Poker Dream 17 Malaysia In Full Swing; Halfway Highlights

Lee Duhan Claim Malaysia Open Title

The Malaysia Open opening event set the tone of the festival drawing an enormous 1,596 entries across seven flights. With buy in at MTR 1,500 each, it sailed past the guarantee for a prize pool MYR 1,650,898 (~US$ 372,065). A lineup of 208 players earned a cut with South Korea's Lee Duhan claiming the biggest share for his victory.

The title was a special one for Lee who was on his first trip to Poker Dream Malaysia. Not only did it turn a huge profit, Lee binked a career high score of MYR 291,000 (~US$ 65,585). To capture the win, Lee outlasted a local dominated final table, denying Tan Wen Shen at heads up.

Lian Herry Scores Big At Mystery Big Bounty

Up until this event, Germany's Lian Herry's highest score was a four-figure payout, but that all changed at the Mystery Big Bounty where 541 runners turned up for MYR 2,100 each to build a crushing prize pool of MYR 793,327 (~US$ 178,795). After defeating India's Siddharth Arya Jolly at heads up, Herry was awarded a new career high score of MYR 99,927 (~US$ 22,250). Prior to this win, Herry only had one side event victory, making this takedown even more special.

Juns Leong Wins Deepstack Title

Another popular event was the Deepstack with 285 pouring in for a piece of the MYR 400K prize pool. In the end, the top 44 players got more than they bargained for with the prize pool escalating to a larger MYR 475,175 (~US$ 107,090). The lion's cut was claimed by Poker Dream regular Juns Leong after defeating Matthew Belcher at heads up for his first live tournament title. Leong pocketed MYR 94,000 (~US$ 21,185).

Tianhao Zheng Captures Poker Dream High Roller Title

China's Tianghao Zheng added another branded merch to his awards shelf after hoisting his first-ever Poker Dream title at the High Roller event. Running for two days, a total of 88 entries coughed up the MYR 15,000 (~US$ 3,400) buy-in to amass a prize pool of MYR 1,022,228 (~US$ 230,380) of which 11 earned a share. Among the finalists were Triton winner Wai Kiat Lee and Malaysia Open winner Lee Duhan, however they were no match for Zheng who claimed his first ever Poker Dream title.

Zheng is no stranger to the Asian circuit with numerous titles and cashes earned at prominent festivals such as WPT, USOP, VSOP, APT, and at festivals in China. His latest win was for MYR 281,000 (~US$ 63,330).