Main Event (1,600,000 KRW)

After four days, 31 levels, conquering a field of 1,394 players and absolutely dominating the final table, Li Dong emerges as the new Poker Dream 16 Main Event Champion here at the Jeju Shinhwa World in South Korea. The event surpassed the guarantee hitting a total prize pool of a whopping KR₩ 2,580,588,000 (~USD 1,790,086) after 11 opening flights.

"I’m happy, but not that happy, to be honest, because it reminds me of the WPT Main Event at the Jeju Poker Festival in November last year. I made a mistake on the final table and finished in third place in that event. If it weren’t for that mistake, my first main event trophy would have come to me sooner."

Getting the chip lead late on Day 2 he never looked back, retaining the top spot throughout the rest of the tournament and single handedly knocked out six out of his eight opponents on the final table. An absolute masterclass!

"Generally speaking, as the chip leader, I had prepared myself with a strategy of acting according to the circumstances. If the opponent presented a strong hand, I would consider giving up the pot, because my deep stack allowed me to do so, but if the opponent showed weakness, I would try to take advantage of that."

One of the pivotal moments that took him to victory was hand #79 with five players left, when he opened 2BB from the button with T♠ 6♦ and big blind Jason Zhang - 2nd in chips with 35BB at the time - called for a flop T♥ 7♥ K♥ where Li continued for 1.9BB, Zhang check-called, the turn came 4♦ and Zhang switched to a lead for 2.5BB. Li raised to 11.2BB, got called by Zhang who then jammed for almost 20BB on the river 3♠ . After using three time banks Li called, eliminating Zhang who had A♥ 8♦ that left him with 138BB while 2nd and 3rd in chips had 28BB.

"Before the final day, I played against Jason and found that he often led without strong made hands in his range. Instead, facing aggressive players like me, he was highly likely to check-raise if he had strong made hands in his range. So, when he led, I would think he only had draws or weak made hands. Back to this hand, I knew he didn’t hit a flush on the flop. So, when he jammed in the river, it was a “flush or bluff” situation in his hand. I admit I was feeling a lot of pressure because if that all-in was not a bluff and I called, I would loose a large amount of chips and Jason would become the chip leader. That’s why I used up all my three time bank cards and made the decision to call in the last second. That hand was very difficult to me and definitely one of the key moments in my tournament life."

Shortly after that he knocked out 2nd in chips Ma Yi and 4th Lin Zhaoyi, who both had ace-king, hitting a straight with jack-ten and ended the tournament the very next hand with Q♠ Q♥ against Song Ying's K♠ 6♣ .

Well done to everyone and congratulations to the very worthy winner!

The first and last hand of the heads-up starts with Li Dong min-raising 400,000, Song Ying asks for the all-in triangle and before it gets to her, Li Dong already called and flipped over Q♠ Q♥ , dominating Song Ying's K♠ 6♣ . The dealer speeds up the inevitable by flipping over 9♦ 6♥ 7♠ 9♥ A♥ , ending Song Ying's stellar run and leaving Li Dong as last man standing.

Opening 400,000 from the button with 9♠ 8♥ , Lin Zhaoyi takes big blind Ma Yi to the flop 5♠ T♠ 6♣ . Two barrels of 300,000 and 750,000 get check-called by Ma to complete the board J♦ and 2♦ . After consuming a time bank, Lin Zhaoyi fires another 1,000,000 with nine-high and Ma Yi folds his missed flush-draw K♠ 3♠ .

After losing a small pot against Ma Yi, Jason Zhang defends his small blind with A♥ 8♦ against Li Dongs 325,000 open from the button and we get treated with the monochrome flop T♥ 7♥ K♥ . Li continues for 300,000 and Zhang floats to the turn 4♦ where he takes the reins with a 400,000 lead that gets countered by a raise to 1,800,000 by Li Dong. After calling, looking at the 3♠ river and having missed his nut-flush-draw, Jason Zhang decides to pull the trigger, jamming 3,000,000 into a 5,200,000 pot with ace high which sends Li Dong deep into the tank. One time bank, two time banks, three time banks go the dealers way before Li Dong makes an incredible call with T♠ 6♦ , sending Jason Zhang to the rail.

Jason Zhang opens 320,000 from under the gun with A♦ J♦ and Li Dong defends big with 6♦ 2♦ for a spicy flop K♦ J♠ 8♦ . Zhangs 340,000 cbet gets peeled for the turn Q♣ getting checked around and the board completes 4♣ . Li Dong forks out a 2,000,000 over-bet to put Zhang to the test who makes a great call and catches the leader with his pants down.

With two successful three-bets preflop each, Lin Zhaoyi and Li Dong are the biggest winners of the last few hands.

Button Ma Yi leaves himself 50,000 when he puts in a 1,100,000 raise with A♣ T♠ , gets called by big blind Jason Zhang with Q♦ J♠ for the flop K♦ 2♣ 4♥ where the all-in and a call is just a formality. The board completes 8♣ and 5♠ granting Ma Yi a much needed double up.

Li Dong raises to 325,000 from the button with Q♥ J♥ and Jason Zhang defends his small blind holding T♦ 6♦ to see the flop A♠ A♦ 7♥ where Li continues for 200,000 and Zhang peels for the turn J♣ . Zhang switches gears to a 400,000 lead, gets called, the board completes T♥ and he slides out another 500,000 lead. Not impressed, Li Dong jams to put Jason Zhang all-in for 4,600,000 more and scoops the pot.

