More dreams were fulfilled at the ongoing Poker Dream festival taking place at the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan with two players crowned champions. Korea’ Sungrock Jung captured his first ever poker trophy at the Crazy Weekend event and Jia Chi Li won her first at the inaugural PD Ladies Event. Here are the highlights.
FESTIVAL RESULTS
POKER DREAM TAIWAN EPLAYER GUIDE
Sungrock Jung clinches first ever title at Crazy Weekend
A moment of many firsts for Korea’s Sungrock Jung who outlasted the 367 entry field of the Crazy Weekend Accumulator Format event. In doing so, Jung captured his first ever poker title, trophy, and a career high payout of TWD 706,600 (~USD 23,000). In addition, Jung became the first Korean player to win at the series.
“It feels so awesome, I am so incredibly happy. I only started playing poker tournaments seven months ago so I am very happy. This is only my second international event. At one point I was short stacked and the players were tough so I had to stay focused and patient. I waited and waited until I had a good hand.”
Down to three handed, Jung was second in chips when he doubled up through chip leader Justin Geronimo to send his stack catapulting way up top. Jung had 
on a board that completed 
Jung bet the flop then jammed the turn, Geronimo called with 
. The river was 
.
Relive the final table action via the link provided:
Final table payouts
| Place | Player |
Payouts in TWD
|
| 1 | Sungrock Jung | 706,600 |
| 2 | Tian Yu Lee | 469,600 |
| 3 | Justin Geronimo | 343,400 |
| 4 | Slade fisher | 277,200 |
| 5 | Alan Wong | 217,300 |
| 6 | Hsiao Ming Cheng | 164,500 |
| 7 | Chih Chien Shen | 120,800 |
| 8 | Kuang Hung Lee | 88,800 |
| 9 | Tzu Chien Hsieh | 73,600 |
FULL PAYOUTS – FESTIVAL RESULTS
Crazy Weekend review
For the first time, Poker Dream introduced the Accumulator Format to its Crazy Weekend event. 367 took interest over four entry flights with four players bagging up multiple stacks. Entering the Final Day, each one of those players combined their multiple stacks. A total of 66 players returned with only 39 guaranteed pay.
Dates: June 17-19, 2023
Buy in: TWD 7,500 (~USD 250) – 196 entries
Buy in: TWD 15,000 (~USD 500) – 171 entries
Guarantee: TWD 3,000,000 (~USD 97,840)
Entries: 367
Prize pool: TWD 3,522,555 (~USD 114,880)
ITM: 39 players
A fast hour and a half in, the bubble burst at two separate tables. Ori Kossonogi eliminated Wei Chung Liu and Justin Geronimo eliminated Bubble Rush champion Alex Lim. From there it took another seven hours for the final table to form. Geronimo kept his lead intact all the way to three-handed where he lost a costly shove to Sungrock Jung.
Geronimo went on to bust in 3rd place on a bad beat with Jung’s 
spiking the Jack to deny Geronimo’s 
. Heads up against Tian Yu Lee, it took only three heads up hands to seal the win. Lee shoved with 
, Jung called with , the board ran out 
for a victorious flush.
Jia Chi Li wins the first international title at the Ladies Event
Jia Chi Li was a force to reckon with at the inaugural Poker Dream Ladies Event. She outdueled the 28 entry field to lift her first international poker trophy and the TWD 70,700 (~USD 2,305) top prize.
“I am very excited and happy because this is my first win and my first trophy! The level of competition was higher than other ladies events I’ve played so there were many difficult decisions. Heads up was a little bit tough so I am glad I won it.”
During the bubble round with six players remaining, Jia Chi Li was sitting on a big stack while the rest were on desperation mode. Thi Xuan Ha Tran avoided the bubble by doubling up through Li with 
improving to a straight to dust 
. Not so fortunate though for Lee Tsz Ying whose pocket ran into Karen Tsang‘s 
.
With the money intact, players began to double up left and right. Li put a lid on it by delivering a double knockout to Tran 
and Yu Wei Chen 
with 
on a board 
.
After a few hands, Ong Chien Chan eliminated Tsang in 3rd place with staying ahead of 
to bring about heads up. Li was ahead 38 bb to Ong’s 18 bb.
It was a hard climb for Ong who battled for every chip only to drop short. With 6 bb left, she shoved and doubled up with 
, eight on the river. At the turn of the new blinds, Ong doubled up again, this time with dominating 
. This gave Ong the chip lead.
However, it didn’t last. Li quickly recovered and won a big pot holding trips on a board 
. Action saw Li hardbet the turn and river and got paid for it. It didn’t take long for Ong to shove again and Li call. Ong doubled up with 
over Li’s 
.
Ahead in the count, Li finally shipped it with calling Ong’s shove with . The board was 
.
Date: June 19, 2023
Buy in: Buy in 8,000 (~USD 265)
Entries: 28
Prize pool: TWD 191,200 (~USD 6,235)
ITM: 5 places
Payouts
| Rank | Player | Flag |
Payouts in TWD
|
| 1 | Li Jia Chi | Taiwan | 70,700 |
| 2 | Ong Chien Chan | Malaysia | 48,800 |
| 3 | Tsang Ka Yan Karen | Hong Kong | 31,000 |
| 4 | Tran Thi Xuan Ha | Vietnam | 22,500 |
| 5 | Yu Wei Chen | Taiwan | 18,200 |
Poker Dream Taiwan has been ongoing since June 16 at the Asia Poker Arena and will run until June 25. The 15 Million guaranteed Main Event will hit the felt on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. Buy ins vary: TWD 11,000, TWD 22,000, and TWD 33,000. Full coverage at Somuchpoker.
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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