Xixiang Luo Wins Largest APT Main Event in South Korea

The 2024 Asian Poker Tour – APT Jeju Main Event has crowned a champion and it was fitting that a contestant from China lifted the elusive award winning trophy, after all the country has been dominating the series at the Landing Casino in Jeju Shinhwa World and claimed the far most tournament wins.

Well-known poker pro Xixiang Luo came out on top of a short-lived heads-up duel with fellow countryman Jianfeng Sun as both players shared the biggest portion of the KR₩ 2,376,742,500 (∼USD 1,726,125) prize pool. Luo earned the top prize of KR₩ 429,292,500 (∼USD 311,735) while Sun had to settle for a consolation prize of KR₩ 257,880,000 (∼USD 187,260).

Xixiang Luo Destined To Win

Xixiang Luo has had a very successful series on Jeju Island with six in-the-money final table finishes prior to this victory, none of which were worse than fourth place. He came second in Event #5 NL Omaha and Event #20 R-O-S-E within three days and added a fourth place in the APT Super High Roller in between those scores for KR₩ 85,680,000 (~USD62,281). The first victory then came on May 1 when he field of 32 entries in Event #47 PLO High / Hi-Lo Mix 5 Card for KR₩ 6,211,600.

Not only has he become the third two-time champion of the 2024 APT Jeju stop but he also earned his biggest cash prize on the live poker circuit as well by some margin. All the way back in 2016, Luo finished as runner-up in the APPT Macau Poker Cup for HK$ 1,528,000 (~USD 196,552), a figure he now surpassed by more than 50%.

APT Jeju Main Event – Final Table recap

Luo entered the final day second in chips with 55 big blinds, only trailing Sergei Kim on the leaderboard while eventual runner-up Sun was fourth with 30 big blinds. Another six players from China were in contention for more than half of hopefuls on Day 4, which saw 15 hopefuls return to their seats.

Jian Han almost made it three out of three on the podium but came up short in fourth place for KR₩ 136,430,000 (∼USD 99,080) while start-of-the-day chip leader Kim was ousted in fifth place for KR₩ 104,340,000 (∼USD 75,770).

Xixiang Luo Lands Two- Outer

In fact, the double elimination of Han and Jason Wong (third place for KR₩ 181,580,000 / ∼USD131,865) put Luo on the verge of victory when he came out on top of a spectacular three-way all-in. Han was all-in with ace-eight, Wong had pocket queens and Luo held the larger stack but an inferior pocket pair in tens. All players had their chances to win the pot on a four-high flop which then paired the four on the turn. One of the two remaining tens came on the river to give Luo a massive lead of more than three-to-one over Sun which he never surrendered.

Luo knocked out Kim with jacks versus ace-eight suited, having just turned broadway to double through Sun before that. And that’s when the sun-run really started for Luo, who never really looked back en route to victory. The final table took 138 hands to conclude according to the APT live updates but prior to that, another six players were eliminated as well in the largest APT Main Event on South Korean soil with a total of 1,089 entries.

Among them was also Thailand’s Phanlert Sukonthachartnant, who bowed out in 14th place for KR₩ 21,410,00. Kai Chang Hsu earned KR₩ 26,550,000 for his efforts and final table bubble boy Kyung Min Lee received the same amount as well.

APT Jeju Main Event – numbers

Buy in: KR₩ 2,500,000 (~USD 1,820)
Guarantee: KR₩ 2,000,000,000 (~USD 1.5 Million)
Entries: 1,089
Prize pool: KR₩ 2,376,742,500 (∼USD 1,726,125)
ITM: 160 places

Final 9 payouts

Full list: APT Jeju Main Event – Payouts

While the penultimate day of the series on Jeju island was dominated by the conclusion of the record-breaking APT Jeju Main Event, several other notables events were in its shadows as well. That includes the Mini Main Event (KR₩ 800,000 / ∼USD 582 buy-in), Event #63 Double Stack, and Day 1 of the APT High Roller (KR₩ 7 Million / ∼USD 5,095 buy-in).

*Article by Christian Zetzsche