It was an ambitious goal and in the aftermath, the World Poker Tour (WPT) exceeded its KR₩ 2 billion WPT Korea Main Event guarantee. With Day 1C seeing another 274 pony up the KR₩ 3,400,000 (~USD 2,680) buy in, the prize pool grew to a richer KR₩ 2,246,947,400 (~USD 1,770,200). In total, 758 filled up host venue Jeju Shinhwa World Landing Casino over three starting days with 283 players moving on to Day 2.
Buy in: KR₩ 3,400,000 (~USD 2,680)
Guarantee: KR₩ 2,000,000,000 (~USD 1,575,600)
Entries: 758
Prize pool: KR₩ 2,246,947,400 (~USD 1,770,200)
Day 2: 283 players
ITM: 95 places
| Place | Payout in KR₩ |
| 1 | 405,188,000 |
| 2 | 266,500,000 |
| 3 | 192,500,000 |
| 4 | 146,500,000 |
| 5 | 110,300,000 |
| 6 | 82,000,000 |
| 7 | 64,930,000 |
| 8 | 50,300,000 |
| 9-10 | 39,710,000 |
| 11-12 | 31,470,000 |
| 13-14 | 25,430,000 |
| 15-16 | 20,800,000 |
| 17-20 | 17,230,000 |
| 21-24 | 14,450,000 |
| 25-32 | 12,270,000 |
| 33-40 | 10,550,000 |
| 41-48 | 9,200,000 |
| 49-56 | 8,160,000 |
| 57-64 | 7,320,000 |
| 65-72 | 6,670,000 |
| 73-80 | 6,160,000 |
| 81-88 | 5,780,000 |
| 89-95 | 5,470,000 |
Day 1 results
Day 1A: 252 entries / 98 advanced
Day 1B: 232 entries / 83 advanced
Day 1C: 274 entries / 102 advanced
Top 10 entering Day 2
| Player | Flag | Stack | BB |
| Zhao Yong | China | 582,000 | 233 |
| Gu Hui Dong | China | 381,000 | 152 |
| Pak Valeriy | Russia | 371,500 | 149 |
| Zhang Zeyu | China | 332,500 | 133 |
| Ma Yanjun | China | 326,500 | 131 |
| Cangsheng Ni | China | 313,000 | 125 |
| Tsoy Dmitriy V | Uzbekistan | 308,000 | 123 |
| Yan David | New Zealand | 300,500 | 120 |
| Wang Yujia | China | 300,000 | 120 |
| Jin Xu Dong | China | 296,000 | 118 |
For the complete Day 2 list, WPT Korea Main Event – Chip Counts
The Day 1C flight opened with WPT and Landing Casino delivering a welcome speech. From there, the race heated up with players taking advantage of the last sign up day. Among them were actor Arden Cho, Chen-An Lin Cheng Chao-Ting, Joseph Talamayan, Paul Hong, and Ting-Yi Tsai, all of them pulling through. By the end of the scheduled ten rounds of play, 102 remained with China’s Ma Yanjun bagging the largest of 131 bb.
You can watch some of the daily action via the livestream by Sharehand broadcasted in the WPT YouTube page with Tony Dunst, Matt Savage, Scott Baumstein, Bryan Paris, Henry Kilbane, Chris Soto, Jamie Kerstetter, and AJ Rudolph alternating on the commentary. You can also read up on the action via the Live Updates.
For the livestream, WPT Korea – Livestream
For hand for hand action, WPT Korea Main Event – Live Updates
All of the Day 1 survivors return on Thursday, July 20, 2023 to chase down the money and a spot at the final table. Only 95 players are guaranteed a piece of the pot. Minimum cash is KR₩ 5,470,000 (~USD 4,310) while awaiting the champion is a handsome KR₩ 405,188,000 (~USD 319,210).
WPT Korea – Schedule and Structures
Side Event results
Mengdian Peng wins the Hyper Turbo NLH
China’s Mengdian Peng lifted his first ever WPT win at the Hyper Turbo NLH and scored a payout of KR₩ 13,837,000 (~USD 10,900). He outlasted the 153-entry field, denying Fukui Ryoma at heads up. Peng was the second player from China to win at the ongoing festival.
Date: July 19, 2023
Buy in: KR₩ 425,000 (~USD 335)
Entries: 153
Prize pool: KR₩ 56,767,000 (~USD 44,720)
ITM: 20 places
| Place | Player | Flag |
Payouts in KR₩
|
| 1 | Mengdian Peng | China | 13,837,000 |
| 2 | Fukui Ryoma | Japan | 9,230,000 |
| 3 | Pan Yu Wen | China | 6,580,000 |
| 4 | Taniguchi Itsuki | Japan | 4,790,000 |
| 5 | Koizumi Shinya | Japan | 3,560,000 |
| 6 | Haobo Zhu | China | 2,700,000 |
| 7 | Chunnuan Xu | China | 2,100,000 |
| 8 | Lu Fan | China | 1,670,000 |
| 9 | Yin Tao | China | 1,350,000 |
For the full results: WPT Korea – Festival Results
Other Key Events
Following the main is the WPT Alpha8 One Drop Korea charity event which features a buy-in of KR₩ 170,000,000 (~USD 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.
Cards for a Cause: WPT Alpha8 for One Drop in Jeju Island, Korea from July 21 to 22
To complete the key three is the WPT Korea High Roller with a buy in of KRW 17,000,000 (~USD 13,400). Expect elite players from the region to populate the tables.
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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Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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