Jeju Red Dragon 2018: Sumit Sapra Finishes 16th in Megastack Event For ₹1.25 Lakhs; Li, Zhong & Sun Win Side Events

December 4 was a busy day at the 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon as three events came to a conclusion, i.e. the ₩12M High Roller, ₩2.2M NLH and the ₩800K Megastack.

Indian challenger Sumit Sapra become the first Indian to post a score at the series with his 16th place finish in the Megastack event, adding ₩1,985,000 (₹1.25 Lakhs) to his bankroll.

Sapra has been very active on the Asian circuit and the results have started puring in. He finished runner-up in the ₫7,700,000 No Limit Hold’em – Welcome Event at the WPT Vietnam, picking up ₫163,720,000 (₹5,06 Lakhs) in September and followed that up with a third place finish in the ₫30,000,000 + 3,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller at the APL Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh in November for ₫849,230,000 (₹25,65 Lakhs).

In other events, Yin Gui Li shipped the High Roller for an impressive payday of ₩285,010,000, Jian Biao Zhong took down the NLH event and pocketed ₩70,410,000 in prize money, while Bin Sun picked up a first-place payout of ₩28,000,000 for winning the Megastack event. On an interesting note, all three players who won the aforementioned events were first-time PokerStars LIVE title winners.

₩12M High Roller

Starting off with 73 entries on Day 1, the ₩12M High Roller saw the field expanding to 95 (65 unique entries and 30 re-entries) with late registrations coming in early on Day 2, generating a prize pool of ₩1,073,500,000. With only the top 13 spots assured payouts, the race to finish in the money was highly competitive.

Looking to open Team India’s scorecard at the series, Kalyan Chakravarthy had jumped into Day 2 with a commendable stack of 300,000, but unfortunately failed to reach the money line.

It was Beijing native Yin Gui Li who obliterated the playing field to claim his maiden PokerStars LIVE title, along with ₩285,010,000 in first-place prize money which is his career-best score to date. The 36-year-old hedge fund manager is a regular at the European Poker Tour (EPT) circuit and has 30 cashes to his name.

“I feel excellent! I knew I was going to win when there were 40 players left and I won a huge three-way pot with pocket kings after turning a set against Baby Dragon Champion Jimmy Lee who had aces, and another player with pocket sevens,” said an exultant Li immediately following his victory.

This win brings Li’s total live winnings up to over $758,000, moving him up to the 25^th spot on China`s All Time Money List.

Apart from the runners who reached the final table, the other players who finished in the money were Chin Wei Lim (10^th for ₩23,080,000), Qi Luo (11^th for ₩23,080,000), John Juanda (12^th for ₩21,470,000) and Wei Zhao (13^th for ₩21,470,000).

Final Table Recap

Li dominated the China-heavy final table from the get-go and reached the heads-up against fellow countryman Huahuan Feng with a 4:1 chip lead. While Feng fought hard, even reducing the deficit to 3:1 at one point, it wasn’t enough to win him the title, which he eventually surrendered to Li.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Yin Gui Li – ₩285,010,000

2. Huahuan Feng – ₩198,060,000

3. Xing Long Huang – ₩130,970,000

4. Zhou Tong – ₩102,520,000

5. Wei Hsiang Yeh – ₩82,660,000

6. Wen Ling Gao – ₩64,410,000

7. Jun Wah Yap – ₩50,990,000

8. Tian Jin – ₩39,720,000

9. Nan Wei – ₩30,060,000

₩2.2M NLH

Overcoming a 151-strong field, China’s Jian Biao Zhong clinched his first-even PokerStars LIVE title and only his third-ever recorded live cash. While initially a top prize of ₩77,020,000 was set aside for the winner, but following a heads-up deal with opponent Xin Jin (runner-up for ₩57,950,000), Zhong bagged a first-place prize money worth ₩70,410,000.

Zhong`s first record live cash came in the ¥5,000 No Limit Hold’em – Main Event at the 2016 International Poker Open – Changsha where he finished runner-up for ¥370,000. He followed it up with yet another runner-up finish in the HK$8,000 + 800 No Limit Hold’em – 2017 PokerStars National Championship at the PokerStars Championship Macau for HK$646,500.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Shiqiang Lin – 776,000

2. Jian Hiao Zhong – 740,000

3. Zhuo Jie Mao – 535,000

4. Xin Jin – 324,000

5. Yi Long Wang – 311,000

6. Hui Dong – 244,000

7. Chung Sui Yung – 238,000

8. Zizheng Huang – 236,000

9. Tao Fan – 214,000

Final Table Recap

Chung Sui Yung was eliminated by Jian Biao Zhong two minutes into the final day proceedings and departed in ninth place.

