Baby Dragon (1,500,000 KRW)

The first of three flights for the Red Dragon Poker Tour 2025 Baby Dragon attracted a total of 117 players with 18 left standing that all have a min cash secured when Day 2 begins at 12:00 on Saturday the 3rd of May.

Hui Tang - his biggest live cash to date comes from finishing 2nd at the APT Jeju 2024 Sunday Superstack for $25,103 here at the Landing Casino about a year ago - came out on top, bagging 587,000, almost 17% of all chips in play. He first took the lead in level 15 and ended the day by knocking out Lei Li on the bubble, jamming A♥ 7♥ from the button and Li calling his 27BB stack with K♥ K♦ to get out flopped on A♣ 2♥ 5♣ 2♠ 8♣ .

Yiming Kuang finished the day in 2nd with 405,000. He came out of the gates storming with his name among the top spots on the leaderboard since level 5, even surpassing Hui Tang in the late stages before he got his last minute boost.

Zhongxian Li - another player banking his biggest cash here at the Landing Casino last year by finishing runner-up in the WPT Korea Dragon Quest for $35,629 - had a rocky start to his day, being down to 4BBs during level 11 before running it back up with several double ups and then knocking out Wenhao Ying with 7♠ 7♣ against K♦ K♣ by hitting a seven on the turn. He will start Day 2 with 357,000 in chips.

Tomorrow will have the remaining two flights available at 12:00 local with the same structure as today and at 18:00 as a turbo with 20 minute levels.

The SMP team will be back on site and behind the screens tomorrow to give you updates from start to finish.

The dealer makes quick process of Lei Li by tabling A♣ 2♥ 5♣ 2♠ 8♣ , sending the Chinese grinder to the rail, which concludes Day 1A play.

After having shipped both pots before, Yiming Kuang raises to 17,000 from under the gun once more to scoop his 3rd pot in a row.

Lights out for Pang on J♦ 7♣ K♣ 9♣ 7♥ means we enter bubble play.

Qingtian Qian opens 12,000 from +1, Yuyang Liu ups it to 30,000 from the button, but elects to fold, after Qian jams to put him all-in.

Runner-up Gezhun Kuang takes home KRW 1,550,000 in this 13 entry side event. Congrats!

Chen Hao opens 12,000 from the hijack, the button calls, but Qingtian Qian has the last word with a 41,000 squeeze from the small blind to take down the pot uncontested.

Cutoff Mingze Xu opens 10,000 out of the cutoff and takes both blinds to the flop J♠ K♥ 4♥ where an 8,000 c-bet gets filled by both opponents and the turn 2♠ is revealed. Two check arounds later the board completes T♠ and Zhong Xian Li flips over the winner Q♦ J♦ against Xu's 8♠ 8♥ and Xinjie Wei's Q♥ T♦ .

Patrik Demus opens 10,000 from +2 and Wei Ding Li defends big to see the flop 4♥ K♠ 4♣ that gets rejected to the turn 6♥ . Li puts out a 12,000 feeler and Demus calls. The river 5♥ has Li try again for 17,000 with T♠ 3♦ , but bluffs into Demus' top pair K♦ 9♦ .

Wei Ding Li starts with a limp from +1, Yyukai Sun raises to 16,000 from +2 before Li three-bets to 50,000 with A♠ 2♠ . Sun goes all-in for 123,000 with K♠ K♥ , which scares Li out of the hand.

Ying Song gets the ball rolling with an 8,000 raise from +2 and takes both blinds to the flop 2♠ T♠ 3♦ where she continues for 10,000. Only Wei Ding Li gets sticky to see the turn 9♠ . Song attempts another steal for 15,000 with A♣ 6♣ , but Li is having none of it, putting her all-in for 42,000 total with 5♥ 5♦ . Song folds trying to make use of her dwindling stack another time.

Hui Tang leads 8,000 from +2, Yuzhu Wang ups it to 21,000 and goes deep in the tank after Tang put him all in for his remaining 135,000. Deciding to wait for a better opportunity, Wang lets it go.

After scooping the two pots prior, Wei Ding Li is at it again with a 7,500 open from the hijack, but finds no takers for his A♦ A♣ .

No love for Hao on the heartless river 2♣ , sending him to the rail.

Under the gun Jiongjiong Wu leads 6,000 and takes two customers to the flop Q♠ 7♥ 4♠ where the action folds to cutoff Yuzhu Wang, sliding out 6,000, which is enough to scoop his third pot in a row.

Under the gun Yuyang Liu limps and fills up after button Lei Yu made it 6,500. The flop 5♠ 3♣ K♥ has Yu follow up with a 4,500 lead which gets countered by a check-raise to 24,000 and Yu pays up to see the turn 3♦ . Keeping the pressure on, Liu bets another 35,000, Yu calls and the board completes 8♠ . Slowing down to a check, Liu folds after watching Yu put 42,000 in the middle.

Hui Tang kicks off the action with a raise to 5,000 from +1, the hijack flats and big blind Wenjie Sun three-bets 25,000. Tanking for a while, Tang forks out a min four-bet and both opponents get out of his way.

With a 4,500 raise and a 15,000 three-bet in front, cutoff Li Ma moves all-in for 49,000 with J♦ J♥ , but cant find any customers.

None of the fives show up on the river K♦ and Zhongxian Li secures a double up.

The Big Bounty Turbo attracted 13 entries and is down to 6 players in level 11 with late registration closed as well. The top two spots will take home KRW 2,330,000 and KRW 1,550,000.

Current chip counts are as follows :

Li Ma raises to 2,500 from the hijack, button Kai Zheng ups it to 6,500, Xu Dong Jin cold calls from the big blind and Ma fills up as well to see the flop 3♠ J♦ 8♣ where Zheng's 8,000 c-bet takes him heads up to the turn 6♣ against Jin. Another 21,000 bet sends Jin in the tank, who finds the call and switches gears to a 48,500 lead after the river J♥ hit the felt. Zheng gives it some thought, but lets it go eventually.