Prior to the cancellation, the VND 36-million Main Event of the Asian  Hanoi Billions 2023 is officially, the largest and richest poker tournament now in the tour's 17-year history.

After four days of intense action at the iconic Hanoi National Convention Center in partnership with Vietnam Series of Poker, Day 2 saw the 844 survivors from the four starting flights joined by a further 111 late entries, etching the inaugural edition of the APT Hanoi Billions Main Event in the record books with an astounding 2,350 entries (1,334 unique).

This colossal turnout not only made it the largest and richest Main Event in APT history, but also set a new record for the biggest-ever field size for any Main Event in Vietnam.

The prize pool for this extraordinary event stood at a staggering VND 73,855,800,000 (~$3,033,430) — a 203 percent increase on the VND 25 billion (~$1 million) guarantee.

A total of 351 players earned  a share of this mammoth purse, and the eventual champion would have claimed the coveted Golden Lion APT Main Event Trophy, and  top prize of VND 11,831,710,000 (~$485,880).

Looking back

The second day of the historic APT Hanoi Billions 2023 Main Event concluded with Vietnam's Quang Hieu Nguyen leading the way after amassing an impressive 939,000 chips.

China's Yadi Yao secured the second position with a stack of 887,000, closely followed by Filipino player Christopher Pasion with 867,000 chips.

Former Main Event champion John Tech bagged a top-ten stack — his 681,000 in chips securing eighth position in the counts.

Thailand's Punnat Punsri, the winner of APT Taipei's previous record field, is another formidable player in the mix, carrying 627,000 chips into the next phase of the event.

The VND 100M Event #60: Single Day High Roller-8 Max drew some intense competition and a 102-strong field (75 unique), with the tournament concluding with a thrilling showdown between two reigning APT High Roller champions.

The action unfolded over twenty-nine 20-minute levels, with notables such as the Philippines #1 ranked tournament player Marc Rivera, double series High Roller title winner Nozomu Shimizu, and Superstar Challenge champions Jun Hao Wu and Joshua McCully fighting it out for a share of the VND 9,102,480,000 (~$374,170) prize pool.

It was reigning APT Incheon High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor the man to claim the prestigious APT gold lion silhouette trophy and the VND 2,325,680,000 (~$95,540) top prize after an epic heads-up battle with APT Summer Series Hanoi High Roller champion Ngoc Dai "Mr. Big" Nguyen.

China's Song Xue rounded out the winner's podium, collecting VND 1,051,340,000 (~$43,179) for third place, with Natural8 Ambassador Yu Chung "Nevan" Chang also making a final table appearance.