Red Dragon Championship (2,500,000 KRW)

The first of five opening flights for the KR₩ 2 Billion (~$1,451,326) guaranteed RDPT Jeju II 2025 is on the books with 61 out of 235 contenders still standing at the end of level 12.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi for Jonty Obrien bagging the lead in Day 1A with 389,000 (130 BB). His day was kickstarted in level 8 when Wenqing Dong bluff-jammed K♥ J♣ on A♣ 8♥ 7♦ 6♦ into Obrien's 8♦ 8♠ , netting him 72BB and the overall lead at the time. He consistently chipped up after that without much risk, especially at the end when most players were already content with making it to Day 2.

I've bagged the chip lead a few times in some decent size events, but not in a main event. It feels great, but nothing to celebrate yet as 30% still remain in the field.

Pocket eights was a weird one, where he just thought he would run a sick bluff, but luckily I had the goods. It was most upwards from there, called a few all-ins, lost 1 but held for 2 others and got put into a couple of tough spots, but always found the calls and fortunately most were correct.

China's Yang Pan - chip leader for quite a while at the end of the late registration phase - also had a controlled end to the day making use of a stack towering over the opposition at his table. He secured 329,000 (110 BB) in the end.

Wei Hu (310,000), Yuefeng Pan (303,000) and Zuyou Wang (301,000) were the only other players with more than 100BB to their names.

The next two opportunities to advance to Day 2 are tomorrow at 12:00 and 18:00 and the SMP Live Updates will cover the action from start to finish.

Red Dragon Championship Schedule

• Day 1A 2025.07.08 - 12:00

• Day 1B 2025.07.09 - 12:00

• Day 1C Turbo 2025.07.09 - 18:00

• Day 1D 2025.07.10 - 12:00

• Day 1E Turbo 2025.07.10 - 18:00

• Day 2 2025.07.11 - 12:00

• Day 3 2025.07.12 - 12:00

• Final Day 2025.07.13 - 12:00

SMP: Congrats on bagging the lead In Day 1A. How does it feel?

Obrien: I've bagged the chip lead a few times in some decent size events, but not in a main event. It feels great, but nothing to celebrate yet as 30% still remain in the field.

SMP: The pocket eights kickstarted your day, how has the journey been after that?

Obrien: Pocket eights was a weird one, where he just thought he would run a sick bluff, but luckily I had the goods. It was most upwards from there, called a few all-ins, lost 1 but held for 2 others and got put into a couple of tough spots, but always found the calls and fortunately most were correct.

SMP: Your biggest cash comes from the RDPT Mini Main last year. How did that change your view on poker? More than a hobby now?

Obrien: I played a lot of cash game previously over the last 10 years. Last year's mini main 3rd place was a good stepping stone into my tournament career.

SMP: How did you first hear about the RDPT and why did you choose to come?

Obrien: I study mandarin in China currently, so poker is just something I do on the side, although I have studied poker seriously for the past few years.

SMP: How does the Asian circuit compare to the games in Australia?

Obrien: I haven't really played many tournaments in Australia as I live on the west side, but the east is always buzzing.

SMP: What’s your relation to Taiwan? You have been playing there a lot recently.

Obrien: Taiwan has a great poker environment/venue, easy for Australians to travel and soft fields.

SMP: Can we expect to see more of you on the Asian poker circuit?

Obrien: I am playing TMT series after this in Taiwan, then will play WPT Thailand.

SMP: What do you like most about playing these big fields?

Obrien: The fields where there are 1000s of players I don't play too often, but once you get down to the final few tables, its a great feeling as it takes a miracle to get to that point.

SMP: Now that you already qualified for Day 2, any plans for the next two days? Eying any side events?

Obrien: Probably will play the 2pm bounty tomorrow, then take a day off on Thursday, but we will see how things go.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us and good luck for Day 2 already!

Catching the action on the 6♠ K♠ 2♠ 7♥ turn and 69,500 up for grabs, button Hai Hai Tran bets 31,500 and goes deep in the tank after Chiu Hsien Lee check-jammed to put him all-in. Tran elects to fold and take his remaining chips into Day 2.

Digging for two outs, Zehao Li - double RDPT side event champ in may - strikes gold right away on 8♦ J♦ A♥ 2♦ 9♠ to knockout Yi Ye close to the end of Day 1A.

