Day 3 of the inaugural Crown Poker Series (CPS) showcased some of the best poker action as elite Korean pros and international players clashed all day. Showing their support were Gabyong Kim, Daewoong Song, Jaewook Shin, Bien Mai, Alex Lee, and Soojo Kim who quickly made his presence felt by topping the counts at Main Event Day 1B. Over at the Super High Roller, Seungmook Jung did the same, bagging up the lead at Day 1.
Another top story was the arrival of triple crown champions Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Gediminas Uselis. According to reports, ElkY will attend the Main Event while Uselis has already advanced to Day 2 of the SHR event. Over at the NLH Turbo, Yap Guan Leong gave Singapore its first win.
Here are the highlights.
Soojo Kim takes command of Main Event Day 1B
Since the onset of the pandemic, it has been a rarity to see Korean pro Soojo Kim touring the Asian circuit. Lucrative poker festivals on home soil are enough to fill his poker appetite. However, the Korean powered CPS is one of the exceptions, especially with its highly attractive VN₫ 10 Billion guaranteed Main Event.
Soojo Kim – Photo credit Soojo FB page
Day 1B of the Main Event attracted 44 entries with 7 advancing to Day 2. Kim bagged big, exactly 100K more than his closest challenger Vietnamese pro Bien Mai. He now sets the bar for the next two flights. Also advancing was Namhyung Kim who took APPT Cambodia by storm last year.
Date: April 23, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 44,000,000 (~US$ 1,875)
Guarantee: VN₫ 10,000,000,000 (~US$ 426,500)|
Day 1B entries: 44
Day 1B survivors: 7 players
End of Day 1B survivors – 7 players
| Soojo Kim | Korea | 355,500 |
| Bien Mai | Vietnam | 255,500 |
| Jun Hee Kim | Korea | 200,000 |
| Yu Shin Lee | Korea | 181,000 |
| Namhyung Kim | Korea | 143,000 |
| Seongmin Lee | Korea | 108,000 |
| Dongjae Lee | Korea | 77,000 |
Day 2 qualifiers after two flights – 20 players
Super High Roller – Day 1 results
As expected, a heavy duty lineup was seen at the two-day Super High Roller event. Among them was Lithuanian star Gediminas Uselis who was also seen at WPT Prime Cambodia last month. Uselis is still hunting down his first Asian turf title.
By the end of Day 1, only 12 remained. Korean pro Seungmook Jung bagged the chip lead. This was another strong run for Jung who closed Main Event Day 1A second in chips.
Date: April 23-24, 2023
Buy in: VN₫ 107,000,000 (~US$ 4,550)
Entries: 25
Prize pool: VN₫ 2,425,000,0000 (~US$ 103,210)
ITM: 3 places
Day 1 survivors – 12 players
NLH Turbo winner Yap Guan Long gives Singapore its first series win
Despite the Korean-heavy turnout, it was Singapore’s Yap Guan Leong claiming the win after a heads up deal with UK’s Anuy Voong. Leong bested a field of 28 entries.
Buy in: VN₫ 11,000,000 (~US$ 470)
Entries: 28
Prize pool: VN₫ 271,600,000 (~US$ 11,560)
ITM: 4 places
| Place | Player | Flag | Payout in VN₫ |
| 1 | Yap Guan Leong | Singapore | 88,270,000* |
| 2 | Anuy Vooong | UK | 88,270,000* |
| 3 | Youhyun Kim | Korea | 54,320,000 |
| 4 | Nam Doo Sik | Korea | 40,740,000 |
*Heads up even deal
Crown Poker Series – Schedule
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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