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WPT Asia Online Series final wrap: Hao Shen “GambleMan” wins the Main Event; Loris51 snatches 2nd WPT Trophy; Motoyoshi Okamura “falcon8808”, Gaurav Sood “Haversham”, and aixin2020 claim trophies; Hong Kong wins Asia Nation’s Cup

After 23 days of games at the WPT Asia Online Series the inaugural festival reached its conclusion with Chinese player Hao Shen “GambleMan” as the envy of all. GambleMan shipped the headliner WPT Asia Main Event to claim the largest series payout of HK$ 2,536,280.42 (~US$ 327,250). Also bringing home WPT trophies were Motoyoshi Okamura “falcon8808”, Gaurav Sood “Haversham”, aixin2020, and Loris51 who was the only player to capture two WPT titles. At the WPT Asian Nation’s Cup weekly leaderboard, it was Hong Kong raising its flag with Anson Tsang “Tara@0z” winning the freeroll.

The Asia-exclusive series ran from October 3 to 25 at Natural8 – GG Network. In total, 22 WPT trophies were awarded. China came out way on top lifting 10 trophies and winning the Asia Nation’s Cup twice. Other trophy counts: Japan – 3, Israel – 2, India – 2, Taiwan – 1, Vietnam – 1, Singapore – 1, Hong Kong – 1, and Malaysia – 1.

Under the final table count, numerous players landed at the final nine multiple times however it was Vietnamese pro Ha Duong “Harry1403” who was in a zone of his own with four final tables reached. Harry1403 won the Beat the Pros Bounty [WPT Edition] and nearly bagged another, finishing runner up to champion Kosei Ichinose at the WPT Cambodia High Roller Championship. That concludes our coverage of the series. Have a read below on the final five events.

WPT Trophy #22: WPT Asia Main Event – Hao Shen “GambleMan” – HK$ 2,536,280.42

Highlighting the series was the WPT Asia Main Event offering an ambitious HK$ 10 million guarantee, the richest Asia online tournament ever presented. 1,256 entered, eclipsing the guarantee for a much larger HK$ 11,932,000 (~US$ 1,539,600) prize pool. Just over six hours of final day play, China’s Hao Shen “GambleMan” shipped it to win HK$ 2,536,280.42 (~US$ 327,250), the single largest payout of the series. Prior to the win, GambleMan cashed at the Beat the Pros Bounty and WPT Asia Mini Main Event.

WPT Trophy 22 WPT Asia Main Event
WPT Trophy #22 – WPT Asia Main Event

Buy in: HK$ 10,000 (~US$ 1,290)
Guarantee: HK$ 10,000,000 (~US$ 1,290,300)
Entries: 1,256
Final Day Qualifiers: 191
Prize pool: HK$ 11,932,000 (~US$ 1,539,600)
ITM: 150 places
Running time: 6 hours and 13 minutes (final day)

Race to the final table

The final day opened with 191 qualifiers. With 150 places paid, it ran a fast 43 minutes before the bubble burst. Among the players leaving empty handed were Sebastian Mueller “flashlight99”, Pete Chen, Kitty Kuo, Jung Chou Chen “DragonChou”, Eisuke Katsuren “LEN1234980”, Jerome Finck “gorgiAAs”, and Wai Kiat Lee “Mr Lee”. Falling on the bubble was Taiwan’s yao_yen_liang to xuesong.

WPT Trophy 22 WPT Asia Main Event final table
WPT Trophy #22 – Bubble hand of WPT Asia Main Event

With cash guaranteed, the race to the final nine took nearly four hours. During that time, walking away with a piece of the pie were series trophy champions Loris51 (WPT Taiwan Championship & WPT Zodiac White Tiger), BetAddict (Superstack Classic champion), Peiyuan Sun “fish3098” (WPT Vietnam Championship champion), falcon8808 (Turbo Poker Open), bigwhailie (Zodiac Golden Dragon), Zhe Feng “jjsjsjjsj” (WPTDeepStacks), and notable players Wei Zhao, Jinho Hong, Ho Yin Tai “hoyintai”, Kunal Patni “JackKingOff”, Vincent Kwun Ngai Li “Peleus34”, Hun Wei Lee, Kartik Ved “Mandovi”, Joshua McCully “thefreshest”, and Sriharsha Doddapaneni “Upswinger”.

