Shuanghong Zhu Storms From Eighth in Chips to Win Red Dragon Plus Championship

Shuanghong Zhu won the Red Dragon Plus Championship at Jeju Poker Festival 2026, coming from eighth of nine at the start of the final table to take down the KRW 352,850,000 (~USD 262,930) top prize at LES A Casino.

The KRW 4,000,000 Red Dragon Poker Tour headline event drew 407 entries across four starting flights, with the players competing for a KRW 1,800,000,000 (~USD 1,341,280) prize pool. Zhu beat Wenjie Sun heads-up after a battle of more than two hours.

Red Dragon Plus Championship Final Table Results

Wu Falls Short of Back-to-Back Titles

Red Dragon Classic champion Yichen Wu started the final table with 10,400,000, almost a third of the chips in play, as he chased a Red Dragon double.

It went wrong for Wu early. Zhu's pocket jacks flopped a set against his king-queen on just the third hand, Qian Liu doubled through him with ace-four against pocket fours, and Sun's ace-eight flopped two pair against his ace-ten to leave him on 3,200,000.

Three Out in Six Hands

Weiyang Zhou found the wheel with ace-three to call off Liu's turn bluff, and Zhu bluffed Joseph Cheong off a big pot with ace-high.

Cheong went out when his ace-eight running into Zhu's pocket kings. Liu followed three hands later when Junqing Ge rivered trip aces against her two pair, and Xugang Zhang fell in 7th to Sun's ace-queen two hands after that.

Zhu Takes Over

Takashi Yagura went out in 6th when his pocket sevens failed to beat Sun's queens. Wu's run then ended in 5th, his ace-jack no match for Zhu's pocket queens.

Zhu also sent out Zhou in 4th, with pocket kings holding against jack-ten after the chips went in on the flop. Ge was eliminated in 3rd when Sun's ace-king caught a king on the turn against his ace-six of clubs.

Heads-Up

Sun went into heads-up with 22,000,000 to Zhu's 10,000,000, and the lead changed hands multiple times over two and a half hours.

Zhu went ahead before Sun took the lead back. Zhu then made a hero call with a pair of fives against Sun's jack-high shove to double to 19,000,000.

Sun doubled back with ace-five against queen-jack, but the end came soon after. Sun got his last chips in with pocket queens, and Zhu's ace-eight paired the ace on the flop to win the title.

Sun collected KRW 235,450,000 (~USD 175,450) as runner-up.

Zhu on His Win

Zhu, from Gansu and now living in Hangzhou, has played poker for several years, mostly in domestic events in China. This was the first Main Event title of his career.

"I'm extremely happy and thrilled to capture my very first Main Event title. This is my happiest moment and the best result of my career."

He went into the final table with a plan to play for the win rather than ladder up as a short stack.

"As a short stack, you can play cautiously to ladder up, but I decided to take calculated risks and play for the win. The first four hands I was dealt were fantastic. After winning a flip against the chip leader, my stack jumped to second or third place immediately."

The Hero Call

Zhu pointed to his call with a pair of fives in heads-up as the key moment.

"I was trailing as the short stack, and my opponent shoved on me while I only held bottom pair. I tanked for a long time. If I lost that pot, I wouldn't have enough chips left to stay competitive, so I decided to make a stand and hero-call him down."

He also singled out Sun, who called off a big shove from Wu with ace-eight early at the final table.

"He had the bravery to call off a 40BB shove from the chip leader. Having that kind of courage left a very deep impression on me."

Red Dragon Is His Lucky Charm

Zhu finished 28th in the JPF 3rd Anniversary Event before playing the Red Dragon Plus. He said he had been eyeing the champion's jacket all week.

"Every time I walked past the display by the entrance and saw the champion jacket and bracelet, I wanted them so badly. I couldn't believe I actually ended up winning them!"

He will head back to China for domestic events but plans to return to Red Dragon stops.

"Definitely. Red Dragon is my lucky charm."

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Images and data courtesy of Jeju Poker Festival.