Super High Roller (14,500,000 KRW)

After surrendering a hand to Martin Zamani on the turn it is go time for Mao Renji in the big blind , jamming 24,000,000 into Zamani's 3,500,000 open. Zamani calls with K♥ T♥ and watches Mao Renji flip over 7♣ 6♣ . The dealer tables 8♥ A♥ 2♥ 2♣ A♣ , granting Martin Zamani the pot and the tournament win, leaving Mao Renji with a decent six-figure consolation prize for a great show.

Opening 2,900,000 from the small blind with Q♠ 9♦ , Aram Oganyan takes big blind Martin Zamani to the flop T♠ 9♠ 9♥ that gets checked to the turn 3♥ where Oganyan's last 600,000 go in the middle and Zamani calls with T♠ 4♠ . No flush for the underdog and Aram Oganyan banks a much needed double up.

Hot on the heels of his massive double up that catapulted him into a small lead, Mao Renji opens Q♦ 2♦ from the button for 1,800,000 and Martin Zamani defends his big with 7♣ 6♥ . The flop Q♣ 7♥ 9♦ has Mao continue for 1,500,000 and Zamani check-calls to the turn 8♣ that gets checked to complete the board K♠ where two more checks reveal Mao Renji as the winner.

After Martin Zamani picked up the blinds four times, including a walk, with Aram Oganyan defending and winning a hand on the turn in between, Zamani limps his button with T♦ 5♦, Mao Renji fills up his small blind holding 5♥ 4♦ and Aram Oganyan puts down the hammer with a 3,600,000 squeeze to pick up another pot with K♦ 4♠ .

Back with a big stack, Martin Zamani opens 2,000,000 from under the gun and takes Wang Yilong from the button and Aram Oganyan in the big blind to the flop K♦ 3♥ 2♠ . Checked to short stack Wang, 600,000 all-in is announced and both opponents pay up to see the turn A♦ that gets checked to the river 4♣ with two more checks revealing Wang as the winner with K♠ T♣ scooping up a much needed pot.

Yu Lei and Wang Yilong picked up some blinds to bolster their short stacks and Mao Renji took some from Aram Oganyan leaving us with this table dynamic:

After three betting Martin Zamani's open the hand before to take down the pot, Mao Renji opens 1,200,000 from the cutoff and faces Zamani again, who fills up his big blind to see the flop J♦ 9♠ 9♣ . A single 800,000 continuation has Mao pick up the chips once more.

After just limping his small ace from the button last orbit, Martin Zamani opts for a raise to 1,500,000 with A♥ 2♠ and Mao Renji defends big with Q♦ T♦ . The flop 5♦ 4♠ 6♣ gets rejected by both players to reveal the turn 6♦ . Having picked up a flush draw, Mao slides out a big 3,000,000 that ends the hand right there.

After collecting the blinds, Martin Zamani open-limps his button with A♠ 4♣ and chip leader Mao Renji waves his option holding 5♠ 2♦ for the flop K♣ 5♣ Q♣ to hit. Zamani leads 850,000 and scoops the pot.

Looking at J♦ 6♦ , Martin Zamani opts for a thin GTO open of 1,000,000 from the button which takes big blind Xue Song along for the ride holding J♠ 9♥ . The flop 8♠ 3♣ 5♦ has enough backdoor potential for Zamani to fork out another 625,000 which gets the job done.

With Martin Zamani picking up the blinds twice, but surrendering some immediately after, it is Mao Renji who min-opens A♠ K♠ from under the gun, Zamani ups it to 2,100,000 with Q♠ Q♦ and a jam and a call puts Mao at risk with 9,300,000. The dealer flips over 3♥ A♥ 8♥ 7♦ 2♠ , granting Mao Renji the biggest pot of the tournament and leaves former chip leader martin Zamani crippled with 2,400,000.

After Xue Song has grown his short stack back to 25BB and the chip leaders all bleeding some, to leave the most active player and chip leader Martin Zamani with 40BB it is everyone's game to win.