Cutoff Xiaotong Yu opens 6,500 and pays up after small blind Jonty Obrien increased to 22,000 for a J♥ K♦ 2♣ flop where his 10,000 c-bet gets called before Yu folds to another 32,000 on the T♥ turn.

With a limp and a 7,500 raise in front, hijack Jun Chen forks out 21,000 and only Peng Zhou fills up from +2 to see the A♠ 6♥ J♦ flop where Chen's 15,000 continuation gets called before his jam on the 5♥ turn scares away the opposition.

Catching the action on a 6♦ T♦ Q♣ 9♣ 6♣ complete board and 66,000 up for grabs, button Peiheng Liu bluffs 40,000 with 8♦ 5♦ and Xin Zeng snaps with the A♣ 5♣ nut flush.

Dai jumps ahead on the 4♠ J♥ 2♥ flop, but Deng delivers a double elimination when the board completes Q♣ and K♣ .

The dealer delivers for Yu, keeping him ahead on T♣ and 9♣ for a full triple up.

Both miss their flushes on the J♥ river and Huang's bottom pair stays ahead.

The board already complete T♠ Q♥ 7♠ 3♥ 3♦ and 26,000 in the middle, hijack Yuchong Chen bets 30,000 and Junqi Ren is the only of the two blinds filling up before throwing it in the muck against A♠ 3♠ from Chen.

The river T♥ makes Zhongming Chen visibly disgusted before getting his half of the pot.

Chuan Luo opens 5,000 from +2 and small blind Sicheng Wang defends. Luo then triple barrels 4,000, 6,500 and 25,000 all-in on 9♣ K♠ A♣ A♠ 2♠ with Wang check-calling all the way holding K♥ Q♦ , but has to surrender the pot to A♥ 9♥ from Luo.

The J♦ river keeps Wang's kicker in play for a much needed double up.

Hijack Ze Li raises 3,000 and cutoff Jun Li tags along to the 9♣ J♥ 8♦ flop where he calls a 4,000 c-bet and the Q♥ turn is revealed. Ze Li slows down to a check-call for 10,000 and does the same for 28,000 on the K♦ river, but throws it in the muck when Jun Li flips over the A♣ T♣ nuts.

Cutoff Haisheng Qiu makes it 3,000 and small blind Haiyang Yang defends to see the A♣ J♥ 5♥ flop, check-raises to 13,000 and Qiu fills up his 4,000 c-bet to watch the 9♠ turn drop. Yang wagers his last 27,000 which gets the job done.

Looking for a miracle, Viktor Yugay gets the opposite on 7♣ 2♦ Q♦ A♦ 3♣ and is eliminated with about an hour left to late register.

Under the gun Sijia Zhang lays out 2,000, cutoff Linghui Dai ups it to 5,500, small blind Jing Xu cold calls and Zhang fills up as well. The 4♣ K♦ 6♣ flop has Dai continue for 8,000 and Xu is the only taker before folding to another 17,000 from Dai on the A♠ turn.

Drawing dead already, Dong starts gathering his things before the 9♣ river makes his exit official.

Another beat on the 6♣ river sees Weidong Cai exit after getting it in good twice in a row.

Behind, but with live cards, Kim outdraws his opposition on 4♣ T♥ 8♠ K♠ 8♦ and banks a triple up in the process.

The 4♥ turn gives Wang a few more outs, but Pan prevails on the 3♣ river.

Another 30,500 pot is already at the 6♣ T♠ 8♥ 2♠ when we get there and big blind Yulin Li puts 16,000 in front with button Zhongmin Chen filling up to see the 4♦ complete the board. Li jams 39,000, Chen goes deep in the tank, Joseph Kim calls time and Chen ends up throwing it away.

None of Liu's outs show up on the A♦ river and Fang shoots up the leaderboard.

Currently in level 16, the Final Day of the KR₩ 6,000,000 (~$4,390) buy-in event has 45 out of 135 total entries left with 21 making the money and KR₩ 174,137,000 (~$127,400) going to the new champion.

Follow the live stream at: RDPT JEJU 2025 (JUL) - Red Dragon Prestige High Roller Final Day

The 6♣ and K♠ keep Lyu in front and leave Wang with crumbs.

Hijack Minghan Hu wants 1,800 and fills up after small blind Yinfei Xiao increased to 6,000 to see the J♠ 2♣ K♣ flop. Xiao continues for 6,000, countered by a 12,500 raise before his 34,500 all-in goes unanswered.