At 16 remaining, ming13 built a massive lead until GambleMan doubled up off Daniyar Aubakirov to become a very close second rank. GambleMan proceeded to enter the final table as chip leader after knocking out Floatinworld (11th) and gamay (10th). Among the final nine were well known pros from IndiaSumit Sapra “rung00se” and Alok Birewar “P@tP@tP@nd@”. Reaching the final table for a second time was Singapore’s WhiteChick (WSOP Super Circuit Online Series ring winner) in fifth rank.

WPT Trophy 22 WPT Asia Main Event final table 1
WPT Trophy #22 – WPT Asia Main Event final table

Final Table

The final chase for the event’s most prestigious title kicked off at 35 BB average. GambleMan was stacked with a mammoth 95 BB followed by ming13 with 56 BB. The first bust was delivered by P@tP@tP@nd@ who eliminated xingg (9th). Numerous hands later, rung00se knocked out dadaohong (8th) leading to a long seven handed grind until ming13 got the best of WhiteChick with Qd9d pairing the Queen against Ah5h. Next out was rung00se, falling to chip leader GambleMan with top two pair to top pair. GambleMan claimed a second stack by ending nutsa with AQo that paired the Queen against pocket eights, then a third by railing P@tP@tP@nd@ with pocket nines turned set against AQs that missed.

Three handed saw big pots being brewed leading to a face off between GambleMan and ming13. The latter won the bout with AdJs dominating Ah5h to take the lead backed by half the chips in play. GambleMan bounced right back on a double up off Goldig with As10c ten on the flop against 6h6s. The crippled Goldig lost the rest to GambleMan who entered heads up with a 10 BB advantage.

First hand went to ming13 to switch ranks. Ming13 continued to climb but GambleMan battled back, winning a big pot on a river shove with ming13 fold-showing a 7d full house on a board 7cKd7h2hKh. GambleMan’s winning momentum carried to build a 5:1 gap. The final hand arrived with ming13 shoving Ah3c, GambleMan calling with Kd8c, the board ran 4d6dQcJcKs.

Final table payouts

1st Hao Shen “GambleMan” – China – HK$ 2,536,280.42
2nd ming13 – China – HK$ 1,737,858.88
3rd Goldig – Malaysia – HK$ 1,190,781.45
4th Alok Birewar “P@tP@tP@nd@” – India – HK$ 815,923
5th nutsa – China – HK$ 559,070.86
6th Sumit Sapra “rung00se” – India – HK$ 383,075.29
7th WhiteChick – Singapore – HK$ 262,483.19
8th dadaohong – China – HK$ 179,852.89
9th xingg – China – HK$ 123,236.07

WPT Trophy #18: Turbo Poker Open – falcon8808 – HK$ 55,765.08

The second fastest running trophy event was the Turbo Poker Open as it clocked in at four hours and forty-four minutes. Motoyoshi Okamura “falcon8808” emerged victorious to capture his first WPT title and the HK$ 55,765.08 (~US$ 7,200) first prize. It also gave Japan its third win this series. Prior to his victory, falcon8808 cashed at three other WPT Trophy events and shipped two WPT Side Events. As a Natural8 winning player, falcon8808 also won a HK$ 10,000 WPT Live Event Sponsorship.

WPT Trophy 18 Turbo Poker Open
WPT Trophy #18 – Turbo Poker Open

Buy in: HK$ 600 (~US$ 77)
Guarantee: HK$ 250,000 (~US$ 32,200)
Entries: 575
Prize pool: HK$ 317,400 (~US$ 40,900)
ITM: 80 places

Picking up the action at the final two tables, falcon8808 eliminated three players which included hemeny in 10th place with pocket eights surviving overcards AQo to enter the final table as chip leader. Fellow countryman uta-nob was a close second rank. Also at the table was WPT Trophy #13: Zodiac Golden Dragon champion ‘bigwhailie”.

