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

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!

Catching the action on a heads-up turn 5♠ 9♠ K♠ Q♣ with 49,000 up for grabs, button Oliver Bithell separates 50,000 from his stack and gets called by Isaac Haxton for the board to complete Q♥ . Both players check and poker legend Isaac Haxton tables the winner Q♦ 8♠ .

Oliver Bithell open-limps from the small blind, Steve O'Dwyer ups it to 17,000, Bithell pumps it further to 45,000 and O'Dwyer calls to see the flop K♦ 6♥ 7♣ . Bithell continues for 25,000, O'Dwyer pays up and the turn 4♠ gets checked to complete the board K♥ . After using a time bank, Bithell decides to fork out another 35,000 with 9♥ 7♥ , but Steve O'Dwyer calls with A♦ 7♦ to win with a better kicker.

Jamil Wakil gets the ball rolling with a raise to 7,000 from the hijack and takes Aram Oganyan and Oliver Bithell from cutoff and big blind to the flop J♦ 9♠ J♠ . Checked to Oganyan, 8,500 slide over the line, Bithell folds and Wakil takes down the pot with a check-raise to 33,000.