$20,000 NLH SuperStar Challenge (30,000,000 KRW)

With late registration concluded and a total of 81 entries, the $20,000 Superstar Challenge prize pool ballooned to a whopping KRW2,262,330,000 (~$1,585,263) and KRW622,100,000 (~$435,932) for first. We have 28 player still in the hunt with ITM starting at 11th place.

The Poker Dream 16 $20,000 Superstar Challenge Day 1 came to a close with 30 out of 59 players remaining after 11 levels of 40min each. The total entries will certainly increase with late registration still open throughout the first 40 minutes of play tomorrow until 13:40, giving the late entries still 20BB to work with in the hunt for a slice of the already over $1,100,000 prize pool.

Canadian 2-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress bagged the biggest stack with 2,550,000, after a massive all-in against Rainer Kempe just a few hands before the end of the day. Dvoress opened 2.5BB with A♠ Q♣ from UTG+1, big blind Rainer Kempe made it 10,7BB with K♣ K♠ and Dvoress called to hit the nuts on J♦ K♦ T♥ where Kempe led 7,5BB and snapped Dvoress' 58BB jam and couldn't improve on 6♣ and 2♥ .

2nd in chips is young Malaysian poker phenom Sean Ooi with 2,280,000 who continuously picked up small to mid-sized pots, growing his stack from start to finish.

Mao Renji from China, also a bracelet winner and runner-up of the Super High Roller last night, had a steady day as well, closing the gap to the chip leader last minute in a three-way pot, knocking out Rainer Kempe and winning a small side pot against Dvoress that left him with 1,880,000.

Poker Legends like Stephen Chidwick and Isaac Haxton - who are 3rd and 9th on the all time money list with live earnings of more than $50M each - are also still in the running, most likely getting company from some more all time greats during the last level of late registration tomorrow.

The Final Day will start at 13:00 on February 24 with 40 minutes of late registration and finishes when a new champion is crowned. Live updates will be there from beginning to the end!

Xue Song has A♦ Q♠ in the hijack, Kosei Ichinose picks up A♣ K♣ in the big blind there is some reraising going on and both players are all-in, with Xue Song wagering his last 342,000. Everything is looking peachy for Ichinose when the dealer flips over 3♦ 4♥ 2♠ 8♠ before going pear shaped on the river Q♦ , granting Xue Song a massive double up.

Henrik Hecklen kicks us off with a raise to 18,000 from the hijack, cutoff Kosei Ichinose wants 42,000 and Hecklen obliges. The flop K♥ 4♣ 3♥ has Hecklen check-call a 28,000 c-bet to the turn J♠ where he check-calls another 120,000. The river J♦ gets rejected by both, with Kosei Ichinose's A♣ T♦ coming out on top of Hecklen's A♥ 2♥ , winning a hefty pot with ace-high.