WPT Trophy 18 Turbo Poker Open final table
WPT Trophy #18 – Turbo Poker Open final table

With the average stack at a low 20 BB, short stacks were on the move, however, first to fall was xuxhcn. La Victoire followed, falling on a three-way to ian6666. After several double ups, falcon8808 was dealt three pocket Aces that booted out DonnyY (7th), k2off (6th), and woaichenlaoshi (5th). Next on the chopping block was bigwhailie who fell on a bad beat against the leader – 8s5c full house to Qd9d two pair on a board 7c5s7s9c5d. This gave falcon8808 a 46 BB lead over his closest competitor.

Three handed, uta-nob plunged to 4 BB after losing two flips against ian66666. The rest went to falcon8808 to kick off heads up with a 2.5:1 advantage. The opening hands were dominated by ian66666 who won seven sizable pots to grab the lead. From there, it was a tug of war as the blinds increased to an average of 18 BB. falcon8808 eventually out-dueled ian66666 with Qh9h over Ad4s on a final board 8h9s4c3h5c.

Final table payouts

1st Motoyoshi Okamura “falcon8808” – Japan – HK$ 55,765.08
2nd ian66666 – China – HK$ 40,875.29
3rd uta-nob – Japan – HK$ 29,961.49
4th bigwhailie – China – HK$ 21,961.69
5th woaichenlaoshi – China – HK$ 16,097.84
6th k2off – China – HK$ 11,799.68
7th DonnyY – China – HK$ 8,649.13
8th La Victoire – Malaysia – HK$ 6,339.78
9th xuxhcn – China – HK$ 4,647.06

WPT Trophy #19: Zodiac White Tiger – Loris51 – CN¥ 82,423.54

On a second bullet, China’s Loris51 topped the 661 entry field of the Zodiac White Tiger trophy event to become the first and only player to capture two WPT titles this series. For the incredible achievement, Loris51 pocketed CN¥ 82,423.54 (~US$ 12,300) and a second WPT trophy. Prior to the win, Loris51 shipped the WPT Taiwan Championship and finished 8th at the WPT Vietnam Championship.

WPT Trophy 19 Zodiac White Tiger
WPT Trophy #19 – Zodiac White Tiger

Buy in: CN¥ 800 (~US$ 120)
Guarantee: CN¥ 388,000 (~US$ 58,000)
Entries: 661
Prize pool: CN¥ 486,496 (~US$ 72,750)
ITM: 98 places

WPT Trophy 19 Zodiac White Tiger final table
WPT Trophy #19 – Zodiac White Tiger final table

Kicking off the final nine, only Loris51 was on a third final table appearance while everyone else was on their first. Loris51 ranked second to chip leader shuijiaojiao. Displaying the most impressive run was Japan’s succhan627 who entered as shortest stack and ran it all the way up to second place.

Opening action was dominated by succhan627 who doubled up off Loris51 then railed soooli@ (9th), 8858 (8th), and Beginner (7th) to take the lead. Loris51 bad beat busted shuijiao with pocket Queens improving to a set against pocket Kings. This gave Loris51 a monster lead of 45 BB. Despite second ranked succhan627 eliminating LproPokerTV (5th) and Kazuhiro Shirasawa “propofol-san” (4th), Loris51 was still way ahead. At the fall of Petesampras (3rd) to Loris51, the chips were Loris51 144 BB to succhan627 20 BB. It didn’t take long for the final hand to arrive. On a board QhAsJh, Loris51 jammed, succhan627 tanked then risked it all. Loris51 showed JcQs two pair, succhan627 KhKs, the turn 9c and river Qc ended the game with a full house to Loris51 and a second WPT title.

