Jeju Red Dragon 2018: Record-Breaking Series Wraps Up As Yuanjun Lu, Ta Wei Tou, Tiansheng Qi & Chung Yin Chan Win Side Events

2018 has been an eventful year in terms of electrifying and entertaining poker action, especially in the Asia and Asia Pacific region. The PokerStars LIVE Asia series made its debut in South Korea with the 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon that ran from November 30 to December 9 at the Jeju Shinhwa World – Landing Casino. The series set a historic record with its marquee event, the ₩2.2M Red Dragon Main Event, registering 613 entries and breaking the record for the largest Main Event field in the country.

The 20-event long series saw participation from several different nationalities, with China dominating the representation and was undoubtedly well-received by poker lovers and players alike.

Even as all eyes were on the Main Event that culminated with China’s Yuechun Shi grabbing the top honors for ₩266,060,000, there were two high-octane events running on the edges.

The ₩3,600,000 NLH that played out over three days, crowned a winner in China’s Yuanjun Lu who banked a payday of ₩176,800,000 and his first-ever PokerStars LIVE title. Lu defeated 2016 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Manila High Roller champion Yan Li heads-up to claim the title.

Alongside, Taiwan’s Ta Wei Tou swept victory from under the feet of his heads-up opponent Wenlong Ma to stake his claim to the title in the ₩1,300,000 Deepstack (Shot Clock), preventing yet another Chinese player from taking the top seat.

The final two events of the series were the ₩1,800,000 Short Deck Turbo (Ante Only) and the ₩500,000 NLH Turbo. Tiansheng Qi trumped the field in the Short Deck Turbo for ₩13,570,000, while Chung Yin Chan shipped the NLH Turbo for ₩10,480,000.

Indian Participation At The Series

Representing Team India at the series were a select group of contenders, namely Sumit Sapra, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli and Raghav Bansal.

Team India started the series with the Kickoff event where Sapra, Iyer, Patni and Tumboli were seen in action, however none were able to make the cut for Day 2. Chakravarthy and Tumboli were next seen in action in the ₩1.2M Baby Dragon. While the duo advanced to the next day, they failed to finish in the money.

Undeterred, the Indian contingent made a strong showing in the ₩2.2M NLH with Chakravarthy, Iyer, Patni, Sapra and Tumboli in the mix, but only Iyer was able to carry a bag to Day 2. However, he too eventually busted out empty-handed.

The next event to witness a large Indian participation was the ₩800K Megastack which saw Iyer, Patni, Sapra and Tumboli in action. Sapra progressed to Day 2 and finally opened the Indian scorecard with his 16^th place finish for ₩1,985,000 (₹1.25 Lakhs).

₩12M High Roller ran alongside the Megastack event and saw Chakravarthy carry a big stack to Day 2, but unfortunately he fell short of the money line.

The ₩2.2M Red Dragon Main Event saw the usual battalion of Indians jump into the action, namely Kalyan Chakravarthy, Abhinav Iyer, Kunal Patni, Zarvan Tumboli and Sumit Sapra, with the addition of Raghav Bansal, who was a late arrival at the series. Sapra was the only Indian challenger to carry a bag through to Day 2 but had a rough day at the felts and could not make it through to Day 3.

While our Indian challengers failed to make much headway in the Main Event, they fared much better in the side events with Kunal Patni and Raghav Bansal posting scores in the ₩220,000 Flipout. Bansal finished 20^th for ₩695,000 (₹44,096), while Patni placed 24^th for ₩615,000 (₹39,020).

The last event at the series that witnessed a strong Indian participation was the ₩3,600,000 NLH. Sapra, Patni and Bansal jumped into the event with further re-enforcement coming in from Tumboli, Iyer and Chakravarthy. Iyer, Chakravarthy and Bansal made Day 2, but their runs ended before the money line was crossed.

Indian Cashes at the Series:

₩3,600,000 NLH

The three-day long ₩3.6M NLH ₩300M GTD is now in the books, with China’s Yuanjun Lu snagging the title and a ₩176,800,000 in prize money.

The event attracted 216 runners that saw the ₩3 Million guarantee being overshot by a huge margin to reach ₩721,600,000. Indian challengers Abhinav Iyer, Kalyan Chakravarthy and Raghav Bansal were part of the 89-strong field that returned to play on Day 2. However, all three fell short of the money, even while 24 finalists banked at least ₩6,490,000.

Notables who picked up payouts included Tsolmon-Erdene Ochir (12th for ₩12,630,000), Day 1 chip leader Tyler Jennens (16th for ₩9,020,000), Jack Wu (18th for ₩9,020,000), Shiqiang Lin (19th for ₩7,220,000) and Carson Wong (22nd for ₩6,490,000).

