Kyung Min Lee Wins GOP Incheon Main Event After Dramatic Final Table

The Gods of Poker (GOP) Incheon Main Event officially crowned its first-ever champion at Paradise City Casino in South Korea , with Kyung Min Lee overcoming a stacked final table to capture the coveted Black-and-Gold Gauntlet.

The KRW 2,200,000 (~USD 1,500) buy-in Main Event ran from May 18 to 23 and drew 356 entries across five starting flights, generating a prize pool of KRW 700,000,000 (~USD 480,000).

After six days of action and 51 players reaching the money, Lee walked away with the KRW 148,280,000 (~USD 98,000) top prize and became just the fourth player in GOP history to win the Black-and-Gold Gauntlet.

GOP Incheon Main Event Final Table Payouts

Early Chaos at the Top

The final table opened with nonstop movement across the leaderboard as nearly every player took a turn controlling the action.

Haisheng Qiu entered as chip leader but quickly found himself challenged by Woo Hyon Shin and Dong Yan, who each surged into the top spot during the early levels. Evgenii Chzhen also looked poised to take command before Lee quietly started building.

Even short-stacked Chien Te Lee briefly stole the spotlight after making a huge hero call against Shin to drag a massive pot.

Just when it looked like the momentum had shifted elsewhere, Qiu stormed back into the lead once again and re-established himself as the player to catch.

Lee and Lo Pull Away

The turning point came when Lee eliminated Yan in eighth place with pocket tens against pocket eights to vault near the top of the counts.

Not long after, Yi Cheng Lo exploded into contention after winning one of the biggest coolers of the day, making a straight against Chien Te Lee’s set in a monster pot.

From there, the final table gradually became a two-man race.

Lee and Lo repeatedly traded the chip lead while steadily distancing themselves from the rest of the field. Lo widened his advantage after Chzhen jammed directly into Lo’s flush, while Lee regained momentum after eliminating Qiu in sixth place.

Lo answered by knocking out Shin in fifth place, keeping the pressure on as the final table tightened.

Karatsu and Chien Te Lee Refuse to Bust

While Lee and Lo dominated most of the attention, Hiroki Karatsu and Chien Te Lee produced incredibly stubborn performances four-handed.

Both players survived all-in after all-in to repeatedly keep themselves alive despite constantly sitting on the brink of elimination. Multiple times it looked like one of them would finally fall, only for another double-up to reset the battle.

Karatsu’s run finally ended in fourth place against Lee, leaving just three players remaining in the hunt for the title.

The Hand That Changed Everything

Three-handed, Lee and Lo collided in the biggest pot of the tournament.

After heavy action across all three streets, Lo eventually called off his tournament life holding ace-eight for second pair and a nut-flush blocker. Lee tabled ace-four for a rivered straight after spiking one of only two remaining fives in the deck.

The brutal hand sent Lo out in third place and handed Lee a commanding lead entering heads-up play.

Seven Hands to Glory

Lee entered heads-up play against Chien Te Lee holding roughly a six-to-one chip advantage.

Just seven hands later, the tournament was over.

On the final hand, Chien Te Lee got the chips in with king-ten against Lee’s ace-king. Lee turned a flush to officially lock up the title and become the newest Black-and-Gold Gauntlet champion.

Congratulations to Kyung Min Lee on becoming the first-ever GOP Incheon Main Event champion.

Images and data courtesy of Gods of Poker.