Qinxue Jiang Wins First High Roller Title as Martin Sedlak Leads KPC Main Event into Day 2

Day 3 of Jeju Poker Festival 2026 saw Qinxue Jiang win the two-day KPC High Roller event, taking down a 67-entry field for KRW 85,240,000 (~USD 63,520) and his first High Roller title.

Ziyu Gao won the KPC Single Day High Roller two days after finishing runner-up in the opening Single Day High Roller, while Martin Sedlak bagged the chip lead in the KPC Main Event's biggest flight yet at LES A Casino.

Day 1D drew 270 entries and Day 1E a further 129, taking the KPC Poker Main Event to 747 entries, with 90 players returning for Day 2.

Qinxue Jiang Wins KPC High Roller

The KRW 5,000,000 KPC High Roller closed registration on 67 entries, building a KRW 289,440,000 (~USD 215,680) prize pool with 11 places paid.

Overnight leader Manh Cuong Bui slipped to around three big blinds by the bubble and finished 11th, while Tony Ren Lin, who won the KPC 5M High Roller at the KPC October Series, fell way short of the money in 34th.

Jiang was the dominant force on Day 2. He eliminated Yuhan Liu with pocket aces, then burst the bubble when two-time APPT Main Event winner Aaron Lim got his pocket sevens in against king-jack.

Jiang's aces struck again on the first hand of the final table, sending Hyunyeong Kang out in 9th with pocket tens.

Shuai Li's pocket tens held against Ranno Sootla in 8th, and Jaemoon Seok sent out Joseph Cheong in 7th. Li then eliminated Dongxu Dai in 6th, and Seok's pocket kings sent Yilong Wang out in 5th.

Xu Wang's pocket fours made two pair against Li's ace-eight in 4th, before Jiang's ace-king outkicked Seok's ace-queen to end the Korean's run in 3rd.

Jiang took 7.4 million into heads-up against Wang's 2.65 million, and on the final hand his king-queen caught a king on the river against Wang's ace-ten.

Wang collected KRW 54,200,000 (~USD 40,390) as runner-up. Jiang, from Shanghai, started playing during the pandemic while studying in the UK, moving from cash games to tournaments for the prestige of winning titles.

"Earlier this month I won my first Asian title, and now this is my first High Roller win. Plus, it wasn't just a single-day event, but a two-day tournament!"

He credited his mentor Xiao Zhang, whom he met at KPC earlier this year, and pointed to the three-handed stage, when he was down to around 11 big blinds.

"You don't give up and you don't surrender your chips easily."

KPC High Roller Payouts

Ziyu Gao Wins KPC Single Day High Roller

The KRW 3,000,000 KPC Single Day High Roller drew 17 entries for a KRW 44,064,000 (~USD 32,830) prize pool.

Ziyu Gao, runner-up in the opening day's Single Day High Roller, went one better this time, beating Junfeng Wu heads-up to win KRW 20,774,000 (~USD 15,480).

Hideyuki Yoshioka finished 3rd, while Sootla, Michel Molenaar and Ryoya Enomoto all fell short of the money.

Sedlak Leads KPC Main Event Day 1D

Day 1D was the biggest flight of the KPC Main Event so far with 270 entries, and 30 players advanced to Day 2. Martin Sedlak bagged the lead with 882,000 after busting Day 1A and the KPC High Roller.

Florian Duta finished second on 671,000 after his king-queen overtook Petr Rudnev's ace-ten with a queen on the river, ending a run of busts in Day 1B, Day 1C and the High Roller. Aaron Gao also bagged 189,000 for his first Main Event stack of the festival.

Jiawen Xue doubled through Xi Zhou with ace-three early on but went out in her fourth flight, while Yang Su eliminated Junjie Tao with pocket queens before falling himself.

Runbang Shang Leads Day 1E

The final flight drew 129 entries, and 16 players bagged, led by Runbang Shang on 792,000.

Shuai Li, 4th in the KPC High Roller, bagged the second-biggest stack with 655,000, while Kai-Hung Hu finally made it through on 16,000 after busting each of the first four flights.

The KPC Main Event closed on 747 entries, with 90 players returning for Day 2.

KPC Main Event Day 2 Top 10 Stacks

Side Event Winners

Li Ta Hsu won his second title of the festival in the FL Dealer's Choice, adding to his NL 2-7 Single Draw win on Day 2. Jianfeng Sun took the NL Hold'em, and Leibing Wang won the NL Hold'em Bounty, with Aleksandras Rusinovas 4th.

Schedule: Saturday, 31 October

Day 2 of the KPC Main Event brings together the survivors from all five flights to play down to a final table, while the KRW 7,000,000 KPC Super High Roller begins and the Baby Dragon gets underway with its first two flights. Follow the full schedule on the Jeju Poker Festival 2026 page.

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Images and data courtesy of RDPT and KPC.