China Poker Games gearing up for biggest annual festival; CPG Jinan draws 1,276 Main Event entries; up next Taiyuan and Shanghai
Year after year, thousands of players make their way to Hainan Island for the biggest poker event in Asia, the annual CPG Sanya Championships, hosted by premier poker brand, China Poker Games. Last year, while under tight limitations brought on by the novel coronavirus, the highly popular festival anticipated a drop in numbers but instead was met by a massive 3,352 Main Event turnout for a smashing prize pool of around US$ 4.9 Million. To date, that is the biggest and richest Main Event ever seen in the region, beating its own record of US$ 4.1 Million the previous year.
For this year’s festival, the brand has set its sights even higher. The Main Event buy-in has been raised several hundred dollars to US$ 1,500 for an estimated US$ 5.5 Million prize pool. The event takes place from August 20 to 27 at the Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay. Foreigners in the country are welcome to join. The only requirements are a Green Code and a negative RT-PCR test result.
Leading up to the annual festival are four CPG Satellites held in different parts of the country. These events are highly popular and feed anywhere from 600 to 800 players to the CPG Sanya Championships Main Event. Last March, the first 2021 CPG Satellite was held in Fuzhou with 1,187 turning up for the Main Event Championships Satellite and 135 winning seats. Then just last week, running from May 28 to June 2, a second satellite was held in Shandong Province, Jinan drawing 1,276 Main Event Championships Satellite entries. This was the brand’s first ever visit to Jinan. CPG International Relations Officer, Pan Yu expressed,
“As the first joint venture between CPG and Jinan Poker Association, we are happy that the partnership worked out very well. Shandong province is an undiscovered market and the turnout was pretty impressive.”
Briefly recapping the series, CPG Shandong Jinan Satellite drew over 2,200 entries across 10 events with 135 players awarded seats to the upcoming CPG Sanya Championships Main Event. Notable players in attendance were WSOP bracelet winner Wei Guoliang, Xixiang Luo, Liu Yin, CPG decorated players Yu Jizheng, Long Rong, and Lu Yan Lin.
The series concluded after a lengthy Main Event final table match that saw Chinese player Wang Zihao go from the shortest stack to top of the heap. Wang was awarded the Silver Dragon Trophy, CPG Sanya Championships Main Event package, and CPG Masters package.
Main Event (repechage)
Date: May 29 to June 2
Venue: Sheraton Hotel Jinan
Buy in: ~US$ 1,000
Day 1A entries: 296
Day 1B entries: 473
Day 1C entries: 507
Total Entries: 1,276
Prize pool: ~US$ 1.2 Million
ITM: 135 places
Final table
1st Wang Zihao – CPG Championships Main Event package and CPG Masters package
2nd Yu Jie – CPG Championships Main Event seat
3rd Jiang Sihai – CPG Championships Main Event seat
4th Sun Yufeng – CPG Championships Main Event seat
5th Wu Zifan – CPG Championships Main Event seat
6th Y Jiazhong – CPG Championships Main Event seat
7th Yuan Tao – CPG Championships Main Event seat
8th Bu Yizhuo – CPG Championships Main Event seat
9th Luo Shuang – CPG Championships Main Event seat
Other Events
High Roller: CHEN JUNMING
Entries: 148
Huanghe River Cup: CHEN ZEYU
Entries: 129
CPG Satellites on the burner
There are two more CPG Satellites taking place before the big festival in August. Players can expect these events to draw big numbers. The CPG Shanxi Taiyuan Satellite will be held from July 3 to 7 at the Hubin International Hotel and the highly popular CPG Shanghai Satellite is from July 24 to 29 at the Big Ship Hotel. These events are open to foreigners that submit the necessary requirements – Green Code and negative RT-PCR test. Players opting to go the virtual route, online satellites are offered daily on the CPG App.
