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!

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.

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.

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.

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:

Zhao Hongjun lays out 175,000 from the button, Bai Yunpeng pumps it to 1,230,000 and Zhao fills up to see the flop 8♥ 2♠ Q♥ . Bai jams A♦ J♦, putting Zhao all-in for 1,005,000 who hero calls with 7♦ 7♥ and the board completes T♠ and 8♣ , putting Zhao Hongjun in great spot again.

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.

Under the gun +1 Zhao Hongjun min-raises to 120,000, Yang Haibo ups it to 280,000 from the hijack and Zhao forks out a hand ending 750,000 four-bet.

Sean Ooi opens 100,000 from the cutoff, Zhao Hongjun three-bets to 300,000 and a call from Ooi reveals the flop 9♥ T♣ T♠ where a 200,000 c-bet from Zhao gets check called for the turn 2♠ . No bets there take us to the river K♣ where Zhao Hongjun lays out a hefty 950,000 that gets the job done.

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.

Zheng Tianhao min-raises 60,000 from under the gun, Zhao Hongjun pumps it to 150,000 from the hijack and Zheng calls to see the flop 2♥ 3♣ 5♠ where Zhao continues for 125,000 and Zheng check-calls for the turn 2♠ to hit the felt. A second barrel of 400,000 gets called again, this time with the use of a time bank, the board completes 8♦ and Zhao Hongjun forks out another 600,000 with K♦ K♠ . After the aid of an additional time bank, Zheng Tianhao finds the call, but throws it in the muck after seeing Zhao's over pair.

Jason Li opens 35,000 from the hijack, small blind Zhao Hongjun wants 125,000 and Li obliges to see the flop 4♠ 8♣ 4♦ . A single 100,000 c-bet lets Zhao scoop the pot.