Super High Roller (14,500,000 KRW)

After a few hands of Yu Lei, Martin Zamani and Mao Renji picking up the blinds, Mao min-opens 1,000,000 once more, but faces opposition from button Aram Oganyan pumping it to 2,000,000 with A♦ J♣ . Mao decides to fold T♣ 8♦ against Aram's first play in almost two orbits.

Looking at J♦ 6♦ , Martin Zamani opts for a thin GTO open of 1,000,000 from the button which takes big blind Xue Song along for the ride holding J♠ 9♥ . The flop 8♠ 3♣ 5♦ has enough backdoor potential for Zamani to fork out another 625,000 which gets the job done.

With Martin Zamani picking up the blinds twice, but surrendering some immediately after, it is Mao Renji who min-opens A♠ K♠ from under the gun, Zamani ups it to 2,100,000 with Q♠ Q♦ and a jam and a call puts Mao at risk with 9,300,000. The dealer flips over 3♥ A♥ 8♥ 7♦ 2♠ , granting Mao Renji the biggest pot of the tournament and leaves former chip leader martin Zamani crippled with 2,400,000.

After Xue Song has grown his short stack back to 25BB and the chip leaders all bleeding some, to leave the most active player and chip leader Martin Zamani with 40BB it is everyone's game to win.

Under the gun +1 Xue Song opens 300,000 with A♣ K♣ , cutoff Yu Lei ups it to 1,400,000 holding A♥ 6♥ and Xue forks out a 2,400,000 four-bet that has Yu in the tank for one time bank but finally calls to see the flop 9♦ J♦ J♠ . Xue jams his remaining 1,800,000 which ends the hand.

Checked to the small blind Yu Lei we see a limp with A♦ 3♣ and a check from Martin Zamani holding Q♣ 9♥ . The flop K♣ K♦ 3♦ has Yu lead 300,000 which gets called for the turn 5♦ , where Yu elects to check, but calls Zamani's 300,000 bet for the board to complete 8♠ . No action there reveals Yu Lei's bottom pair as the winner.

After a few hands of the shorter stacks picking up some small pots against the leaders we see Martin Zamani open 9♦ 4♣ for 700,000 from the hijack that takes shortest stack Xue Song from the big blind to see the flop 7♠ 4♦ Q♣ . Xue Song jams 1,900,000 with his mystery hand which is enough to get Zamani off bottom pair and scoop a much needed pot.

Fresh from delivering a knock-out two hands earlier, Chris Park is at it again, opening 600,000 with K♦ Q♠ from hijack and big blind Yu Lei tags along for the river K♣ 3♥ 3♣ . A single 800,000 c-bet takes it down for Park

After winning three of the last five hands preflop, Martin Zamani fills up his button to match Yu Lei's 600,000 min open from the cutoff. The flop 8♥ 6♦ 9♥ has Zamani lead 450,000 against a missed c-bet from Yu, which gets called for the turn 9♠ . A check around completes the board A♣ , Yu Lei leads 650,000 with A♥ 8♠ , but Martin Zamani calls with A♠ J♥ to scoop the pot with the better kicker.

Yu Lei starts off with a min-raise to 500,000 and big blind Gao Sheng finally picks up a hand with 9♥ 9♦ to jam his 2,600,000 short stack. Yu calls for a flip with K♣ Q♣ and we have our first player at risk. The dealer has Gao's hopes go up by flipping over 5♦ 6♠ 4♥ 2♠ before delivering the final blow K♥ .

With the three previous hands going to Martin Zamani preflop the last of which was a three-bet against Oganyan Aram, Aram mounts another attack with a 500,000 raise under the gun. Yu Lei fills up from +3 to go to the flop 6♦ 4♣ A♥ heads-up. Checked around to the turn J♣ Aram lays out a delayed c-bet of 1,800,000 with K♦ Q♣ which gets called by Yu's A♠ J♠ for the board to complete 2♠ . Checked to him, Yu takes down the pot with a 1,800,000 bet of his own.

Surrendering to two three-bets pre this orbit, Martin Zamani fills up his big blind with K♠ Q♥ after a 500,000 open from Wang Yilong with A♦ J♣ . The flop Q♣ K♥ 9♥ has Wang continue for 675,000, but lets his gutter go when Zamani protects top two with a raise to 2,000,000.

Wang Yilong limps 9♠ Q♣ from the cutoff and big blind Xue Song opts to check with J♠ 5♥ for the flop 8♣ K♣ J♥ to hit the felt. Wang leads 300,000 which gets check-called by Xue to reveal the 4♣ turn where Wang forks out 850,000 to scoop the pot.

Under the gun +1 Mao Renji min-raises to 400,000 with A♦ K♦ and takes big blind Wang Yilong's 9♠ 7♠ to the flop 5♦ A♣ 7♣ . One 400,000 c-bet gets called by Yu for the turn 8♥ that gets checked around to the river 3♦ where a 1,100,000 bet from Mao goes unanswered.

Christopher Park kicks off todays action with a raise to 400,000 from +2 and takes big blind Yu Lei to the flop 9♠ 3♦ 2♥ where a 275,000 c-bet gets called by Yu before checking to the river 9♦ and A♥ having Yu Lei table the winner 5♠ 2♠ against Park's Q♠ J♣ .

The Final 9 resume play on level 23 (100k/200k/200k) with 12min on the clock. Shuffle up and deal!

After a total of 123 entries ponied up the KR₩14,500,000 (~USD 9,998) buy-in we got to a total prize pool of KR₩ 1,626,195,300 (~USD1,134,545) with KR₩409,200,000 (~USD285,496) up top and everyone taking a seat later will have KR₩40,700,000 (~USD28,398) guaranteed for 9th place already.

Wang Yilong was the only one breaching the eight-figures bagging 10,075,000 who came back from 2,200,000 just a few minutes before the end last night, starting with a triple up that eliminated Yong Wei Keong in 11th and then bursting the final table bubble, knocking out Xu Qiang in 10th.

Martin Zamani had been chip leader for most of the ITM play, but lost a few in the end, still bringing 9,800,000 to the table in 2nd.

The Final 9 will resume play on level 23 (100k/200k/200k) very even in chips with an average of 34BB at 1pm local on the 22nd of February.

Live updates begin at 1pm local time on February 22, 2025.