Final table payouts

1st Loris51 – China – CN¥ 82,423.54
2nd succhan627 – Japan – CN¥ 60,415.91
3rd Petesampras – India – CN¥ 44,284.69
4th Kazuhiro Shirasawa “propofol-san” – Japan – CN¥ 32,460.57
5th LproPokerTV – China – CN¥ 23,793.46
6th shuijiaojiao – China – CN¥ 17,440.56
7th Beginner – China – CN¥ 12,783.87
8th 8858 – China – CN¥ 9,370.509
9th soooli@ – Japan – CN¥ 6,868.57

WPT Trophy #20: PLO Finale – Gaurav Sood “Haversham” – HK$ 34,405.60

guarvan sood
Gaurav Sood. Credit: Poker Guru

Running on a second bullet, India’s Gaurav Sood “Haversham” took down WPT Trophy #20: PLO Finale for his first ever major career victory. He defeated a field of 220 entries to claim the larger HK$ 34,405.60 (~US$ 4,400) heads up deal payout. This gave India its second win this series. As a Natural8 winning player, Haversham also won a HK$ 10,000 WPT Live Event Sponsorship. For runner up rumuzum_1, it was a trophy miss for Turkey however it was still an impressive run going from shortest stack at the final table to second place.

WPT Trophy 20 PLO Finale
WPT Trophy #20 – PLO Finale

Buy in: HK$ 1,000 (~US$ 129)
Guarantee: HK$ 200,000 (~US$ 25,800)
Entries: 220
Prize pool: HK$ 202,400 (~US$ 26,100)
ITM: 31 places

WPT Trophy 20 PLO Finale final table
WPT Trophy #20 – PLO Finale final table

Entering the final table as chip leader, Haversham dropped rank after losing a big pot to rumuzum_1, then recovered by railing SarufSinim (9th). After 3bngws (8th) busted to tommy0819, it was Haversham again. He eliminated Che Li Lin “32bo” (7th) and fellow countryman Hitwicket9009 (6th) for his third head claimed. rumuzum_1 stole the lead by emptying out tommy0819 (5th) and cracking Paul Teoh’s (4th) pocket Aces with a straight. Heads up arrived at the fall of short stacked Dreamyu with Haversham shipping it holding pocket Kings to pocket Queens. Facing off for the title, rumuzum_1 was ahead by just 1 BB.

After Haversham won the first hand, he took the lead. Two hands followed and a deal was reached. The battle resumed for the title. Final hand saw both players all in on a flop 6s8h4s, Haversham had 4c5dAd7c straight, rumuzum_1 with Ah7hQcKh. With the turn Ks rumuzum_1 was drawing dead. The river was 9s.

Final table payouts

1st Gaurav Sood “Haversham” – India – HK$ 34,405.60 (deal made)
2nd rumuzum_1 – Turkey – HK$ 34,116.01 (deal made)
3rd Dreamyu – China – HK$ 21,891.17
4th Paul Teoh – Malaysia – HK$ 16,354.96
5th tommy0819 – China – HK$ 12,218.85
6th Hitwicket9009 – India – HK$ 9,128.73
7th Che Li Lin “32bo” – Taiwan – HK$ 6,820.10
8th 3bngws – China – HK$ 5,095.33
9th SarufSinim – Israel – HK$ 3,806.73

WPT Trophy #21: WPT Macau Championship – aixin2020 – HK$ 419,163.85

WPT-Kitty-Kuo
Runner-up finisher Kitty Kuo. Credit: WPT

After nearly 12 hours of play, Chinese player “aixin2020” snatched up the last trophy of the series at the WPT Macau Championship. aixin2020 defeated Taiwanese pro Kitty Kuo at heads up to give China its tenth series trophy. Impressively, aixin2020 won the seat via a HK$ 350 (~US$ 45) satellite that turned into a WPT title and HK$ 419,163.85 (~US$ 54,000) payday. For the achievement, aixin2020 was also awarded the added US$ 3,000 WPT Passport.

