Red Dragon Championship (2,500,000 KRW)

The headline event of the Red Dragon Poker Tour here at the Landing Casino in Jeju attracted a total of 997 entries across all four opening flights resulting in a total prize pool of KRW 2,175,953,000 (~$1,582,120) with KRW 360,000,000 (~$250,615) going to the champion. We started the day with 237 players unpacking their chips and are now left with only 37 that will resume play on Day 3 tomorrow at 12:00 local.

A lot of the big names didn't make it, leaving only one bracelet winner - Weiran Pu with 565,000 (16 BB) - in the field and a single player that doesn't reside on the Asian continent in Australian Marcus Law with a respectable 2,185,000 (54 BB). Which means that a lot of the remaining players will be looking to bank the biggest cash of their careers by simply making it to the final table.

One of the early international exits was Hungarian Patrik Demus - 3rd place finisher at the WPT Cambodia Prime Championship for $111,200 just two months ago - who fell victim to a scripted preflop all-in with A♥ Q♠ against Xiangchen Gao's A♠ K♠ and a board that ran all blanks.

Not long after that another elimination by Xiangchen Gao - open jamming from the small blind with A♥ 2♣ into short stack Chung Cheun Co who called with A♣ K♠ , but was outdrawn on the board 8♠ T♦ 2♥ 3♥ 9♥ - started hand for hand play on the bubble with 151 players eager to make the 150 ITM spots.

With the tournament clock on hold, it took over an hour until the bubble burst with every short stack all-in resulting in a double up over and over until Chi Zhang - WPT Jeju 2024 Main Event 3rd place finisher for $159,008 - was forced all-in on the big blind with his last 0,7BB. Qingbo Gao min-raised and Ruoyu Yang called with both of them checking down to the river 6♠ 3♥ 9♥ 2♠ A♥ where Gao won with king-high K♣ 7♦ against Zhang's ten-high T♠ 4♦ . This extended bubble play with the clock on hold later led the organizers to shorten play by one level.

Another European player that didn't make the cut was Tom Verbruggen who was all-in against Erdun Xu three times within a few hands before finishing in 111th. We caught up with him yesterday after the end of Day 1C where he said:

"My run today was all right, i only fired one bullet. I think my highest Chip Count was 200K this was around break, so after level 9, then unfortunately from there went slowly but surely downhill, so i only bagged 93K which will be 15BB. Tomorrow could be better but at least I'm in day 2, and as one of my coaches says 'you can't win the main event in day one', so let's go for day 2."

When asked about Jeju and the tournaments at the Landing Casino he said :

"It's nice to come here, because there are many Chinese people here and I used to live in China for over seven sears, so for me it's actually a great opportunity to keep my Mandarin on point as well. I think it's a very beautiful casino, very luxurious, so it's a nice place to be."

Once the day came to an end after level 23 it was Qing Zhao on top of the leaderboard who started the day as second in chips, kept using his stack to apply pressure throughout the day and knocked out several opponents along the way. He ended the day with a late charge that started with the elimination of Xiangchen Gao after a preflop all-in with A♥ Q♣ against Gao's A♦ 5♦ that started out grim, being out-flopped on 9♠ 5♥ T♠ improving on the turn A♠ and ultimately clinching the win on the river T♥ . From then on he ran over his table - at one point scooping four pots preflop in less than an orbit - to finish the day with 3,455,000 (86 BB).

Day 3 will start tomorrow at 12:00 on Thursday the 8th of May and SMP will cover the entire action from start to finish.

With this being the last hand of the day, Guanxiong Zhang gets out his phone, and feels good about his chances. The dealer agrees by turning over 8♠ 5♣ Q♠ 9♥ 5♥ for the straight with another gasp going through the crowd that gathered around the table and Zhang records the event.

Miles ahead, Gu watches in delight when the dealer hits the felt 6♠ 2♠ 3♥ before he and the players watching gasp in shock when the turn J♦ is revealed. With the murmurs still going on, the dealer slowly flips over the river A♥ and another gasp goes through the room.

No surprises on the board A♠ 7♠ 3♥ K♠ 2♦ lets Lu double up, but is still very much on life support.

The organizers have decided to cut one level from today's play, because we had an hourlong bubble where the clock was stopped. That means we are in the final minutes of Day 2.

Immediate relief for Zhang when the dealer tables A♠ 7♠ K♠ 5♠ 8♦ to outdraw Yu for a much needed double up.

Hijack Kwok Wai Wong wants 80,000, Jiawei Huang ups it to 200,000 from the button, but lets it go after Wong four-bet to 425,000,

Jiawei Huang defends big blind against an 80,000 raise from cutoff Qing Zhao and a checked flop reveals the board K♦ 6♠ A♦ K♥ . Zhao's 125,000 delayed c-bet gets called to the river 2♥ where his 650,000 ends the hand.

Under the gun raises to 80,000 and takes two customers to the flop 6♠ 5♠ 9♦ where the action checks to cutoff Zijie Lu who puts out a feeler of 75,000. Zhang grabs a bunch of chips to raise, puts them over the line without releasing or saying anything when his clock runs out. The floor gets called and it is ruled a call, which makes the rest of the table gasp in shock. The initial raiser gets out of the way and the turn falls Q♠ where Zhang leads 275,000 to win the pot.

