$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!

Johan Schultz-Pedersen raises to 17,000 from under the gun, Stanley Choi shows strength with a 42,000 three-bet from +1 and Pedersen calls for the flop A♠ 8♣ 6♣ to hit the felt. Choi continues for 25,000 and another call reveals the turn 4♣ . Leading 25,000 once more, Choi is faced with a check-raise to 60,000 and quickly calls for the board to complete 4♠ . Pederson switches gears, leading with a jam thats good enough to pick up the pot.

Johan Schultz opens 18,000 from the cutoff and takes two players to the flop 8♦ J♦ 5♠ that gets checked to Stanley Choi on the button, who makes it 22,000. The small blind folds and Schultz pays up to see the 6♦ turn where another 45,000 gets the job done for Choi.

Picking up the action on a three-way Q♥ A♥ 7♥ flop with 162,000 in the middle the action gets checked to cutoff Xue Song who makes it 65,000, Stanley Choi folds and Aram Oganyan calls for the turn Q♦ . Checked to Song again, he puts his opponent all-in for 188,500 with a flush 6♥ 5♥ , but receives bad news when Oganyan snaps with a higher flush T♥ 8♥ . The river 8♦ changes nothing and Aram Oganyan scoops a huge pot.

Christopher Brewer opens 8,000 from under the gun +2, button Stanley Choi and big blind Tony Lin fill up the lay eyes on the flop J♦ 5♣ 9♥ . When checked to him, Choi forks out 7,000 and both opponents comply to see the turn T♥ that gets checked around to the river 5♠ . Lin takes over the reins with a 35,000 open that gets the job done.