WPT Korea: Kataoka Toshio and Wang Hong Ling bag chip leads on opening day; Main Event KR₩ 2M gtd coming up on July 17-21

The World Poker Tour (WPT) concluded its first day of games in Jeju Island, with the WPT Opener and Deepstack NLH attracting good crowds. The ten-day festival is a special one on the WPT lineup with three key events to look forward to. The festival runs from July 15 to 24, 2023 at Landing Casino within the premises of the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World Landing Resort.

Have a look at the Day 1 results.

Event 1: WPT Opener – Day 1A results

Kicking off WPT Korea festivities was WPT Opener with the first of three entry heats attracting 88 players and 15 re-entries for 103 total. Playing down to ITM, 13 players reached ITM with Japan’s Kataoka Toshio bagging the chip lead.

Already sitting on a big stack, Kataoka eliminated short stacked Stuart Alexander Eliott on the bubble. Luckily for Stuart, there are still two entry heats remaining to get back in the game.

Another strong finisher was China’s Liu Yin who held the chip lead for a large part of the day. Notable player Paul Hong bagged the third largest stack, part of which he earned on set that booted a player with top pair.

Russian player Valeriy Pak saw his stack swing all day with many bouts against Suzuki Yuto. On one of their final match-ups, Pak dragged in good pay for his two pair to finish with 253,000.Considerably one of the most decorated in the lineup is China’s Jinlong Hu who already has four side event titles this year alone.

Date: July 15 to 17

Buy in: KR₩ 850,000 (~USD 670)

Day 1A: 103 (88 unique, 15 re-entry)
Day 1B: July 16 at 1pm (local time)

Day 1C: July 16 at 6pm (turbo)

Day 2: 13 players

Event 2: Deepstack NLH – Day 1 results

Running alongside the opener was the Deepstack NLH, and it too attracted a good crowd of 63 players and 7 re-entries. At bubble time, Lee Xiang sent Han Liang’s stack to crumbs with over on a board then cleaned him out on the next hand.

Day 1 ended on a thrilling double bust with Shimizu Masafumi booting Iwaka Yutaka and Yuwen Pan on a dry board. Both players walked away with KR₩ 796,000 (~USD 627) each. Closing with the chip lead was China’s Wang Hong Ling with 83 bb.

The final 8 players are all guaranteed KR₩ 903,000 (~USD 710) however all eyes will be on the KR₩ 7,959,000 (~USD 6,270) top prize.

Date: July 15 to 16
Buy in: KR₩ 425,000 (~USD 335)
Entries: 70 (63 unique, 7 re-entry)
Prize pool: KR₩ 25,972,000 (~USD 20,460)
ITM: 10 places

Key Events of WPT Korea

Three key events are coming up. First up is the WPT Korea Main Event,highlighted by its jaw-droppingKR₩ 2,000,000,000 (~USD 1,575,600) guarantee. This is the largest guarantee ever offered by the WPT in Asia. As added bonus, the final table will be livestreamed.

The stakes climb higher with theWPT Alpha8 One Drop Koreacharity event which features a buy-in of $133,930. A portion of the buy-in goes to the One Drop foundation to help bring access to water to communities in need of clean water.

To complete the key three is theWPT Korea High Rollerwith a buy in of KRW 17,000,000 (~USD 13,400). Expect elite players from the region to populate the tables. A large contingent of players from Japan and China are expected to attend.

Getting to Jeju Shinhwa Landing Resort

For arriving players, getting to the venue couldn’t be any easier. Just look for the WPT Korea banner with the bus schedule and hop in once it arrives. It takes approximately one hour to get to the venue. The bus runs daily on a two hour schedule starting at 6am. The last bus to the venue is at 10pm.

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