Red Dragon Championship (2,500,000 KRW)

With 23 out of 80 still standing in the third of five opening flights for the KR₩ 2 Billion (~$1,451,326) guaranteed RDPT Jeju II 2025 Championship the total qualifiers for Day 2 rise to 145 out of 549 that tried their luck so far.

Hao Tian - yesterday's Single Day High Roller and Sunday's NL 7 Card Stud champion - put on another great performance, bagging the lead with 268,000 (89 BB). Sitting on less than a starting stack towards the end of level 9 he managed to spin it up right after late reg ended with T♠ T♦ against A♦ K♠ from Xin He and tripled up on the buzzer with A♠ 9♥ , taking a gamble by calling for his remaining 88,500 from the big blind when Weidong Cai and Dajie Zhuo were already all-in with J♠ 3♠ and A♦ 8♣ . The board ran 6♦ 8♥ 7♣ J♣ T♦ to give him a straight that catapulted him into the lead.

Yilu Yuan came in 2nd for 249,000 (83 BB) after a loose raise-call with 3♥ 5♥ from +1 close to the end that netted him 15BB at the showdown.

Dong Li - also a two-time side event champion this series already - followed in a close 3rd for 240,000 (80 BB) aided by hitting top pair with A♥ J♥ on a 9♣ 2♦ J♣ 4♠ T♦ board in a four-bet pot pre.

The last 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 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

Barely a sweat for Huang on Q♦ 2♦ 2♥ Q♠ 4♥ to knock out two and jump up the leaderboard on the closing bell.

The dealer has mood swings, flipping over 6♦ 8♥ 7♣ to put Zhuo in the lead, the J♣ turn gives the honor to Cai, but it is Hao Tian who has the last laugh on the T♦ river, giving him a straight to triple up into the overall lead.

Button Weidong Cai opens 6,500 from the button and big blind Federico Butteroni defends to see the 2♠ Q♣ 3♠ flop where he calls Cai's 6,500 c-bet. The T♠ turn gets rejected for a free K♥ river, Butteroni takes the reins with an 8,000 lead holding 5♣ 6♠ six-high, but Cai smells something fishy and calls with 3♣ 5♥ to scoop the pot.

Things are looking good For Han - who just came from the airport a few hours ago - on A♥ T♠ A♣ before the 8♥ and 7♠ turn the tides.

Yilu Yuan raises to 5,000 from +1 and fills up after hijack Haobo Zhu upped the fee to 16,000. Yuan calls a 17,500 c-bet on 4♠ T♥ 5♦ before the 9♦ turn and 8♥ river get checked down with Yuan tabling 3♥ 5♥ and Peng Chen starts laughing.

With the board showing 2♣ J♦ 7♠ and 45,000 up for grabs, button Rui Zhang bets 13,000 and hijack Naohiro Matsuda sticks around to the 8♣ turn where he folds to another 25,000 bet from Zhang.

Cutoff Weidong Cai puts 6,000 in the middle and pays up after button Li Jiang Liu pumped it to 18,000 to see the 5♥ 5♠ 2♦ flop. Liu continues for 11,000, but lets it go when faced with a 72,000 jam from Cai.

Hijack Rui Zhang leads 4,000, small blind Dong Li ups it to 14,000 and big blind Kentaro Oe squeezes to 36,000 with only Li coming along for the ride to the 9♣ 2♦ J♣ flop. Oe continues for 23,000 and Li calls before the 4♠ turn and T♦ river get checked down with Li flipping over the A♥ J♥ winner.

Catching the action on the J♥ 5♦ 7♦ 8♣ 2♦ river and 49,000 in the middle, small blind Dajie Zhuo forks out an enormous 83,000 over-bet jam with A♦ 3♦ nut flush and cutoff Weidong Cai calls with 8♦ 8♠ set, knocking the former chip leader back down into the upper midfield.

All blanks on 2♣ J♥ 3♦ 8♠ 8♥ leaves Zhu in the lead and Cheng with crumbs.

Another pot is already at 15,000 and the 4♦ 8♥ 7♦ 3♣ turn when small blind Xuancheng Li leads 8,000 and button Wenqing Cai calls to see the 7♣ river. Li jams with 6♥ 7♥ trips and Cai considers his options for a while before making the call with his last 29,000 holding A♦ 3♥ bottom pair.

Drawing dead already, Cheng Cheng is not interested in the T♠ river that makes his loss official.

With the board showing 5♠ 4♥ T♦ J♥ and 35,000 up for grabs, both players check for the 5♦ river to drop, Haoyu Huang declares all-in for 35,300 with K♥ Q♥ air and button Rui Zhang snaps holding 5♣ 9♣ trips.

Button Rui Zhang makes it 2,000 and fills up after big blind Dong Li increased to 7,000. The 9♣ 3♠ 4♥ flop sees Li continue for 6,000, Zhang calls, but lets it go on the 7♥ turn when faced with another 10,000 from Li.

Hijack Kentaro Oe opens 2,500 and big blind Jiapeng Yu defends to see the T♥ 9♠ T♠ flop where he calls a 3,000 c-bet from Oe before the 3♣ turn gets checked to the 6♣ river. Yu switches gears to a 5,500 lead with 8♣ 7♠ straight, Oe calls, but throws it in the muck.

The Red Dragon Poker Tour Jeju II 2025 continues today, July 9, at the Landing Casino inside the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World Resort with the second of five opening flights for the KR₩ 2.5 Million (~$1,815) Red Dragon Championship with a KR₩ 2 Billion (~$1,451,326) guaranteed prize pool taking center stage again. Yesterday's Flight A had 61 out of 235 players advance to Day 2 already.

The event generated a total KR₩ 2,175,953,000 (~$1,582,120) in May, with KR₩ 360,000,000 (~$250,615) going to champion Shengfa Huang, who has already been preparing for his title defense by entering some of the early events in the past few days. With one more opening flight added this time around, these records won't be standing long. We quickly caught up with Shengfa Huang - who only learned how to play poker when the pandemic hit - during Flight A yesterday:

SMP: How has winning the RDPT Main Event impacted your career or life in general?

Huang: It doesn't have any impact. I may go out to play more games in the future.

SMP: Where did you spend your winnings?

Huang: Eat, drink, play, buy, but spent nothing really.

SMP: Did you continue playing poker after your win, or do you return to your previous life?

Huang: I continue to play poker, it is my favorite pastime.

SMP: How do you handle the pressure of playing against more experienced, professional poker players?

Huang: No pressure, because I don't know anyone.

SMP: What surprised you most about the live poker experience?

Huang: There are a lot of people playing!

Entering players have a 40,000 starting stack to work with, worth 200 times the opening blinds, intervals are at a comfortable 30 minutes and late registration will be open until the end of level 9 and the day concludes at the end of level 12.

SMP Live Updates will cover the action from start to finish.

Red Dragon Championship Schedule

• 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