Poker Dream Jeju 12 Day 3 Winners: Oliver Weis, Yang Haibo, Zhichen Yu, Gang Qingbo

Day 3 of Poker Dream Jeju 12 was packed with more exciting events for the poker players that travelled from all over the world to get a chance to win some serious prizes this festival brings. Running from September 26 to October 6, 2024 at the first-class Landing Casino, Jeju Shinhwa World, Poker Dream Jeju 12  will host 45 numbered events and 20 satellites. Of course, the big one is a USD 2 Million Guaranteed Main Event. But before that main dish takes off, there are several events that serve as an appetizer to help players acclimatize to the festival atmosphere.

Poker Dream Jeju 12 – Day 3 Highlights

Day 3 saw the culmination of the Deepstack (KRW 100M GTD) Final. On the previous day, four flights were played with a total of 319 entries making the KRW 900,000 (~USD 660) buy-in to bring the prize pool to KRW 242,781,300 (~USD184,100) which was more than double the guarantee. The combined top 48 survivors from all four flights returned to compete in the Day 2 Final with each already guaranteed a share in the prize pool, competing to win the championship and earn a bigger payout.

Of the 48 finalists, the last one standing was Yang Haibo, who won a Poker Dream trophy and the champion’s payout of KRW 47,020,000 (~USD 35,600). Yang Haibo kept at pace with the top chip leaders and made his mark on the final table. He was at a slight disadvantage entering heads-up play against Qiang Xu, but managed to get lucky enough to come out on top. Yang Haibo admitted that he was intimidated by Qiang Xu being a WSOP champion. It was Yang Haibo’s first championship in his first time playing at Poker Dream.

Oliver Weis Wins $15K NLH

The $15,000 NLH Final brought together 71 entries to boost the prize pool to a juicy KRW 1,388,121,000 (~ USD 1,053,000). This was the first seven figure USD pot of the festival. The high-roller buy-in of USD 15,000 saw some big names registered that included two-time WSOP bracelet winner Xixiang Luo, John Juanda, Danny Tang, Henrik Hecklen and Victor Chong among others. The top 29 players from Day 1 were joined by a few final day late registrants, who played a long day of poker all the way to the championship.

The final heads-up was between good friends, both German, Niko Koop and Olivier Weis entered an ICM deal and played a flipout for the trophy. The result was that Koop would take home KRW 326,991,000 (~USD 248,000) as the runner-up and Oliver Weis would get a share of KR 370,530,000 (~USD 281,000) plus the champion’s trophy.

Well deserved victory for Weis being the overall chip leader for most of the day. This improves Oliver Weis’ total live cash earnings to over USD 2 Million.

Korea Poker Cup Mystery Big Bounty Smashes Guarantee

Day 3 also launched another multi-day tournament with the Mystery Big Bounty (KRW 200M GTD) sponsored by Korean Poker Cup. Three flights (A, B and C) bought in for KRW 900,000 (~USD 660) and a flipout flight D [with a KRW 600,000 (~USD 440) buy-in]  produced a total of 642 entries and a prize pool of KRW 430,039,800 (~USD 328,200), which was more than double the guarantee.

Of the 156 entries of Flight A, only 23 advanced to the Day 2 final with Yi Mengchao leading all 23 with 450,000 chips. Flight B had 33 top survivors of 218 entries advance to the Day 2 final with Shi Bei as their top chip leader with 504,000 chips.

On flight C, Baiyu Ni was the big chip leader among the last 21 of 128 entries with a stack of 471,000. There were 14 flipout winners among the 140 who entered. Each of the winners will bring their stack of 200,000 to the final. Shi Bei will be the overall leader when all 91 survivors return tomorrow for the Day 2 Final, where big mystery bounty prizes will be awarded apart from the guaranteed prize pool payouts.

Apart from all the NLHE events, Poker Dream 12 also offered some variety with Pot Limit Omaha and 7-card stud.

Other Events

Another PLO Title for Zhichen Yu

24 entries made the KRW 400,000 (~USD 290) buy-in of the Pot Limit Omaha event. They built a prize pool of KRW 8,194,560 (~USD 6,200), but only the top 5 would get a payout. Outlasting everyone and becoming champion was Zhichen Yu, who won the trophy and a first prize payout of KRW 3,030,000 (~USD 2,300).