Jeju Poker Festival 2024: Calvin Lee, Chenxiang Miao, and Dong Su Ship Opening WPT Victories; Tae Hoon Han Leads WPT Opener

The seventeen day grind has officially begun with the Jeju Poker Festival underway at Landing Casino, Jeju Shinhwa World. Opening day saw the long-awaited festivities launch with WPT Korea headlining the first segment of games. The season’s first three trophies were awarded across the initial festivities with USA’s Calvin Lee booking a strong debut, having claimed the first of six WPT Rings at the Single Day High Roller highlight. Chenxiang Miao and Dong Su likewise bagged victories across the side event lineup to jumpstart their two week run.

Headlining the WPT Korea games is the KRW 2,500,000 (~USD 1,795) buy-in WPT Main Event, which kicks off today, November 16th. The KRW 1,680,000,000 (~USD 1,206,430) guaranteed event spans three starting flights running through Monday, November 18th, offering plenty of opportunities for players to make their mark. 

Stay tuned to SMP Live Updates as the games unfold, and catch the latest action directly off the floor.

Jeju Poker Festival 2024 – Player Guide
Jeju Poker Festival 2024 – Live Updates

Calvin Lee Captures First WPT Ring of the Season

USA’s Calvin Lee booked a fiery start at the inaugural Jeju Poker festivities with a smashing victory right on opening day. Lee bested the Single Day High Roller’s modest turnout of 16 entries, and earned KRW 38,410,000 (~USD 27,440) in winnings for topping the talent-heavy field. In addition to his top prize, Lee takes with him the coveted WPT trophy, along with the first WPT Ring of the Season to commemorate his unremarkable performance.

Action kicked off late to start the day, running over two hours past its schedule. Once registration closed, only nine players were left in contention, six of which were deemed to leave empty-handed. Lee, who hovered around the average stack, kicked off his momentum five-handed, having initially won a crucial flip against Zhiyuan Zhang. Mere moments later, Lee managed to crack Lei Yu’s rockets with a turned two pair to catapult into the lead. From there, the American runner bulldozed to the win, eliminating his final four opponents all within the next hour, and captured the victory with the final hand seeing him land the nut flush against Kyungmin Lee for the title. 

• Date/s: November 15, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 5,000,000 (~USD 3,570)
• Entries: 16 (10 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 69,840,000 (~USD 49,900)
• ITM: 3 places

Single Day High Roller Full Payouts

Backtrack on the day’s action via SMP Live Updates

Tae Hoon Han Leads WPT Opener Final Day

Two WPT Opener flights ran its course and attracted a combined 106 entries across the two time slots, generating a KRW 138,807,000 (~USD 99,275) prize pool just shy of $100K. Both qualifiers played down to seven players each (ITM) with a total of 14 runners advancing onto the Final Day. Each returning contender is now guaranteed a mincash of KRW 3,120,000 (~USD 2,230), along with a chance to claim the KRW 37,977,000 (~USD 27,160) top prize.

Day 1A saw Japan’s Seiya Shoji top the counts just as he delivered Joseph Cheong’s bubble elimination to close the action. The final flight followed suit with New Zealand’s Tae Hoon Han surpassing Shoji’s 381,000 chip count, and land the lead across the Day 2 order. Han stands to be the lone runner to crack the 400K mark, which should just be about 90 big blinds to start the final rounds.

• Date/s: November 15-16, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 5,000,000 (~USD 3,570)
• Entries: 106 (70 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 138,807,000 (~USD 99,275)
• ITM: 14 places

By The Numbers

• Day 1A: 55 entries, 7 qualified
• Day 1B: 51 entries, 7 qualified
• Day 2 / Final: Saturday, November 16

End of WPT Opener Day 1 Chip Counts

Relive WPT Opener’s feature table action via Shangzhibo TV

Side Event Winners

Chenxiang Miao Awarded First Series Trophy

In just under four hours of play, China’s Chenxiang Miao emerged victorious over the day’s Pot Limit Omaha side event, having bested the one table field of nine players. Miao takes with him KRW 5,107,000 in winnings to jumpstart his Jeju Poker Festival run, leaving Yiguang Xu to settle for a runner up finish, along with the second of two payouts on the list.

• Date/s: November 15, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 1,000,000 (~USD 710)
• Entries: 9
• Prize pool: KRW 7,857,000 (~USD 5,610)
• ITM: 2 places

Pot Limit Omaha Full Payouts

Dong Su Wins Hyper Turbo Bounty

The final side event across the opening day lineup, Hyper Turbo Bounty, drew in a total of 36 entries and ran through four hours on the floor before China’s Dong Su landed the overall victory. Six places banked a share of the KRW 18,856,800 (~USD 13,470) prize pool, with Su taking the largest cut at KRW 4,147,000 (~USD 2,960).

• Date/s: November 15, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 600,000 (~USD 425)
• Entries: 36 (32 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 18,856,800 (~USD 13,470)
• ITM: 6 places

Hyper Turbo Bounty Full Payouts

*Excluding bounty prizes