Early highlights of APPT Jeju; Main Event rounds up 362 entries

06/26/2019

Shifting our attention from west to east, one of the most prestigious tours offered in Asia is underway. PokerStars LIVE Asia is hosting the inaugural Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Jeju at the Jeju Shinhwa World – Landing Casino. Doors opened on June 22 and is scheduled to run until June 29. The top story is the Chinese. They have come out in full force and have won every completed event so far. Also, the KR₩ 500,000,000 (~US$ 430,000) guaranteed Main Event is headed into Day 2. It drew 362 entries to smash the guarantee. We’ve got those highlights for you below.

APPT National – No Limit Hold’em KR₩ 200,000,000 (~US$172,500) guarantee

Liang Song PokerStars Asia — Liang Song – PokerStars Asia

Kicking off the festivities was the APPT National – No Limit Hold’em KR₩ 200M guarantee. The event drew 177 entriants to breach the guarantee. 22 players earned a piece of the bigger pot worth KR₩ 231,782,000 (~US$ 200,000). Out of the 18 Chinese players in the money, rising to glory was Liang Song for KR₩ 57,365,000 (~US$ 49,000). According to the APPT news, Liang entered the final table with a commanding lead and never relinquished. He defeated one of China’s top pros Yang Zhang at heads up in just one hand.

This victory was a long time coming for Liang who has been hunting for his first-ever career title since getting on the money board in 2014. Two months ago, he just missed a title at APPT Korea Incheon falling in 2nd place at the KR₩ 500,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Shot Clock event. Liang seems to run very well in Korea. In December 2018, he pocketed his largest score of KR₩ 57,730,000(~US$ 51,000).

Final 10 payouts

1st Liang Song – China – KR₩ 57,365,000
2nd Yang Zhang – China – KR₩ 37,665,000
3rd Jin Woo Kim – USA – KR₩ 23,758,000
4th Zheren Chen – China – KR₩ 19,122,000
5th Junjie Wang – China – KR₩ 15,645,000
6th Junda Yu – China – KR₩ 12,748,000
7th Mengdian Peng – China – KR₩ 10,430,000
8th Di Lu – China – KR₩ 8,112,,000
9th Huidong Gu – Macau – KR₩ 5,795,000
10th Goken Okawa – Japan – KR₩ 4,636,000

Two-Day KR₩ 6,000,000 buy-in High Roller

The APPT Super High Roller was replaced by a Two-Day KR₩ 6,000,000 (~US$ 5,200) buy-in High Roller event. This drew 34 to the felt for a prize pool of KR₩ 182,050,000 (~US$ 157,000). The event paid out 6 places. China nearly swept if not for USA’s Shawn Busse in 5th place. The KR₩ 61,895,000 (~US$ 53,000) top prize and title went to well known pro Jiang Chen.

Way back in 2005, Chen was the first player to capture a WSOP gold bracelet for China. His win in Jeju marks a career first on Asian soil. In April, he final tabled two of the biggest APPT Korea Incheon events; he finished 4th at the KR₩ 1,800,000 Main Event and 2nd at the KR₩ 10,000,000 Super High Roller.

Payouts

1st Jiang Chen – China – KR₩ 61,895,000
2nd Hao Tian – China – KR₩ 42,782,000
3rd Changyang Liu – China – KR₩ 27,308,000
4th Xinlong Huang – China – KR₩ 20,936,000
5th Shawn Busse – USA – KR₩ 16,385,000
6th Lei Yu – China – KR₩ 12,744,000

No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Shot Clock – 1 Day event

Another high roller event but a much faster one. This also had a KR₩ 6,000,000 (~US$ 5,200) buy-in. Only 11 players took interest for a prize pool worth KR₩ 58,899,000 (~US$ 51,000). Three Chinese players shared the pot with Donghui Xu shipping the lion’s share KR₩ 29,449,000 (~US$ 25,000). This was Xu’s first ever career title and largest live tournament payout. Placing 2nd was Yifu Zhai for KR₩ 17,670,000 and in 3rd was Lei Yu for KR₩ 11,780,000.

Other completed events

No Limit Hold’em – 15 minute levels – Single re-entry (Event #4)

Jinlong Hu PokerStars Asia — Jinlong Hu – PokerStars Asia

Buy-in: KR₩ 500,000 (~US$ 430)
Entries: 52
ITM: 7 places
Winner: Jinlong Hu (China)
1st prize: KR₩ 6,300,000 (US$ 5,400)

No Limit Hold’em – 15 minute levels – Single re-entry (Event #10)

Buy-in: KR₩ 1,000,000 (~US$ 900)
Entries: 44
ITM: 6 places
Winner: Zongxin Liu (China)
1st prize: KR₩ 13,828,000 (US$ 11,900)

UPDATE: KR₩ 500,000,000 (~US$ 430,000) guaranteed Main Event

The KR₩ 500,000,000 (~US$ 430,000) guaranteed Main Event is headed for Day 2 with 97 runners returning to the races. Over the course of three starting days, a combined 362 forked out the KR₩ 2,500,000 (~US$ 2,100) buy-in for a guarantee smashing prize pool of KR₩ 790,065,000 (~US$ 682,900). The payouts are already up. 40 players will earn a cut. First prize is a juicy KR₩ 183,695,000 (~US$ 158,700).

Jeju Overview — APPT Jeju Main Event – Photo PokerStars Live

Among the players returning today are Day 1 chip leaders Tae Hoon Han (296,500), Siyuan Wang (237,000), and Shawn Busse (263,500). There are numerous players also into the 200k stack range, one of them is the lone player from India, Sahil Chuttani (229,500). Other notables with sizable stacks are Vu Duc Trung (251,000), Xing Biao Zhu (188,500), Cao Ngoc Anh (169,000), Jiang Chen (122,000), and Quan Zhou (121,500). High Roller champion Liang Song also through but with a short stack of 54,000.