Jeju Poker Festival 2024: Junjie Ren Towers Over WPT Main Event Day 2 List; Four More Emerge Victorious

Tension across Landing Casino, Jeju Shinhwa World has transformed the main floor into a fierce battleground over the past four days, with Jeju Poker Festival’s WPT Main Event Day 1 rounds on the agenda. Three heats have played through with today’s Day 1C showing drawing the largest turnout across the lineup. China’s Junjie Ren capped the day with the biggest stack, and holds a commanding lead over the 229-survivor pack into the Day 2 games. 

Across the side event roundup, newly minted winners Yong Li, Tsz Kin Heung, Weiwei Huang, and Xinhong Li, claimed top prizes for their dominance over the smaller fields, and earned coveted WPT trophies along the way.

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 – Festival Results
Jeju Poker Festival 2024 – Live Updates

Junjie Ren Holds Commanding Lead into Day 2

The final numbers are in, and with a total of 667 entries across three flights, the prize pool stands at KRW 1.68 Billion (~USD 1.2M), with KRW 300 Million (~USD 214,560) of that and the prestigious WPT Main Event Ring, going towards the eventual champion. A third of the field remains in contention, 96 players of which will claim a payday.

China’s Junjie Ren closed the final flight on schedule with a dominating lead into the Day 2 rounds, having amassed a chip count of 529,000 by day’s end. Ren stands to be the sole runner to breach the half a million mark, yet is still due for a long grind ahead as four more days of play await.

Ren stepped out into the limelight following a smashing hero call against Vietnam’s The Nguyen Bui by the eighth level of play, having bravely called down all three streets with ace high on a ten high board. The Chinese runner successfully delivered his opponent’s elimination following the call, and continued to chip up with a sizable pot coming from Tom Verbruggen, propelling him well above the field.

Fan Shi comes second in position, stacking a healthy 445,500, followed by Japan’s Andrew Matahira with 386,000 and Song Wang with 381,000. All four contenders sit atop the overall counts, having bagged just enough to surpass both Day 1A and Day 1B chip leaders, Zhiyuan Zhang and Xiajing Ji.

Taking advantage of the last flight on schedule include bracelet winner Shiina Okamoto (190,500), WPT ambassador Chen An Lin (165,500), Australia’s Yita Choong (64,500), and China’s Wenwen Chen (156,000), Lei Yu (131,500), and Boxin Jin (117,000), all of which are geared to return on Tuesday, November 19th, for another eight levels across Day 2.

WPT Main Event Review

• Dates: November 16-22, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 2,500,000 (~USD 1,795)
• Guarantee: KRW 1,680,000,000 (~USD 1,206,430)
• Entries: 667 (507 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 1,680,000,000 (~USD 1,206,430)
• ITM: 96 places

By The Numbers

• Day 1A: 120 entries, 42 qualified
• Day 1B: 207 entries, 70 qualified
• Day 1C: 340 entries, 117 qualified
• Day 2: 229 players
• Day 3: Wednesday, November 20
• Day 4: Thursday, November 21
• Day 5 /Final: Friday, November 22

WPT Main Event Day 2 Top Ten Qualifiers

Backtrack on the day’s action via SMP Live Updates

Side Event Winners

Yong Li Ships Single Day High Roller NLH – Turbo Victory

China’s Yong Li came out on top of today’s Single Day High Roller – NLH Turbo games following a 22-level battle, having bested the pro heavy 33-entry field. Li beat the likes of two-time bracelet winner Xixiang Luo and WPT ambassador Pete Chen across the final rounds, and claimed ownership of the KRW 40,976,000 (~USD 29,305) top prize. Six runners captured a piece of the prize pool with Zhihua Yang taking the second largest payout on the list in consolation for his runner up finish.

• Date/s: November 18, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 4,000,000 (~USD 2,860)
• Entries: 33 (30 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 115,236,000 (~USD 82,415)
• ITM: 6 places

Single Day High Roller NLH – Turbo Full Payouts

Tsz Kin Heung Dominates Survivor Bounty

Hong Kong’s Tsz Kin Heung claimed his maiden WPT Trophy at today’s Survivor Bounty games after outlasting the 75-entry field. The thrilling format saw the field draw down to 15 players before the knockout prizes came into play. It took nearly nine hours of battle before Heung closed out the victory, having denied Jiaqi He a second series title. For his triumph, Heung banked the largest share at KRW 20,123,000 (~USD 14,390), and added five bounty prizes, valued at KRW 400,000 (~USD 285) each, to bring his total winnings to a sweet KRW 22,123,000 (~USD 15,820).

• Date/s: November 18, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 1,500,000 (~USD 1,070)
• Entries: 75 (61 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 68,213,000 (~USD 48,785)
• ITM: 11 places

Survivor Bounty Full Payouts

*Excluding bounty prizes

Weiwei Huang Wins Flip and Go

The first Flip and Go side event on the Jeju Poker Festival lineup drew in a total of 91 entries across Day 1 registration, more than half of which were re-entries. Only 13 players cut a portion of the KRW 39,721,500 (~USD 28,410), with Weiwei Huang taking the largest cut of KRW 11,122,000 (~USD 7,955) across the Final Day games.

• Date/s: November 17-18, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 500,000 (~USD 355)
• Entries: 91 (37 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 39,722,000 (~USD 28,410)
• ITM: 13 places

Flip and Go Final Table Results

Xinhong Li Finds Success at Pot Limit Omaha Hyper Turbo

The final side event across the Day 4 schedule, Pot Limit Omaha – Hyper Turbo, saw Xinhong Li land the victory over the 40-entry field. Li closed out his maiden win in style with the fast-paced games seeing only a quick three hour race to the title. For his triumph, Li collected KRW 7,122,000 (~USD 5,090) in first place winnings, leaving Jiacheng Pang to settle for the lesser KRW 4,750,000 (~USD 3,395) runner up payday.

• Date/s: November 18, 2024
• Buy-in: KRW 600,000 (~USD 430)
• Entries: 40 (31 unique)
• Prize pool: KRW 20,952,000 (~USD 14,980)
• ITM: 7 places

Pot Limit Omaha – Hyper Turbo Full Payouts