From the moment the doors opened, the China Poker Games – 2024 CPG Championship Finals aka Main Event witnessed players pour in the Howard Johnson Resort Sanya in Hainan, China to once again amass the largest gathering of players for a poker event in Asia. Three hours in, with two rooms at capacity, the event breached 1000 players and at the end of registration, a total of 1,296 players had pulled up seats making this the largest Day 1A turnout in the brand’s 12 year history. The attendance surpassed the previous high by 75 players.
To further emphasize the enormity of this opening attendance, re-entries and re-buys were not allowed. Just one bullet allowed per person. Good news to the fallen, due to the repechage format, eliminated players can re-enter on the following starting days. Rule is, only one entry is allowed per person per starting day and multiple stacks are a no-no.
By the end of the scheduled 10 levels, only 466 survived (36% of the field) and bagged up for the night. Several players were fairly close in chips to challenge for the leader’s status but ultimately it was China’s Yankai Zhang who earned that right with 293,500 (195 bb) stacked. Zhang built his stack fairly early and continued to pile in the chips throughout the day.
Also making the cut were six Vietnamese players namely, Danh Tuan Luu, Ngo Khoa Anh, Huu Dung Nguyen, Doan Quang Trung, Trung Ha Nguyen, and Quang Huy Nguyen who bagged the largest stack of their pack.
Other international runners powering through were Karan Mukesh, Grant Gardner, Juns Leong, and Ronald Haverkamp. Missing the mark were Shung Er Sua, Hoang Hai Nam, Pham Tien Dung, Thi Bao An Nguyen and USOP Ambassador Kyle Bao Diep.
Chinese notables were among the many faces scattered across the two rooms. The most recognizable were WSOP bracelet winners pictured below – Wei Guo Liang and Weiran Pu.
Chinese nationals also seen battling it out were Xiaosheng Zheng, Yixuan, Dong, Lirui Zhang “Ivan”, all three advancing to the next round.
The CPG Championship Finals continues on Sunday, August 25 with Day 1B up on the plate. Following Day 1B is Day 1C, the final starting flight on Monday, August 26. As a reminder, only players with Main Event vouchers in their CPG App account will be accommodated. This has been the procedure at CPG events for some time. If you are on the unlucky side and were unable to acquire a Main Event voucher, there are many side events to choose from.
Entering players begin with a 30,000 stack, equivalent to 300 times the opening blinds. Levels increase every 60 minutes with 20 minute breaks after every two levels. Dinner break is after Level 6. Registration closes at the start of Level 9. Bagging time is the end of Level 10.
Links:
CPG Championship – Player Guide
CPG Championship – News
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.
Follow Me:
