Final Table Takedown: Kou Vang Tops Record-Setting MSPT Michigan

Kou Vang came to the United States when he was just five years old. Like many poker players, he started playing home games with friends after seeing Chris Moneymaker take down the 2003 WSOP main event.

When he was 18, he enrolled in the National Guard, and soon after began working in the mortgage industry as a loan officer. Meanwhile, his poker bankroll kept growing, and just as he started to pursue poker professionally, he also decided to open his own mortgage company. By day he would work to build his business, and by night, he would grind multi-table tournaments online.

After a short stint in Las Vegas, Vang decided to move his family back home to Minnesota. The married father of six continued to grind online while also making trips for live tournaments all over the country. The WSOP Circuit ring winner has been particularly successful in the mid-major circuit, with a pair of Heartland Poker Tour final tables and a whopping 13 Mid-States Poker Tour final tables, including a win at his local casino Running Aces in Minnesota.

Then Vang broke through with one of the biggest MSPT titles ever in Michigan. Vang banked $314,145 for topping a record-setting field of 2,471 in the $1,110 buy-in main event at FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek. It was the largest live tournament field in the history of the state.

“Feels great,” Vang told the MSPT reporters. “This is the reason why we play the game, to get life-changing scores like this. I play the game to provide for my family the best I can, and $300k should go a long way.”

Vang now has career tournament earnings of $2.3 million, more than third of which has been won on the MSPT. He is now ranked second on the tour’s all-time earnings list, sitting just narrowly behind Richard Alsup with $827,000 in earnings.

Card Player caught up with Vang to talk about his latest victory.

Event: MSPT Michigan
Buy-In: $1,110
Entrants: 2,471
Prize Pool: $2,395,370
First-Place Prize: $314,145

Craig Tapscott: How often do you travel for live poker?

Kou Vang: It is difficult nowadays since all of my kids are at the age where they have a lot of activities after school. And during the summer that combines with a role in my community as a volunteer social worker.

That said, I do my best to set aside one weekend, about five days a month to travel to a tournament series out of state. This is the first time in 15 years I did not spend more than three weeks at the summer WSOP. Prior to COVID, I would dedicate two weekends out of the month for poker tournaments or live cash games just for change of scenery from my regular online grind. 

CT: Do you still play a lot online?

KV: I don’t play quite as much volume as I did earlier in my career. But I still manage to play about 35-40 hours a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. I used to play about 20-25 tournaments a day. However, nowadays I just keep it at about 6-8 MTTs per day. 

CT: How does your mindset change when playing in a live event?

KV: Honestly, there is not much difference for me. The main thing that I want to do prior to game day is make sure to get as much done as possible the night before playing a session. I want to make sure all my errands are taken care of so there’s no distractions.

CT: Are you easily distracted?

KV: I do find it difficult to focus on all the small things in poker tournaments if my mind is not close to 100 percent into the game. I also like to take a 30–45-minute power nap and doing my stretching routine. Usually in a live poker setting it’s important to get a good night’s rest and spend an hour in the morning to settle into tournament mode.

Stacks: Kou Vang – 42,000 (52.5 BB) Villain 60,000 (75 BB)
Blinds: 400-800 with an 800 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 301
Players: 9

KV: I wanted to share this hand because I normally don’t take this approach. This was also the hand at the table that set the tone for me to accumulate chips all day long on the first day.  

Villain opened from the lojack to 2,000.

KV: He was a young semi-pro who seemed to play very well and was very in line so far at the table.

Vang called from the big blind holding A 2.

Flop: 3 3 2

Vang checks. Villain bet 1,500.

CT: What was your thinking after the continuation bet?

KV: This is a hand I prefer to check-raise to begin with as bottom two pairs get very complicated to play on later streets. I may be able to fold out his six-out hands such as 9-8, J-10, Q-J, K-10, etc., immediately as well as slow down his mid pairs on later streets.

Vang raised to 4,800. Villain tanked and called.

Turn: Q

KV: The turn put a flush draw on the board, and I held the ace of hearts.

Vang checked.

KV: I think in general this card is perceived to hit the Villain’s opening range. Then he…

Villain bet 3,500.

CT: What’s the plan? And what did you make of his sizing here?

KV: I thought that versus this sizing I have all three options available: fold, call, or check-raise. I do expect the Villain to check his mid pairs looking to get to showdown cheaply. And of course, he still has some floats that can use this card as one of his main bluffing cards.