Day 1A is on the last level with 29 out of 132 players remaining and Day 1B still has one level of late reg open with currently 54 out of 92 left.

The flop 7♠ 2♣ 8♥ lets Chen's odds rise, before taking a massive dip on the turn A♦ but comes out on top after the dealer flips over one of the two remaining outs on the river 6♠ .

Zijie Lu defends his big blind against a 60,000 open from cutoff Junjie He to see the flop 5♥ Q♥ 9♠ that gets checked to the turn 4♣ where he check-calls a 60,000 delayed c-bet from He. The river T♥ has He bet another 155,000, before calling Lu's 400,000 check-raise. He's Q♠ 8♣ is good against Lu's J♦ 9♥ .

Everything is looking peachy for Zhong when the dealer flips over 2♦ 5♥ 5♣ 4♥ before turning pear shaped on the river J♥ , granting Feng the three-outer to knock Zhong out of the tournament.

Firmly in control of his table for a while, Kaiyun Zhu got some opposition now with Yong Zhao just doubling up against Zhongxian Li with A♦ K♦ against Li's A♥ Q♥ and the board running A♠ 5♥ 4♦ 9♦ T♠ .

Jiawei Huang gets the ball rolling with a raise to 60,000 from +1 and big blind Kwok Kai Wong defends to see the flop 8♣ 7♦ T♦ . Huang triple barrels 70,000, 150,000 and 30,000 with Wong paying up until the river 3♥ and A♠ before folding to the min-bet.

Under the gun Yong Zhao opens 75,000 and takes two customers to the flop Q♦ K♠ 5♠ . He continues for 100,000, Chuan Shu Chen ups it to 250,000 from +1 which pushes both opponents out of the hand with big blind Fan Fan losing two time banks in the process.

Shin gets his two-outer right away on 5♣ Q♥ 7♥ Q♠ A♥ to suck out and double up against the big stack on the table.

Things are looking great for Zhu on the flop Q♣ 6♣ J♥ , but take a turn for the worse on the turn K♠ and conclude his nightmare with a blank 5♣ on the river, losing the biggest pot of the day with the best starting hand possible.

The dealer keeps it interesting till the end on T♦ Q♣ 7♥ 6♣ 5♣ but lets Li prevail to recover some of her losses.

Jia Chi Li raises 50,000 from +1 and pays up after small blind Shengfa Huang upped it to 240,000 to see the flop Q♠ T♥ 5♥ where she lays out 170,000 when the action checked to her. Huang calls and the turn K♦ gets checked to the river 5♠ with Huang back in control, making it 300,000 with A♦ K♠ . Li calls before throwing it in the muck.

After starting Day 2 as chip leader, Kwok Wai Wong kept his foot on the gas, staying in the top 5 all day long. He defends his big blind against a 50,000 open from cutoff Jie Chen and watches the flop hit the felt 4♠ T♥ 4♦ where two check give us a free turn 9♠ . Chen leads 90,000, but lets it go after Wong check-raised to 220,000, winning his 2nd pot in a row.

Day 1A is post late reg at level 11 with 47 out of 132 remaining and Day 1B just got to level 5 with late reg still open until the end of level 10. Both flights will play down to the end of level 14 before players can bag their chips.

After being down to less than 50,000 a few hours ago, Dong Li sits on an average stack again, opening 50,000 from under the gun and takes three customers to the flop 5♣ 3♥ 3♦ where he continues for 65,000. Only button Jiawei Huang pays up, but lets it go on the turn T♠ after Li put out another 150,000.

Qing Zhao keeps his lead, picking up small pots left and right using his massive stack to bully. Current payout is at KRW 6,250,000 (~$4,350) with a $455 pay jump from 62nd onwards.

Zhongxian Li opens 40,000 from +1, but lets it go after Qing Zhao increased to 110,000 from the hijack, making this the fourth time in less than an orbit that the Chinese chip leader picked up a pot preflop.

No ace from space for Liao on Q♥ 7♣ 4♥ J♣ 7♠ switching stack sizes with Huang who now sits at over 1M.

Fei Gao leads 40,000 from +1, button Wen Wen Chen - 7th place finisher in the Baby Dragon earlier this week - ups it to 125,000 and goes deep in the tank after Gao four-bet to 390,000. Three time banks later, Chen finds a fold.

Jiapeng Yu raises 40,000 from +2 and big blind Marcus Law defends to see the flop K♣ A♥ 9♠ where Yu's 30,000 c-bet gets called and a second barrel of 80,000 achieves the same on the turn 6♠ . The river 8♣ gets checked down with Law tabling the winner A♣ 9♣ .

Drawing dead already, Ruan gets up before the river 8♦ makes his exit official.

The flop T♦ A♥ 2♠ gives Zhang one more out, but stays behind when the board completes 6♥ and 6♣ , taking the patient Uzbek player up the leaderboard.