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.

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.

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♣ .

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

Under the gun Huahuan Feng kicks off the action with a raise to 2,200, Xinjie Wei flats from +1, hijack Ding Wei Li three-bets 6,300, Feng fills up, but Xinjie Wei has the last word with another reraise to 19,300 that goes unanswered.

Ding Wei Li lays out 2,500 from +1 and big blind Huahuan Feng defends to see the flop 4♦ 8♣ Q♥ . Li triple barrels 6,000, 6,000 and 13,000 that gets called by Huahuan to the turn K♣ and river 3♥ with Li scooping the pot after flipping over K♥ K♠ .

Immediately hitting a set on the turn Q♥ and a blank river 9♦ has Li come out on top for a big double up.

The player in +2 gets us going with a raise to 1,300, cutoff Mi Deng - fresh from a 3-Card Hold'em win at the Poker Dream 16 here in Jeju - calls before Ding Wei Li squeezes to 6,000 from the small blind. Only Deng pays up to see the flop 9♠ T♣ Q♥ where he lays out 5,000 and Li check-calls. Six checks later and the board completing 7♠ and 2♣ Li flips over the winner A♠ K♦ .

Wei Ding Li opens 800 then sees Huahuan Feng defend on the big blind with a 2500 re-raise. Li wants to take it down the streets and calls for a flop 9♣ 5♠ 3♦ . Feng continues for 2000 and Li calls. Switch up on the turn 8♣ with Feng checking then calling Li's 3500 bet. When the board pairs up on the river 8♦ , Feng checks again, Li fires 8500, Feng can't resist calling with his T♠ T♥ overpair and wins the pot with Li showing A♥ 7♠ ace-high.