CT: What would the solvers say do?

KV: I believe solvers would mostly play call here versus the population as raising would only fold out worse and we no longer expect Villain to keep bluffing once we call. 

CT: And his bet sizing?

KV: Well in general I think most people overuse this bet sizing to get to showdown cheaply. Most of their bluffs would prefer a bigger sizing on this turn card, making us indifferent. I expect to lose to a lot of his showdown hands on the river as my hand cannot improve much. So, I decided to play it a little different and…

Vang raised to 8,800.

KV: I planned on using my A as a bluff on all heart river cards representing the backdoor flush. And I can still have trips that goes for the double check-raise/all-in on river along with all my bluffs, such as missed gut shots and open enders.

Villain tanked and called.

River: 2

KV: To my surprise the 2 landed, bringing in the backdoor flush draw, however it gave me the bottom full house.

CT: How best can you receive the most value out of the lucky river?

KV: Well, I had to decide between going all in (I had 27,000 behind) or finding a sizing that the Villain could still pay me off. Also, if I don’t go all in, do I fold to a shove? I believed I would have to fold, as the Villain would have very limited bluffs in this spot.

CT: Like what?

KV: He still had some 3-x combos and pocket Queens in his opening ranges. But I eventually decided to bet…

Vang bet 10,200.

KV: I wanted to target his middle pairs and Q-x to pay me off. I was planning on folding to a shove.

Villain tanked again, and eventually folded. Kang won the pot of 32,400.

Stacks: Kou Vang – 30,000,000 (60 BB) Dash Dudley – 32,000,000 (64 BB)
Blinds: 250,000-500,000 with a 500,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 2

Dudley limped the button. Vang checked from the big blind with Q 9.

Flop: 9 5 3

Vang checked. Dudley checked behind.

Turn: 6

KV: This card put a flush draw on the board.

Vang bet 1,000,000.

CT: Was that a good turn card for you to lead out on?

KV: This wasn’t too bad of a turn card for me. I thought I wanted to begin to put money into the pot targeting his ace-high hands like A-8, A-7, A-4, A-2 that also had a gutshot. I also wanted to target his one-pair hands that may have checked the flop such as a five or a three.

CT: Did he have a limping range to decipher from what you could tell at the time?

KV: I didn’t expect him to limp pocket sevens or eights and better on the button. He probably didn’t have those. I also expected his limps with two overs to stab the flop quite a bit such as J-10, K-10, etc. But he…

Dudley raised to 3,000,000.

CT: What sort of hand would make this play?

KV: Well, it was hard to see him having a better nine here such as A-9 or K-9 that didn’t raise preflop. And I found it hard to imagine that he had made a better two pair with 9-x given he checked the flop fairly quickly. He did still have some 6-5 or 6-3, two-pair hands that now would have beaten me. Those type of hands along with his bluffs that can’t win without improving such as Q-7, Q-8, J-8, J-7, 10-8, etc., and he still had some heart flush draws that can’t show down.

Vang called.

River: Q

KV: The flush got there, and I made top two pair. I considered lead blocking 2.5 million into the 7.5 million pot and trying to get called by lesser two pairs in case he decided to check down. But overall, I also think it’s disastrous to bet fold versus a raise here if he did make a very strong hand on the river. He may even choose a bigger sizing with inferior hands, so I could probably make more money by checking.

Vang checked.

KV: I believed my opponent was good enough to bet inferior value hands such as two pair for value again and of course he still has the gutshot/one heart combos in his bluffing range.

Dudley bet 5,000,000.

CT: This had to confuse you a bit.

KV: Yes. I was in no man’s land. I didn’t think raising was a good option given his inferior holdings won’t call. I thought I just had to flick in the call given my hand was too strong. I still beat some hands.

Vang called. Dudley turned over 8 7x for a straight and won the pot of 17,500,000.

CT: That had to sting for the first heads-up hand.

KV: It did. It was frustrating to lose 9 million chips on the first hand, but fortunately I was able to get the better card distribution the rest of the way. I slowly chipped him down to 6,000,000 at 800,000 big blinds, before we got it all-in preflop. Which I won.

CT: Congrats! That must have felt great to take down an event with such a huge field.

KV: Thanks. It’s rare to run as pure as I did in this tournament. I won all the necessary races and held every time. I feel very grateful to have won it.

Find Kou Vang on Twitter @mn_kvang.