Final table chip leader, Shiqiang Lin, was the next to go in eighth place, as he too fell prey to Zhong.

Zizheng Huang busted early into Level 22, losing a blind on blind battle against Zhuo Jie Mao with the latter waking up with kings in the big blind, and bringing about Huang’s seventh-place exit.

Dong Huo, Yi Long Wang and Tao Fan were three of the shortest stacks left on the final table. Huo was the first to leave in sixth place and was eliminated by Mao. Wang was next in line, when his ace-king lost out to Xin Jin’s pocket queens, ending his run in fifth place.

Fan was sent to rail towards the end of Level 22 in fourth place, when his suited ace-five ran into Zhong’s pocket eights.

Down to three-handed play, Zhuo Jie Mao pitted his against Zhong’s . The latter found top two pairs on the board ousting Mao in third place.

Zhong started the heads-up battle against Xin Jin with a 2:1 chip lead, before agreeing to a heads-up deal. The final showdown lasted for three hours and saw the chip lead change hands several times.

On the final hand, Jin moved all-in, pre-flop, for 1.79 Million with and Zhong called with . The latter picked up a straight on the board to take home the trophy and career-best live cash of ₩70,410,000.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Jian Biao Zhong – ₩70,410,000*

2. Xin Jin – ₩57,950,000*

3. Zhuo Jie Mao – ₩33,220,000

4. Tao Fan – ₩25,670,000

5. Yi Long Wang – ₩21,140,000

6. Dong Huo – ₩17,370,000

7. Zizheng Huang – ₩14,340,000

8. Shiqiang Lin – ₩11,320,000

9. Chung Sui Yung – ₩8,300,000

*denotes heads-up deal

₩800K Megastack

Playing out over a period of two days, the Megastack event drew in 227 entries, collecting ₩158,900,000 in prize pool and only 40 players made it through to Day 2.

The Indian contingent comprising of Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli, was seen running in the event, but only Sapra made the cut for Day 2 with a stack of 284,000. While, Sapra missed the final table, he managed to post the first Indian score of the series with his 16^th place finish for ₩1,985,000 (₹1,25,551).

The players who finished in the money featured the likes of Meisan Ang (10^th for ₩3,180,000), Jun Zhou (11^th for ₩2,780,000), Pete Yen Han Chen (12^th for ₩2,780,000), Yu Zhang (13^th for ₩2,380,000), Qiang Xu (14^th for ₩2,380,000), Vincent Kwun Ngai Li (15^th for ₩2,380,000), Huan Bin Chang (17^th for ₩1,985,000), Yifan Zhang (18^th for ₩1,985,000), Shaoming Li (19^th for ₩1,590,000), Guang Chen (20^th for ₩1,590,000), Dawei Zeng (21^st for ₩1,590,000), Zhigang Zhu (22^nd for ₩1,430,000), Gerald Huk Cher Goh (23^rd for ₩1,430,000) and Chung Chuen Co (24^th for ₩1,430,000).

Final Table Recap

Outlasting the massive entry filed to capture his first-ever PokerStars LIVE title was Bin Sun. With less than 10 cashes under his belt Sun is a relatively less-known player.

It is safe to say that when Sun entered the heads-up play against Junhao Hong with a chip count of 1.82 Million to Hong’s 4.99 Million, he was the underdog. The two players agreed to a heads-up deal.

Thereafter Sun played aggressively and after two quick double-ups took back the chip lead. Left with a short-stack, Hong moved all-in with deuce-trey offsuit and Sun called with pocket sevens. The latter’s hand held strong to win him the trophy along with the top prize of ₩28,000,000.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Bin Sun – ₩28,000,000*

2. Junhao Hong – ₩36,350,000*

3. Li Jiang Liu – ₩16,365,000

4. Lei Chen – ₩12,710,000

5. Zhihui Guo – ₩10,330,000

6. Liu Feng – ₩8,345,000

7. Kok Wai Sim – ₩6,755,000

8. Jia Tang – ₩5,165,000

9. Zhe Li – ₩3,975,000

*denotes heads-up deal

With the ₩2.2M Red Dragon Main Event slated to start later today, the action at the series is going to intensify as the seasoned pros and newbies alike attempt to win the grand prize!

Content & Images courtesy – PokerStars LIVE Asia

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