WPT Trophy 21 WPT Macau Championship
WPT Trophy #21 – WPT Macau Championship

Buy in: HK$ 3,500 (~US$ 450)
Guarantee: HK$ 2,000,000 (~US$ 258,000)
Entries: 752
Prize pool: HK$ 2,474,080 (~US$ 319,200)
ITM: 98 places

After four and a half hours of late registration, the event gathered up 752 entries for a much sweeter pot worth HK$ 2,474,080 (~US$ 319,200). To reach the final table, it ran a lengthy nine and a half hours. Along the way, Thailand’s jahexotic bubbled but due to bubble protection, jahexotic was awarded his buy in back in tournament dollars. Among the players cashing in were Ha Duong “Harry1403”, WSOP bracelet winner Sung Joo Hyun “ArtePokerTV”, Peiyuan Sun “fish3098”, Wai Kiat Lee “Mr Lee”, Kosei Ichinose, Anson Tsan “Tara@0z”, Zhe Feng “jjsjsjjsj”, Abhinav Iyer “OBellaCiao”, and bigwhailie.

Down to the final two tables, chip leader Olwen eliminated Analman (16th). After the next two busts – ShengHongYu (15th) and aoteman1888 (14th) – came a very long 13 player round. When it finally ended, it was Kitty Kuo delivering the bad news to itayalenbi (13th) while simultaneously sliding into the leader’s chair. The final table was formed when GGSIR denied Ravid Garbi “jerbi9999” (10th) a second final table spot. Kitty Kuo maintained top rank and India’s Petesampras was the only player at the final table for the second time.

WPT Trophy 21 WPT Macau Championship final table
WPT Trophy #21 – WPT Macau Championship final table

Stiff battle for the last trophy. After a lengthy session, the first player to finally bust was rungoodying AhKh who missed against Yu Chung Chang “WNCouple” KcKs. Petesampras bit it next with aixin2020 shipping it. panda_w ended kerasey55’s run with AcJc nut flush against pocket Tens. Despite the boost, panda_w was downed in 6th place by WNCouple with pocket Jacks over pocket Tens.

At five remaining, the lead switched from Kitty Kuo to GGSIR to aixin2020 then back to Kitty after she shipped a huge double up off aixin2020. The hand saw aixin2020 three-bet shove 10h9d, Kitty called with KhKd that held. The two met again with aixin2020 spiking an Ace with AJo to overtake Kitty’s pocket Jacks. Kitty burned the next three players – Olwen (5th) with AcJh straight on a board 10hAsQs9s8h to dust KsKd, GGSIR (5th) with AsQs turning the Queen to beat AhKs, and WNCouple with AcAs over KsKh.

Heads up kicked off with Kitty on a 2:1 advantage. No significant change in stack size until the 28th hand when Kitty called aixin2020’s preflop three-bet then winning with KcKs to 10d3d on a board 4c3cAsAc8s. This improved Kitty to a 5:1 advantage however it didn’t last. With average stack at 63 BB, aixin2020 was able to trim the gap to a 9 BB difference then proceeded to land a big pot on an uncalled river shove on a board showing 6h9sAh3cQh. With the chip advantage switched, aixin2020 pulled further ahead to 5:1. After 45 minutes of heads up play, the final hand landed with aixin2020 Qs10s defeating Kitty’s Ad5s on a board 7d3h10h6h7h.

Final table payouts

1st aixin2020 – China – HK$ 419,163.85
2nd Kitty Kuo – Taiwan – HK$ 307,245.72
3rd Yu Chung Chang “WNCouple” – Taiwan – HK$ 225,210.24
4th GGSIR – China – HK$ 165,078.55
5th Olwen – Vietnam – HK$ 121,001.88
6th panda_w – China – HK$ 88,694.16
7th kerasey55 – China – HK$ 65,012.51
8th Petesampras – India -HK$ 47,653.77
9th rungoodying – Malaysia – HK$ 34,930.18

Hong Kong wins WPT Asia Nation’s Cup 3rd Week Leaderboard

Points earned from October 18 to 24 counted towards the final Asia Nation’s Cup weekly leaderboard. Hong Kong came out on top with Ho Yin Tai “hoyintai” accruing the most points. 124 Hong Kong players qualified for the HK$ 100,000 (~US$ 12,900) freeroll. After a quick two hours, Anson Tsang “Tara@0z” won it for HK$ 19,916.56 (~US$ 2,570).

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Tricia David

Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.

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