Single Day High Roller (3,000,000 KRW)

Hao Tian Wins His Second Trophy Of The Series And KR₩ 27,412,000 (~$20,115)

The Chinese pro with over $1M in lifetime earnings topped a field of 26 that all ponied up the KR₩ 3,000,000 (~$2,180) buy-in for the Single Day High Roller. Before hoisting the trophy he had to go through an intense heads-up against fellow Chinese pro Xiaosheng Zheng - also over $1M in earnings - that saw the lead change several times. We had a quick chat with him after.

Congrats on winning another tournament! How does it feel?

I feel very good, it's my second trophy this series.

Can you tell us some key hands that got you to the top?

Yeah, there is two. First hand I had AQ on the Button and the lojack opened, the cutoff called and I three-bet to 25K with one caller. The flop came 67T, two hearts and we both check - its a very bad board for me - the turn is another 6, he bets 50K and I call. The river is a 3 or 4 and he bet 45K which I called and won. After that six players were left, I only had 300K and the chip leader had 1 million. No one was able to win against him. Under the gun he opened 100K - the blinds were only 10K/15K - and with my 300K holding AT off I go all-in and he snap called with 3T off.

It's been a roller coaster heads-up against Xiaosheng Zheng, how did you manage to beat him in the end?

It was very difficult. We've been playing limp and passing, he's really good, we all are good players. We know each other for a long time we both know how we play this game so I tried to change my play style. I am very good with this, because I played long time online in turbo games.

How and when did you get into poker?

Me and my college classmate used to play heads up back then. We have worked and we only play on the weekend. I knew I can do well in this game but sometimes I don't like to play. I played one month and the second month I turned pro I gave up my work and focus on poker. That was a very risky move for me, because my job was the most important back then.