Zengxiang Chen Captures WPT Prime Korea Main Event After Just Six Months Playing Tournaments

Kai Cocklin is a poker journalist and live reporting manager who has worked with PokerNews at major festivals including the World Series of Poker and the European Poker Tour. He has managed multiple live reporting teams at the World Series of Poker and trained individual reporters to develop their skills. He now oversees Somuchpoker’s editorial and live coverage, ensuring consistent quality and engaging content across the Asian poker scene.

Updated: 2025.11.04

The first Main Event of the Jeju Poker Festival (JPF) 2025 came to a close with China’s Zengxiang Chen winning the WPT Prime Korea Main Event at Les A Casino, Jeju. The KRW 1,500,000 (~US$1,070) buy-in event drew 515 entries across three starting flights, surpassing its KRW 350 million guarantee to generate a prize pool of KRW 667,440,000 (~US$467,430).

Chen, who only began playing poker tournaments six months ago after several years of cash game experience, outlasted the field to claim his first WPT Prime Korea title and a payout of KRW 129,030,000 (~US$90,365). His win was also the first of three Main Events to conclude at the JPF, which unites the World Poker Tour, K Poker Cup, and Red Dragon Poker Tour under a single festival banner.

WPT Prime Korea Main Event Final Table Results


Place	Player	Country	Prize (KRW)	Prize (~USD)
1	Zengxiang Chen	China	129,030,000	$90,365
2	Changliang Sun	China	85,150,000	$59,635
3	Akihide Shimizu	Japan	63,010,000	$44,130
4	Patrick Liang	Taiwan	46,920,000	$32,860
5	Daniel Lei	United States	35,240,000	$24,680
6	Chenxu Zhang	China	26,760,000	$18,740
7	Jingxuan Zhu	China	20,560,000	$14,400
8	Jia Xiao	China	15,890,000	$11,130
9	Duy Thuc Nguyen	Vietnam	12,410,000	$8,690

Champion’s Reflections

Speaking after the win through the aid of a translator, Chen kept his focus on improvement rather than celebration. He explained that he began his poker journey playing cash games before recently transitioning to tournaments.

“I’ve been playing cash games for about four years,” Chen said. “I only started tournaments around half a year ago. After busting the WSOP Online Main Event in September, I started studying the champion’s training course to learn more. That really helped.”

Rather than taking time off, Chen is already preparing for his next challenge. “No celebration,” he smiled. “I’ll just keep playing. I plan to join the KPC Main Event tomorrow for Day 1d or 1e.”

He also shared that poker has become a shared part of his personal life. “I came with my wife, and she’s been supporting me all week,” he said. “She plays a bit too, just for fun. A few of my friends also came, and they’ll play tomorrow.”

When asked about the festival’s format, Chen praised the variety and structure. “It’s really well-designed,” he said. “If players lose, there’s always another event to join, and each one has different rules. It’s fun to play.”

Day 1 & Day 2 Action

The WPT Prime Korea Main Event featured three starting flights. Day 1A saw 122 entries with 16 survivors, led by Chen, who finished with 775,000 after a strong showing that included a bold hero call with bottom pair. Day 1B added 280 entries, with George Tomescu topping the counts at 690,000. Day 1C (Turbo) rounded out the field to 515 total entries.

All 66 Day 2 qualifiers returned in the money. After nine hours of play, the field was down to the final table. Changliang Sun bagged the overnight chip lead with 3,455,000, while Chen finished fifth in chips with 1,630,000, keeping himself in contention for the title.

How the Final Table Went Down

It took just five hands for the final table to lose its first player when Duy Thuc Nguyen’s pocket jacks were cracked by Chen’s six-five suited, which completed a straight on the river.

Jia Xiao, who began as the short stack, managed to ladder up before running his ace-eight into the ace-king of Chenxu Zhang. Jingxuan Zhu soon followed in seventh after losing a flip to Changliang Sun, and Zhang exited in sixth when her pocket aces were cracked by Patrick Liang’s king-queen, which flopped trip kings.

Chenxu Zhang - WPT Prime Final Table — Chenxu Zhang – WPT Prime Final Table

Moments later, Daniel Lei was eliminated in fifth when his king-queen lost to Sun’s pocket fives, which improved to trips after Chen folded another five. Liang’s deep run ended in fourth after losing most of his chips with pocket queens against Chen’s king-four, and Sun finished the job the next hand.

Akihide Shimizu made it to the top three before running into Chen, who called a 34-big-blind shove with king-four against queen-ten and held to reach heads-up play with a strong lead.

The final duel between Chen and Sun was short. In a key hand, Chen’s pocket nines made a full house on the river while Sun’s queen-ten hit a straight on the same card. Down to a few blinds, Sun was eliminated shortly after when his seven-four could not overcome Chen’s king-deuce.

Chen lifted the WPT Prime Korea trophy, securing his first major live title and giving China an early win to open the 2025 Jeju Poker Festival.