2023 WSOP: Yohwan Lim, John Tech, Reiji Kono, Neel Joshi among 50 Asian survivors of Main Event Day 1B; six APAC bracelet winners into Day 2

SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief

Updated: 2026.10.16

Independence Day in the USA did not deter players from attending the much awaited 54th Annual World Series of Poker – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship aka WSOP Main Event with well over a thousand players signing up at Horseshoe Casino Las Vegas for the Day 1B flight.

Johnny Chan – Photo taken from Pokernews

The players were scattered across two huge ballrooms, and after the scheduled five levels – each level running two hours – the mighty field trimmed to 819 players led by South Africa’s Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy.Also advancing was Chinese-American Poker Hall of Famer Johnny Chan.

In the mix were 50 players waving Asia flags. The complete Day 1B Asia survivor list is at the bottom of the page.

Korean-American player Hyun Kim topped the counts with 380 bb. He was one of five Koreans surviving the day which included famous player Yohwan Lim aka BoxeR with 320 bb.

Once again, China came out in force with 19 players making the list. Xie Haoqi bagged up the largest stack of 350 bb. Notable players, high rollers Quan Zhou finished with 223 bb, Xuming Qi with 150 bb, and newly minted bracelet winners Yang Zhang and Renji Zhao closing the day with 66 bb and 59 bb.

Another strong turnout was Japan with 17 players headed by Masaya Nariai with 151 bb. Bracelet winner Naoya Kihara also survived the day, bagging up 130 bb. 2023 WPT Prime Cambodia champion Reiji Kono struggled in the last two levels but managed to hold on with 42 bb.

Among those flying India flags, four were seen at the end of day with hot running Ankit Ahuja at the helm sitting on 160 bb. Ahuja is currently tied with WSOP bracelet holder Kartik Ved with five cashes each. Online player Neel Joshi also advanced with a decent 83 bb.

From the Philippines, well known players John Tech and Marc Rivera advanced with healthy stacks. Tech with 297 bb and Rivera with 117 bb. Two players from Singapore also made the cut, Tan Kengyong and Chua Feng Ji.Mongolia got one in the list with Bayar Saran bagging up 60 bb.

End of Day 1B Asia survivor list

Rank	Player	Flag	Stack	BB
1	Hyun Kim	Korea-USA	227,700	380
2	Xie Haoqi	China	210,000	350
3	Yohwan Lim	Korea	191,900	320
4	John Tech	Philippines	178,300	297
5	Jiali Ouyang	China	157,000	262
6	Quan Zhou	China	134,000	223
7	Kyungkun Lee	Korea	132,400	221
8	Xiaowen Zhao	China	130,800	218
9	Tan Kengyong	Singapore	113,500	189
10	Wenqing Cai	China	98,200	164
11	Ankit Ahuja	India	96,000	160
12	Masaya Nariai	Japan	90,400	151
13	Xuming Qi	China	90,100	150
14	Kenta Fukuhara	Japan	88,000	147
15	Feifan Wu	China	87,500	146
16	Keita Masaki	Japan	86,700	145
17	Cao Siyou	China	85,000	142
18	Shigeho Yoshioka	Japan	84,300	141
19	Seungmo Yon	Korea	82,200	137
20	Takashi Yagura	Japan	80,700	135
21	Naoya Kihara	Japan	78,200	130
22	Jinghan Yan	China	77,800	130
23	Mo Zhou	China	74,000	123
24	Yingui Li	China	72,300	121
25	Marc Rivera	Philippines	70,000	117
26	Masato Horiuchi	Japan	57,000	95
27	Chua Feng Ji	Singapore	52,500	88
28	Naixuan Shi	China	52,400	87
29	Neel Joshi	India	49,900	83
30	Lanying Kuai	China	48,000	80
31	Jun Park	Korea	45,600	76
32	Genji Koga	Japan	43,900	73
33	Gokul Dharmarajan	India	43,400	72
34	Hirokazu Kobayashi	Japan	43,400	72
35	Renji Mao	China	39,300	66
36	Takuma Sasali	Japan	38,400	64
37	Takuo Serita	Japan	38,100	64
38	Chao Yan	China	36,300	61
39	Bayar Saran	Mongolia	35,800	60
40	Yang Zhang	China	35,400	59
41	Chen Song	China	31,000	52
42	Kai Cai	China	30,900	52
43	Reiji Kono	Japan	25,300	42
44	Gaurav Law	India	22,400	37
45	Katsuhito Kawai	Japan	21,900	37
46	Rikuto Sashida	Japan	20,900	35
47	Wataru Kosugi	Japan	20,700	35
48	Xin Fu	China	17,700	30
49	Yasuhiro Watanabe	Japan	12,300	21
50	Peter Cross	Japan	10,300	17

Link:

WSOP Main Event Day 1A – Asia results
WSOP Main Event Day 2 – qualifiers

Australia-New Zealand – 16 players

Players from Australia and New Zealand have also made the trek and after two starting days, 16 players made the cut to Day 2. Among them are bracelet holders Gary Benson and Jeff Lisandro.

End of Day 1A and Day 1B results

Rank	Player	Flag	Stack	BB
1	Tom Rafferty	Australia	214,300	268
2	David Luong	Australia	184,100	230
3	Jesse Mason	Australia	157,200	197
4	Gary Tomas	Australia	151,700	190
5	Jeff Lisandro	Australia	149,500	187
6	Vasken Ken Demlakian	Australia	148,700	186
7	Nurlan Boobekov	Australia	131,600	165
8	Gary Benson	Australia	118,900	149
9	Bob Velthuis	Australia	97,000	121
10	Sean Ragozzini	Australia	63,700	80
11	Mark Montague	Australia	59,700	75
12	Aroha Ngata	Australia	59,400	74
13	William Wong	Australia	54,600	68
14	Justin Cohen	Australia	41,400	52
15	Martin Ward	Australia	40,400	51
16	Gregory Gardiner	Australia	36,000	45

About the Editor

SMP EditorEditor-in-Chief

The SMP Editor covers international poker and iGaming for SoMuchPoker, providing news, tournament coverage, and industry insights. With a focus on accuracy, clarity, and relevance, the editor helps readers stay informed about developments across the global poker community.