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.

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.

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:

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♣ .

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 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.

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.

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.

After a rather short day with less than six hours of play we reached the Final 9, down from 27 players who started the day. Li Dong put on another masterclass of aggressive table control with the largest stack throughout the day, bagging 12,790,000 (160BB), more than 38% of all chips in play.

Zhao Hongjun will start the final table 2nd in chips, banking 4,430,000 (55BB) largely due to a hero call where he opened 2.2BB from the button with 7♦ 7♥ , called a 15BB three-bet from Bai Junpeng in the big blind, who had around double his stack, the flop fell 8♥ 2♠ Q♥ where Bai put him all-in for 13BB with A♦ J♦ and his sevens held. He will have his work cut out for him with the chip leader just two seats behind him.

Finishing the day in 3rd with 3,900,000 (49BB), Lin Zhaoyi was chip leader on the second table and played a solid game, before having his aces cracked by jacks pre, just to reclaim most of them a few hands after with aces against kings, knocking out Ya Na in 14th place.

The Final 9 will resume play on level 27 (40,000/80,000/80,000) on February 21 at 1pm local with the live updates covering the entire action.

Final Table Draw:

With another open from the button for 160,000, Li Dong takes big blind Zhang Jason to a very spicy flop 7♠ 8♠ 9♠ that has Zhang donk-bet 120,000 which keeps Li around for the turn J♣ . Zhang slows down to a check, but calls Li's 300,000 bet to see the board complete 7♦ . Checked to Li Dong once more, his 700,000 bet gets the job done, extending his lead even further.

With 11 players left and the ICM pressure increasing, Li Dong and Lin Zhaoyi are still in the best positions to bully their opponents.

Li Dong opens 125,000 from the button and takes big blind Zhao Hongjun to the flop 4♦ 5♥ 2♠ where Li's 100,000 c-bet finds a check-call for the turn 5♠ . Another 300,000 barrel gets check-called by Zhao to complete the board 2♥ who takes over the reins with a 700,000 lead. With the board hitting the big blind's range quite hard, Li Dong decides to let it go.

Picking up the action on J♦ 8♠ 8♦ 2♦ and a whopping 1,545,000 in the middle, Li Dong leads 350,000 in position and gets check-called from Sean Ooi to complete the board 4♦ Li puts Ooi all-in for 1,175,000 who snap calls with a flush K♦ J♥ , but receives bad news when Li Dong tables a boat with 4♥ 4♣ .

Li Dong and Lin Zhaoyi in a great position to dominate their tables playing down to the Final 9.

Bai Yunpeng was just catapulted into 2nd place after winning a massive pot against a disgusted Ma Yi with 2♥ 4♠ on 7♣ 8♣ 4♥ 2♠ 4♣ .

Zhao Hongjun opens 80,000 from +1 and takes three players to the flop Q♥ 2♦ 8♦ where the action gets checked to Li Dong on the button, making it 100,000. Big blind folds, Zhao calls and Song Ying check raises from the hijack to 305,000 that takes us to the turn 8♣ three-way where Li Dong takes it down with a 405,000 bet.

Picking up the action on the turn 5♣ J♥ 5♠ K♣ with 365,000 to play for, we see Li Dong separate 250,000 from his massive stack, but Zhao Hongjun min-check-raises to 500,000 and scoops the pot right there.

Chip leader Li Dong opens 80,000 from the button and Lam Ji Ho defends his big to see the flop K♣ T♥ 5♥ where a 55,000 c-bet gets check-called. The turn T♦ has Li Dong fork out a second barrel of 150,000, but decides to let it go after Lam Ji Ho check-jams for about 750,000.

Lin Zhaoyi kicks off the action with a raise to 60,000 from the hijack, cutoff Li Dong ups it to 160,000 and Lin calls to see the flop 9♠ Q♥ 2♦ . A 75,000 c-bet from Li forces Lin to check-fold.

as mentioned, Li Dong opens 50,000 again from the cutoff, finds a victim in Anton Lu, who tries to defend his big blind and we get graced with the flop 3♠ 5♠ A♦ . Lu donks for 125,000 and gets called for the T♠ to be revealed, another lead for 175,000 gets answered by Li, the board completes 4♣ with both players checking and Li Dong shows A♣ 9♦ against Anton Lu's J♥ 3♠ to scoop another pot, taking him to 5,100,000.

Having the largest stack to work with, Li Dong opens another hand from under the gun to 50,000 and takes three customers to the flop 6♦ 8♦ K♠ that gets checked to the hijack in position, who makes it 75,000 that gets rid of one, Li calls and Zheng Tianhao raises to 200,000. Only Li sticks around for the turn K♦ where Zheng fires another 300,000 and Li check-calls once more to complete the board 2♦ . Two checks have Li Dong flip over another winner with A♠ 8♥ and Zheng mucks.

Picking up the action on the flop 3♠ T♦ Q♥ and 410,000 already in the pot, we see Wang Yilong lead 120,000, Li Dong calls, the turn 8♠ has Wang lead for another 250,000 which gets called again to complete the board 9♠ . With a ton of draws having gotten there, Wang slows down to a check and Li Dong jams. Wang Yilong preserves his remaining 630,000, surrendering the pot to Li Dong who now sits on 4,000,000.

Wang Yilong starts us off with a 40,000 raise from cutoff and Li Dong defends big blind to see the flop K♣ 5♦ K♠ . Wang's 30,000 c-bet gets check-raised to 90,000 and a call presents the turn Q♠ . Switching gears, Li leads for 120,000, gets raised to 300,000 and calls to see the action killer river T♦ . Two checks has Li Ding scoop the pot with K♦ 3♠ .

Li Dong opens 24,000 from the button, small blind Li Xinze makes it 100,000, Dong four-bets to 250,000 and Xinze calls to see the super wet flop 7♥ T♥ 9♥ . Dong continues for 125,000 and Xinze check-calls to the turn 4♦ . Another check from Xinze prompts Dong to slide out 275,000 which is enough to take down the pot.

The hijack opens 20,000 and takes two players to the flop 8♦ 8♣ T♣ which has the aggressor continue for 20,000, Jiang Daqiao call from the button, big blind Li Dong ups it to 55,000 which takes him heads up with Jiang to the turn 9♦ . Li continues for 55,000, Jiang calls and the board completes A♦ where Li Dong jams 8♠ T♥ to put Jiang Daqiao allin for 189,000 who finds a call with Q♥ T♦ and has to vacate his seat.

Defending champ Kong Qingtao and fan favorite John Juanda unfortunately had their runs cut short in 102nd and 149th place.

Massive stack Qin Yi starts us off with a raise to 12,000 from the hijack and takes Sua Shung Er out of the cutoff and Li Dong from the big blind to the flop K♠ 2♠ J♣ where an 11,000 c-bet gets filled by everyone to see the turn 8♦ that gets checked around to complete the board 5♦ . Li Dong takes over the reins with a 40,000 lead that is enough to scare away the opposition.