Steve Yea wins the Asia Poker League High Roller event for US$ 114K; APL Online Series ongoing

The month of June continues to be very busy and exciting for the Asia Poker League with an online event running at Natural8 – GGNet and a live event that took place in South Korea. We will have a final recap on the APL Online Series once it concludes on June 28th. The most important thing to know is there are still several trophies up for grabs including the event’s highlighted Main Event featuring a massive CN￥ 10 Million (~US$ 1,563,900) prize pool. As for cash, there’s plenty more to dish out with the festival guaranteeing a whopping CN￥ 80,000,000 (~US$ 12.5 Million).

On the live felt, the APL was back in South Korea on June 12 to 13 for their two-day High Roller Series at the Very Convention Center in Dongnam. Three events were scheduled, namely High Roller, Super Deepstack, and Deepstack Turbo. It drew a combined 592 entries and paid out a total of KR₩ 640,000,000 (~US$ 563,000). Emerging as the biggest winner was Korean pro Steve Yea who walked away with six figures. We’ve got that story and full event results down below.

High Roller: STEVE YEA – KR₩ 127,500,000 (~US$ 114,250)

The highlight of the series was the High Roller event with 342 entrants filling the room. For a price tag of KR₩ 2,000,000 (~US$ 1,760) each, it built a hardy prize pool of KR₩ 500,000,000 (~US$ 439,900). The two-day event wrapped up with well known Korean pro Steve Yea locking up his second ever APL High Roller title and a cool KR₩ 127,500,000 (~US$ 114,250).

As one of the most well known players from Korea, the win came just two months after claiming the World Class of Poker (WCOP) High Roller event for KR₩ 62,800,000 (~US$ 55,670). These wins were his only two live cashes so far this year but with more events coming up, it is likely that we will see Yea continuing his dominance.

Backtracking further, before the novel coronavirus struck, Yea was busy on the live felt in 2019 collecting 20 cashes from around the world. His biggest score that year was at the Los Angeles Poker Classic US$ 10K No LImit Hold’em WPT Championship Main Event where he placed 6th for US$ 201,650. Another impressive result was at the WSOP $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – The Closer finishing 8th for US$ 61,834. His final cash that year was a victory at the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Manila High Rollers event for PhP 948,900 (~US$ 18,238). To date, Yea’s largest career cash was at the APT Macau 2008 US$ 5,300 buy-in event, finishing in 2nd place for US$ 250,000. Yea is ranked 5th in the Hendon Mob’s Korea All Time Money List with nearly US$ 1.2 Million in earnings.

Buy in: KR₩ 2,000,000,000 (~US$ 1,760)
Entries: 342
Prize pool: KR₩ 500,000,000 (~US$ 439,900)
ITM: 35 places

Final table payouts

1st Steve Yea – Korea – KR₩ 127,500,000
2nd Kim Min Kyun – Korea – KR₩ 73,750,000
3rd Jeon Seung Soo – Korea – KR₩ 47,000,000
4th Hyunghu Park – Korea – KR₩ 37,000,000
5th Han Seung Hyuk – Korea – KR₩ 32,000,000
6th Tae Hoon Han – New Zealand – KR₩ 22,000,000
7th Park Senwon – Korea – KR₩ 17,000,000
8th Jang Youjin – Korea – KR₩ 12,000,000
9th Kim Jung Ahn – Korea – KR₩ 9,750,000

Among the 35 players that reached the money was Jeon Seung Soo (3rd) who made his mark in the APT live circuit with multiple wins that included two Main Event titles. Others to mention were Tae Hoon Han (6th), Soo Jo Kim (12th), Daewoong Song (24th), and Yo Hwan Lim (31st).

Super Deepstack Event: JO BEOM RAE – KR₩ 28,000,000 (~US$ 25,100)

Buy in: KR₩ 800,000 (~US$ 704)
Entries: 150
Prize pool: KR₩ 100,000,000 (~US$ 87,980)
ITM: 15 places

First ever live cash for Jo Beom Rae at the Super Deepstack Event and it was a big one. Rae overcame a field of 150 entries to collect the KR₩ 28,000,000 (~US$ 25,100) first prize and an APL Trophy.

Deepstack Turbo: AHN JOOHYUK – KR₩ 12,000,000 (~US$ 10,750)

Buy in: KR₩ 500,000 (~US$ 440)
Entries: 100
Prize pool: KR₩ 40,000,000 (~US$ 35,200)
ITM: 10 places

Another first time ever winner emerged at the series with Ahn Joohyuk taking down the Deepstack Turbo event. Ahn bested a field of 100 entries to claim an APL Trophy and the KR₩ 12,000,000 (~US$ 10,750) first prize. Among the deep finishers was Daewoong Song who placed 4th for KR₩ 3,800,000 (~US$ 3,340) and highly decorated WSOP bracelet winner Sung Joo Hyun who finished 5th for KR₩ 3,200,000 (~US$ 2,815).