After Li Dong and Song Ying picked up some more blinds, the Top 5 chip counts are:

Ma Yi starts us off with a raise to 300,000 from under the gun, Jason Zhang calls from the hijack and big blind Zhao Hongjun defends big to see a three-way flop 2♦ 2♥ 4♥ . Ma c-bets 300,000 and everyone pays up to see the turn K♣ that gets checked to Zhang in position, who forks out 400,000 to take it down.

Keeping the pressure on, we have Li Dong open another pot from hijack for 240,000 to take big blind Yan Zhiyong to the flop 5♦ 6♠ 9♥ . Li Dong triple barrels 215,000, 700,000 and 600,000 with Yan Zhiyong check-calling twice for the board to complete 2♠ and A♣ , before going deep in the tank with 8♦ 8♣ . After handing the dealer three time banks, Yan Zhiyong finds a good fold against Li Dong's A♠ 3♣ .

Having picked up a pot against Li Dong pre a while back we see Jason Zhang defend his big blind with 8♠ 5♥ against Zhao Hongjun's 250,000 open from the cutoff with A♦ 4♥ to lay eyes on the flop 5♦ 6♦ 7♠ where Zhang opts to donk-bet for 175,000 and Zhao floats. After the turn 5♣ hits the felt, Zhang check-calls Zhao's 300,000 bet for the board to complete 7♥ that gets checked around and Jason Zhang's boat wins the pot.

Song Ying and Li Dong are cementing their leads, picking up a few blinds and small pots before Ma Yi finds A♥ K♠ in the big blind to jam into Li Dong's open to win his first pot in a while.

After picking up the blinds in three out of the last four hands, Li Dong defends his big blind with T♣ 5♦ against Yan Zhiyong's 240,000 open from hijack with 8♠ 8♥ . The flop J♠ 2♦ 3♣ has Yan c-bet 150,000, gets check-raised to 350,000 by Li and a call reveals the turn 9♣ where Li forks out another 600,000. After consuming a time bank, Yan Zhiyong pulls the trigger for a 1,800,000 all-in and scoops the pot.

Zhao Hongjun gets the ball rolling with a 240,000 raise from the hijack holding K♦ Q♣ , button Li Dong three-bets 650,000 with Q♥ 7♠ , but Lin Zhaoyi scoops the pot after cold four-betting 1,600,000 with J♦ J♣ from the big blind.

After taking down a pot pre-flop against Li Dong with a three-bet, Song Ying picks up J♥ J♦ in the hijack and jams into Yang Haibo's 1,500,000 open from under the gun who fills up for a total of 1,700,000 with A♠ Q♥ and the spotlight is on the dealer.

After Yang Haibo picks up his first hand, Li Dong collects the blinds twice to get to 14,000,000 in chips.

After picking up the blinds, Li Dong looks at 9♠ 9♦ and raises to 250,000 to take big blind Lin Zhaoyi to the flop 7♦ 3♠ K♥ where a 150,000 c-bet and a call is all the action we see until the board completes A♥ and 6♥ with Li Dong's nines taking it down.

Li Dong opens 200,000 from the button with 9♠ 9♦ and Jason Zhang defends big with A♣ 2♣ to see the flop 8♠ 3♣ 4♥ where a 250,000 c-bet from Li gets called for the turn J♣ . Another 450,000 continuation gets called for the board to complete A♠ , where Li Dong checks back and has to surrender the pot to Zhang's last minute top pair.

With a 200,000 open from +1, Jason Zhang takes big blind Li Dong to the flop 6♦ A♣ 2♠ that gets checked to the turn K♥ , where a delayed c-bet of 250,000 takes down the pot for Zhang.

Cutoff Yan Zhiyong opens 200,000 with A♦ 2♣ and Ma Yi defends big with 9♦ 9♣ to see the flop J♣ K♣ 7♣ where a 150,000 c-bet from Yan gets called to the turn 3♦, where Yan Zhiyong's 300,000 second barrel gets Ma Yi off of the better hand.

Opening to 160,000 from the button, Zhao Hongjun takes big blind Li Dong to the flop K♦ 7♦ 3♣ that gets checked around to the turn 4♠ where Li Dong leads 400,000 and Zhao calls. The board completes 6♥ and Li Dong fires another 900,000 with queen high to take it down against Zhao who folds bottom pair.

Cards are in the air! Good Luck everyone!

Poker Dream 16 Main Event is headed into Day 4 at the Jeju Shinhwa World in South Korea. The event surpassed the guarantee hitting a total prize pool of KR₩ 2,580,588,000 (~USD 1,790,086) after 11 opening flights and 1,394 combined entries. A total of 151 players started Day 2, and on Day 3 they played down from 27 to the Final 9 who will gather later at 1pm local on February 21 to crown the winner.

Everyone still in the running are from China ensuring a back-to-back PD Jeju champion from the mainland. They are all guaranteed KRW 27,970,000 ($19,420) in the bank and will have their sights set on the top prize of KRW 376,000,000 ($261,045) and bragging rights.

Li Dong will start the day first in chips with a towering 12,790,000 (160BB), more than 38% of all chips in play! Zhao Hongjun will start second in chips though very far behind the leader with 4,430,000 (55BB), and ranked third is Lin Zhaoyi with 3,900,000 (49BB).

The Final 9 will resume play on level 27 (40,000/80,000/80,000) and the live updates will cover the entire action.