Checked to the small blind Yu Lei we see a limp with A♦ 3♣ and a check from Martin Zamani holding Q♣ 9♥ . The flop K♣ K♦ 3♦ has Yu lead 300,000 which gets called for the turn 5♦ , where Yu elects to check, but calls Zamani's 300,000 bet for the board to complete 8♠ . No action there reveals Yu Lei's bottom pair as the winner.

After a few hands of the shorter stacks picking up some small pots against the leaders we see Martin Zamani open 9♦ 4♣ for 700,000 from the hijack that takes shortest stack Xue Song from the big blind to see the flop 7♠ 4♦ Q♣ . Xue Song jams 1,900,000 with his mystery hand which is enough to get Zamani off bottom pair and scoop a much needed pot.

After winning three of the last five hands preflop, Martin Zamani fills up his button to match Yu Lei's 600,000 min open from the cutoff. The flop 8♥ 6♦ 9♥ has Zamani lead 450,000 against a missed c-bet from Yu, which gets called for the turn 9♠ . A check around completes the board A♣ , Yu Lei leads 650,000 with A♥ 8♠ , but Martin Zamani calls with A♠ J♥ to scoop the pot with the better kicker.

Surrendering to two three-bets pre this orbit, Martin Zamani fills up his big blind with K♠ Q♥ after a 500,000 open from Wang Yilong with A♦ J♣ . The flop Q♣ K♥ 9♥ has Wang continue for 675,000, but lets his gutter go when Zamani protects top two with a raise to 2,000,000.

After a total of 123 entries ponied up the KR₩14,500,000 (~USD 9,998) buy-in we got to a total prize pool of KR₩ 1,626,195,300 (~USD1,134,545) with KR₩409,200,000 (~USD285,496) up top and everyone taking a seat later will have KR₩40,700,000 (~USD28,398) guaranteed for 9th place already.

Wang Yilong was the only one breaching the eight-figures bagging 10,075,000 who came back from 2,200,000 just a few minutes before the end last night, starting with a triple up that eliminated Yong Wei Keong in 11th and then bursting the final table bubble, knocking out Xu Qiang in 10th.

Martin Zamani had been chip leader for most of the ITM play, but lost a few in the end, still bringing 9,800,000 to the table in 2nd.

The Final 9 will resume play on level 23 (100k/200k/200k) very even in chips with an average of 34BB at 1pm local on the 22nd of February.

Live updates begin at 1pm local time on February 22, 2025.

Starting the day with 3 levels of late registration still available, we reached a total of 123 entries that ponied up the KR₩14,500,000 (~USD 9,998) buy-in to get us to a total prize pool of KR₩ 1,626,195,300 (~USD1,134,545) with KR₩409,200,000 (~USD285,496) up top and everyone guaranteed KR₩40,700,000 (~USD28,398) for 9th place.

Wang Yilong was the only one breaching the eight-figures bagging 10,075,000 who came back from 2,200,000 just a few minutes before the end, starting with a triple up that eliminated Yong Wei Keong in 11th and then bursting the final table bubble, knocking out Xu Qiang in 10th.

Martin Zamani had been chip leader for most of the ITM play, but lost a few in the end, still bringing 9,800,000 to the table in 2nd.

The Final 9 will resume play on level 23 (100k/200k/200k) at 1pm local on the 22nd of February.

Folded to the button Mao Renji, 500,000 cross the line and big blind Martin Zamani defends to see the flop K♥ K♦ 8♦ where Zamani donk-bets 850,000 and Mao calls. The turn Q♦ and river T♥ are duds, having Mao table the winner A♦ Q♥ against Zamani's 7♣ 4♥ .

Under the gun Chen Xiong jams 1,425,000 with K♣ J♠ and is dominated when hijack Martin Zamani calls with A♠ A♥ . The board runs 5♠ 2♠ K♦ 6♣ 9♣ , improving the underdog, but eliminating him all the same.

Getting to the table with Paul Belcher and Martin Zamani already all in and the former being at risk for 1,075,000, the takes center stage.