Jeju Open Mystery Bounty (1,520,000 KRW)

After battling through 28 levels and outlasting a field of 358 players. that pushed the total prize pool to KRW 250,027,200 (~USD 169,954), Australia's Joseph Kim hoisted his first poker trophy and scored the biggest live cash of his career. In addition to the champion's purse, Kim collected an additional 8 bounties worth KRW 10,200,000 (~$6,887) to bring his total payout to KRW 40,200,000 (~$27,148).

I'm very, very pumped. I was tired all day yesterday and today, but I'm feeling really happy now. It's been a bit back and forth, but luckily, I had a good hand.

Kim started Day 2 as 10th overall, but was massive chip leader at his table that allowed him to continuously chip up. A pivotal moment came in Level 19 when he knocked out two players vaulting him into 2nd in chips.

However, the final table draw was anything but good, sandwiched among three bigger stacks - two to his left and one to his right - until a game changing hand against the chip leader Tao Li reversed their roles. Kim extracted over 20 bb with the nut flush for a 40 bb swing.

Taking control with four players left, Kim called two all-ins delivering another double knockout with 3♠ 3♥ against their over cards A♦ J♠ and K♣ Q♣ .

So, with that hand, I put them both on high cards, and I figured they would have each other's outs. I had enough chips that even if I lost, I could recover. So I went for it, and it worked in my favor - I got both of them out. I guess you have to get lucky at some point.

Heads up against Linjian Liu proved challenging with plenty of all-ins that saw both players on the brink of elimination. KIm finally closed it, picking up K♠ K♦ in the big blind when Liu jammed 27BB into him with T♦ 7♣ .

With this victory, Kim intends to ride the momentum saying,

Today was the first tournament. Tomorrow, I’ll win the main event, and hopefully, I’ll do well in the other events. I plan to play four or five more events, before heading back to Australia. This trip turned out great! I didn’t come here specifically for this, but while I was in Seoul, I looked up tournaments and found this one. I’m really glad I came. The venue is very nice, and I’m staying at the hotel here, so it's easy to get back home.

Congrats to the champ and good luck on the upcoming events!

After having chipped up a bit it is go time for Linjian Liu, open-shoving T♦ 7♣ for 2,700,000, but his luck runs out when Joseph Kim wakes up with K♠ K♦ , calls and the dealer flips over the last board of the event showing 5♦ 5♣ 2♣ 7♠ 4♠ , crowning Joseph King the champion and sending off Linjian Liu with a 5-digit paycheck for his efforts.

After losing a chunk with K♣ 5♥ against A♣ 4♦ on a board 5♦ 2♠ 9♥ 3♠ 9♣ , Linjian Liu recovers when he jammed 460,000 into a 900,000 pot and A♣ 9♦ 8♣ A♦ on the board. Kim called with Q♣ J♣, but missed his draws on the river 3♥ , granting Liu a full double up.

Looking at A♥ Q♦ , Joseph Kim wagers his entire 3,500,000 and Linjian Liu snaps with Q♥ J♦ , handing the lead back to Kim after the dealer hit the felt 2♥ A♠ 5♥ T♥ 4♠ .

No high cards on 2♣ T♥ 5♠ 7♥ 7♠ keep the small pair ahead, granting Kim two more bounties and a 3 to 1 chip lead going into the heads up.

Zhang stays ahead on K♠ and 8♦ , scooping a much needed double up.

Short stack Qinghong Zhang min-opens 160,000 from the button holding K♣ 9♣ and big blind Joseph Kim defends to see the flop 7♣ 7♦ 6♠ that gets checked to the turn K♦ where Kim leads 175,000. Having hit top pair, Zhang opts for a call, the board completes J♥ and gets checked to Zhang, who finds a super tight check back and avoids disaster when Kim shows A♣ 7♥ trips.

Bai is taking quite a gamble with 6♣ 2♦ , but is at least live, until the dealer flips over Q♣ A♥ 3♦ T♠ 8♦ , ending Bai's run early, who probably had higher hopes after punching his ticket to the final table as chip leader and handing out the first two eliminations.

Tao Li looks at 8♣ 8♥ and opens 125,000 to take cutoff Joseph Kim to the flop K♣ 9♣ 7♦ that gets checked around to the turn 3♣ where Li's delayed c-bet of 250,000 gets called and the board completes 6♣ . Li is back to a check, Joseph Kim speaks up with a 625,000 bet and Li calls, watching Kim table the nuts A♣ 6♥ surrendering the pot and chip lead to Kim.

Dai's great odds to double up vanish when the dealer hits the felt A♦ A♥ T♠ 8♠ 3♦ , sending the 4th place finisher of the WPT Korea Main Event for $118,737 a year ago to the rail.

Right the next hand, chip leader Yunpeng Bai opens 150,000 from under the gun and button Tao Li flats with A♣ T♦ to see the flop J♣ 6♣ Q♥ where he peels a 125,000 c-bet to hit top pair on the turn A♥ . Bai fires another 375,000, Li calls to complete the board K♣ and scoops the pot with a 1,000,000 bet against Bai's check with 6♥ 5♠ .

The dealer flips over 4♣ 3♥ J♠ T♦ 7♠ , eliminating Nicholas Wang, who now sits at just over $300,000 in total live earnings.

