | 319,000 |
| Thavon Theerapol | 264,000 |
Poker Dream 7 Vietnam Main Event Review
Dates: October 3-8, 2023
Buy in: VND 8,500,000 (~USD 366) – VND 25,500,000 (~USD 1,099)
Guarantee: VND 20,000,000,000 (~USD 820,000)
Day 1 Results
1A: 81 entries / 5 advanced
1B: 77 entries / 4 advanced
1C: 151 entries / 16 advanced
Day 1 Live Updates
Day 2 Qualifiers
*All photos by Poker Dream
