Red Dragon Championship (2,500,000 KRW)

The last of five opening flights for the KR₩ 2 Billion (~$1,451,326) guaranteed RDPT Jeju II 2025 Championship wraps up the qualification stages with another 37 out of 116 players advancing to Day 2 at the end of level 12. That brings the total to 237 out of 886 - just three entries shy of breaking the guaranteed.

China's Jun Lin bagged the lead with 388,000 (129 BB) after kickstarting his march to the top in level 9 with a call holding A♦ Q♥ against Xin He's K♠ T♠ on Q♠ 7♠ 9♦ and avoiding disaster when the board blanked 3♣ and 6♦ netting almost 40 BB at the time and finished the day by knocking out Yuqi Zheng with 2♣ 2♦ against Zheng's K♥ T♥ and some more chips from Bohong Yu after the board ran 7♦ 2♥ A♦ J♥ A♣ .

Sishu Peng was a fixture on the leaderboard since we started coverage in level 8, but his aggressive style put him on a roller coaster ride in the last levels that saw him take the lead at one point, but ran into a full house from Zhifan Ye right at the end that knocked him down a bit. He will start Day 2 with 316,000 (105 BB)

Quite some distance away is third place finisher Shengyong Wang with 231,000 (77 BB) who got here by a last minute double with 7♥ 7♦ against In Ho Song's A♥ J♠ when the board ran 9♣ 3♦ 2♥ 2♠ K♣ .

This wraps up the opening flights and live coverage for today. We will be back with fresh updates tmrw at 12:00 for all 10 levels with 60 minute intervals in Day 2.

Remaining Red Dragon Championship Schedule

• Day 2 2025.07.11 - 12:00

• Day 3 2025.07.12 - 12:00

• Final Day 2025.07.13 - 12:00

Zhifan Ye makes it 6,000 from +2 and pays up when cutoff Sishu Peng demands 18,000 to see the 8♦ 8♣ 5♦ flop. Peng continues for 12,000 and another 26,000 on the 5♠ turn before checking back on the 4♠ river to watch Ye turn over the 5♥ 8♥ winner.

Still a few outs left, Zheng misses on the A♣ river and exits the field close to the end.

A blind battle goes full distance to 3♥ 7♣ 6♥ Q♣ A♣ with 79,000 up for grabs before big blind Sishu Peng forks out 75,000 with 4♠ 5♣ and Lionel Loh check-calls before throwing his cards in the muck.

The eights survive on 5♦ and 3♦ to grant Yu a much needed double up.

Liu is already imagining all the chips in front of him when the dealer flips over 8♦ J♦ 3♦ 7♥ 5♦ , giving Dilijiang A a flush to crack Liu's aces and send him to the rail.

The 6♣ gives Truong more outs, but Loh prevails on the 7♠ river.

Under the gun Chenxu Zhang opens 4,000 and calls after hijack Jun Lin upped it to 12,000. They both check to the river 5♦ A♦ 5♠ J♦ 7♥ where Zhang tries to steal with 8♠ 9♠ for 19,000, but Lin calls with K♠ K♦ .

A promising looking flop for Xu fizzles out with a boat for Wu on Q♣ K♠ 4♠ Q♥ 4♦ .

Under the gun Wenchao Liu leads 5,500 and big blind Hao Wang defends. Liu triple barrels 3,500, 18,500 and 20,000 all-in on 5♠ 6♠ 6♥ 7♠ T♠ with Wang calling twice before tank-folding the river.

Hijack Yansong Wu lays out 3,000, small blind Lijun Yuan ups it to 6,500 and calls after Wu four-bet to 13,000. Yuan donk-bets 8,000 on the K♠ 2♠ 5♠ flop, but lets it go when Wu raised to 20,000.

None of He's 15 outs show up on the 3♣ turn and 6♦ river, making Jun Lin the new chip leader.

The Red Dragon Poker Tour Jeju II 2025 continues tonight, July 10, at the Landing Casino inside the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World Resort with the last 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 the spotlight once again. The first three flights saw 145 out of 549 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:

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 right after Flight D is on the books until the last batch of qualifiers is decided.

Red Dragon Championship Schedule

• 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