Compared to Ong’s towering stack, the rest of the players looked short. With everyone tightening up and hoping to ladder up, Ong played passive aggressive poker, and when it came to showdowns, he backed it up with big hands.
Out of the eight players standing between him and the title, Ong personally took out six, starting with the double elimination of Yohei Katsuragawa (9th) and Junho Hyeon (8th).
After Fumimasa Hirosawa cleaned out Xiaohua Fu (7th), Ong was at it again, eliminating Santo Tripodi (6th) who snap-called Ong's river shove. Ong had a full house. When asked how he induced a fast call in this situation, Ong shared,
"Because I have big stack they often played tight. I want them to give me action so I just limped, checked, called and stayed patient. This was my strategy. Play passive with my big hands and if I hit the board, I wait and then I bet and win. If I always play aggressive, they will just fold. They were all just waiting to see what I would do then decide what to do but whenever I limp they play."
Soon after, Byungwook Ahn (5th) fell to Abhijeet Shetty, then both Liu and Shetty survived Ong’s onslaught with timely double ups. For Hirosawa, he wasn’t as fortunate, bowing out in 4th place at the hands of Ong. With the blinds high, Shetty was grinded down to crumbs and followed out in 3rd place.