Under the gun Joseph Kim looks at A♥ A♦ and opts for a limp, taking big blind Tao Li to the flop 4♣ 2♠ T♣ . Li starts a triple barrel barrage of 50,000, 75,000 and 175,000 to complete the board T♠ and 6♦ before Kim throws in a 750,000 raise that has Li throw in the towel with 7♥ 3♣ .

Under the gun Junpeng Bai opens 80,000 and calls Tao Li's 270,000 three-bet out of the button. Bai floats Li's 100,000 continuation on the flop 2♥ 9♠ 7♦ and takes over the reins with a 400,000 bluff Q♠ J♠ on the turn 9♥ that is enough to push Li off of A♥ Q♦ .

The flop 5♣ 4♠ 3♥ is still looking good for the shorties, but the turn A♥ has Yan drawing dead and Du is left with one out. No 5% special for Du puts Bai into a massive chip lead.

With the Final 9 determined, chip leader Yunpeng Bai is in a great spot to dominate the final table, having position on all the big stacks.

Under the gun Xiangchen Gao looks at K♦ 7♥ and deems it worthy for a spin, jamming 128,000 and finds a customer in small blind Joseph Kim with T♥ 9♠ . The flop 6♣ Q♣ K♠ looks promising for Gao, but the J♣ turn has him drawing dead with another J♠ sealing the deal.

Yan Yan opens 60,000 from the hijack and takes small blind Hongbin Du to the flop Q♥ Q♠ 5♥ where his 125,000 c-bet gets check-jammed to 393,000 by Du who takes it down right there.

The dealer makes short work of Wang, hitting the felt 6♦ 5♦ T♥ 7♠ J♦ , and separates chip leader Bai further from the field.

After knocking out another player, Yan Yan makes his way to the bounty shelf, picking another red envelope, this time containing the KRW 20,000,000 (~USD 13,575) top bounty. Congrats!

Everything is looking peachy for the Japanese who finished runner up in the Nippon Series Kagawa Main Event last November, when the dealer tables J♦ 9♠ 2♠ J♥ before turning pear shaped on the river 6♣ , bringing his run to an end and giving Bai another chance to draw for a mystery bounty.

With the odds in Chen's favor, the dealer starts hitting the felt 4♦ T♦ 8♥ 3♦ 4♥ , delivering a bad beat and ending Chen's run early.

During a short break we saw Tsz Hin Cheung draw the second biggest bounty of KRW 15,000,000 (~USD 10,182), Xiangchen Gao banked KRW 10,000,000 (~USD 6,789) Joseph Kim took home KRW 800,000 and Yunpeng Bai got rewarded three times for KRW 500,000, 600,000 and 1,100,000 that will be added to his regular cash prize.

A huge clash just took place between Yu Han Su, who started the day as chip leader and Tao Li, who already has a few bounties to his name resulting in the biggest pot of the day so far. Tao Li started the hand with A♠ 2♥ and Yu Han Su had K♥ T♥ , the board ran A♥ J♣ Q♣ 2♦ 2♠ and both of them ended up with all their chips in the middle. Tao Li now sits at 846,000 and leads the pack.

Chang is in a good position to triple up when the turn falls A♠ , but the river 4♣ gives both opponents a flush, making Bai the new chip leader and gives him two tries to draw for the KRW 20M bounty.

Cutoff Zuyou Wang opens 18,000 and big blind Tao Li defends to see the flop A♥ 2♦ J♦ where Wang's 17,000 c-bet finds a float to reveal the turn A♣ that gets checked to the river A♦ . Checked to Wang once more a 46,000 value bet with Q♣ Q♦ goes over the line and Li has no other option than to

Tao Li is already dreaming of drawing the biggest bounty when the dealer flips over Q♥ and A♦ for a runner runner two pair going to Yi Wei Chang.

Under the gun Linghui Dai open raises to 18,000 with A♣ Q♠ and small blind Wei Lin Wang calls his last 15,000 holding 6♣ 6♠ . The dealer flips over 6♥ 4♣ 9♣ 8♥ 5♦ and lets Wang stay on his seat for a little while longer.

Heartbreak on the flop A♥ 9♣ 2♠ for Wang who doesn't find relieve when the board completes 2♣ and T♣ and leaves him with less than a big blind.

Cards are in the air! Good luck everyone!

With 358 entries across all three opening flights the Korea Poker Cup Series 2025 opening event - Jeju Open Mystery Bounty - taking place at Landing Casino, surpassed its KRW 150,000,000 guarantee, closing with a total prize pool of KRW 250,027,200 (~USD 169,954) for the 47 remaining players to fight for.

The victory is worth KRW 30,000,000 (~US$ 20,378) on its own, but will certainly be juiced by multiple bounties ranging from KRW 500,000 (~US$ 339) to KRW 20,000,000 (~US$ 13,597). All the returnees are guaranteed at least KRW 1,000,000 (~US$ 679).

Flight C chip leader Yu Han Su will bring in the largest stack of 486,000 which is equivalent to 97 bb. She is followed by Flight B flight leader Hongbin Du with 432,000 (86 bb) and Flight A front runner Haoran Yang with 410,000 (82 bb). Taking a look at the seat draw, the top two chip leaders are both at Table 29 while Yang is at Table 26 with fourth ranked Yan Yan to his immediate left.

The blinds will turn back to 3,000/5,000/5,000 with 30min levels and the game will last until a winner is crowned. Somuchpoker will cover the action from start to finish so be sure to follow the live updates throughout the day.

Cards start flying at 12pm local time.