The play was halted for the day after Andy Ying Kit Chan (10^th for ₩14,440,000) returned to the rail.

Lu came into the final table third in stacks with 906,000, while fellow countryman Wenqing Cai was the chip leader holding a stack of 1,192,000 and Hao He was second in chips with 1,075,000.

Final Table Recap

The shortest stack coming into the final table was Takashi Ogura who held 171,000 when the action kicked off. Ogura attempted to improve his position but was the first player to be shown the door in ninth place.

Tao Fan and Wei Jiao followed Ogura to the rail in eighth and seventh place respectively and not long thereafter, the final table whittled down to five-handed play with the elimination of Bi Zhao in sixth place.

Start of the day chip leader Wenqing Cai had a tough beat and was bounced out in fifth place. Liang Song had 741,000 chips in his kitty at the beginning of the day, and he scored an impressive, fourth place finish, leaving only He, Li and Lu to fight for the title.

Hao He had dominated the action on Day 2 and bagged the second biggest stack of 1,075,000. He saw his tournament run end in third place.

2016 APPT Manila High Roller winner Yan Li was in the hunt to bag her first PokerStars LIVE title and clashed with Lu in the heads-up match. She proved a tough opponent for Lu who, however dominated the heads-up and won the final hand, along with his career-first PokerStars LIVE title.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Yuanjun Lu – ₩176,800,000

2. Yan Li – ₩115,460,000

3. Hao He – ₩74,320,000

4. Liang Song – ₩57,730,000

5. Wenqing Cai – ₩46,900,000

6. Bi Zhao – ₩37,880,000

7. Wei Jiao – ₩30,670,000

8. Tao Fan – ₩23,450,000

9. Takashi Ogura – ₩18,040,000

₩1,300,000 Deepstack (Shot Clock)

The two-day long ₩1,300,000 Deepstack (Shot Clock) brought in 156 players who battled over a ₩202,800,000 prize pool. But it was Taiwan’s Ta Wei Tou who stole the show and pocketed a top prize worth ₩35,315,000, following a three-way deal with runner-up Wenlong Ma who took away ₩34,720,000 and third-place finisher Chang Yang Liu who received the biggest chunk of ₩38,470,000.

The notables who finished in the money included Feng Wen Chen (11^th for ₩3,550,000), He Ru Wu (12^th for ₩3,550,000), Jongyeol Lee (13^th for ₩3,040,000), Fei Han (14^th for ₩3,040,000), Ming Hong Teoh (15^th for ₩3,040,000), Xiaolong Qian (16^th for ₩2,535,000), Lei Yu (17^th for ₩2,535,000) and Natalie Siew Po Teh (18^th for ₩2,535,000).

Yong Bin Wang (10^th for ₩4,560,000) bubbled the final table.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Ta Wei Tou – ₩35,315,000

2. Wenlong Ma – ₩34,720,000

3. Chang Yang Liu – ₩38,470,000

4. Shaoming Li – ₩17,240,000

5. Alvan Zheng – ₩14,195,000

6. Yin Liu – ₩11,660,000

7. Jun Zhou – ₩9,635,000

8. Tao Wang – ₩7,605,000

9. Yi Long Wang – ₩5,575,000

₩1,800,000 Short Deck Turbo (Ante Only)

The penultimate event of the series was the ₩1,800,000 Short Deck Turbo (Ante Only) which pulled in a small pool of 39 entrants generating a prize pool of ₩33,930,000. Tiansheng Qi shipped the event for a first-place prize money of ₩13,570,000.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Tiansheng Qi – ₩13,570,000

2. Ming Juen Teoh – ₩8,145,000

3. Wilson Chong Way Lim – ₩5,430,000

4. Kuisong Wu – ₩4,070,000

5. Nan Li – ₩2,715,000

₩500,000 NLH Turbo

The last and final event of the series, the ₩500,000 NLH Turbo was a fast-paced event, which drew in 73 entries collecting ₩31,755,000 in prize money.

Chung Yin Chan captured the title and bagged a payday of ₩10,480,000 after besting Carson Wong (runner-up for ₩6,670,000) in the heads-up play.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Chung Yin Chan – ₩10,480,000

2. Carson Wong – ₩6,670,000

3. Kenji Hata – ₩4,450,000

4. Roc Zhi Peng Fang – ₩3,490,000

5. Kai Kang – ₩2,540,000

6. Kelvin John Beattie – ₩2,220,000

7. Timothy Tin Yan Yim – ₩1,905,000

Content & Images courtesy – PokerStars LIVE Asia