Jeju Red Dragon 2018: Romain Arnaud Ships Super High Roller, Abhinav Iyer Makes Day 2 in ₩2.2M NLH

The 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon has hit the ground running and there has been no looking back. After the culmination of the ₩450k Kickoff event, we now have the results for the ₩60M Super High Roller.

A plethora of events played out over the weekend at the series that pulled in the large crowds. The Super High Roller, NLH Turbo and Knockout events were taken down by Romain Arnaud (₩748,000,000), Zejin Shen (₩8,310,000) and Chen An Lin (₩9,415,000) respectively, while the Short Deck Ante Only and NLH events completed Day 1 play.

Team India’s Kalyan Chakravarthy, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli were seen in action in the ₩2.2M NLH, but only Iyer made it to Day 2 with a stack of 61,500. Meanwhile, Ben Lai (188,000) leads the 62 survivors on Day 2.

The first-ever Short Deck Ante Only event at a PokerStars tournament series registered 55 entries, with Super High Roller winner Romain Arnaud in pole position after Day 1 with a stack of 2,114,000.

₩60M Super High Roller

The popularity of the Super High Roller was evidenced by the overwhelming participation the event generated. Out of the 44 entries that registered for the event, 30 were unique while 14 were re-entries, creating a monstrous prize pool of ₩2,508,000,000, which is the largest-ever prize pool for a Korean-based PokerStars tournament.

After two days of the highest stakes action, France’s Romain Arnaud captured his maiden live title for a career-best ₩748,000,000 in prize money.

Arnaud battled through a star-studded final table which included the likes of Ivan Leow, Michael Soyza and Rui Cao. Following an ICM chop, Arnaud defeated Cao in heads-up play to claim his first-ever live title.

Day 2 Recap

17 runners returned to the felts on Day 2. With the late registration open till the start of play, three fresh faces in the form of Malaysia’s Wai Leong Chan, and China’s Yue Zhao and Chuandong Zhu jumped in late.

Many heavyweights busted out before the money bubble burst including John Juanda, Richard Yong, Elton Tsang and Deven Tang.

The top six places were assured a min-cash good for ₩175,560,000 with ₩852,720,000 set aside for the winner.

Final Table Recap

Wai Leong Chan made the official eight-handed final table but was the first man out in eighth place.

Chan was followed by fellow countryman Choon Tong Siow, who departed on the bubble shortly thereafter after jamming on the button with and was called by Wai Kin Yong in the big blind, holding . The board showed and Yong rivered two pairs of kings and treys to eliminate Siow in seventh place.

Six-Handed Chip Counts

1. Romain Arnaud – 3,595,000

2. Shunu Zang – 2,210,000

3. Ivan Leow – 1,615,000

4. Rui Cao – 1,455,000

5. Wai Kin Yong – 1,245,000

6. Michael Soyza – 895,000

Final Day Recap

China’s Shunu Zang had amassed the second-largest stack at the end of Day 2, however, he had a tough time at the felts. Zang found himself entangled in a three-way hand holding against Michael Soyza’s and Rui Cao’s . The board ran and while Cao flopped a set of tens, it was Soyza who ultimately won the pot with a rivered full house, eliminating Zang in sixth place.

Wai Kin Yong was next to depart. He lost a big chunk of his stack to Romain Arnaud, following which he only had 10 big blinds left. Yong decided to shove all-in from the button with and managed to double up against Arnaud’s . However, his upward climb was short-lived as his were outdone by Soyza’s , ending his deep run in fifth place.

High stakes specialist and Malaysian pro Ivan Leow has won several high roller titles these past few months including the KRW 15,000,000 + 500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super High Roller at the WPT Korea, Incheon for KRW 132,300,000 in September and the €100,000 No Limit Hold’em – Leon’s High Roller at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), Rozvadov for €1,251,455 in October. He began the final day with the third-biggest stack but fell short in his quest for another high roller title when his ran into Soyza’s , getting Leow a fourth place finish.

Following his fellow countryman to the rail next was Michael Soyza. He had started has the shortest stack on the final day and played exceptionally well to make it in the top three but his deep run was cut short after back-to-back losses at the hands of Cao and Arnaud. Soyza was eliminated by Arnaud’s which bettered to a pair of queens on the board, cracking Soyza’s ..

The heads-up match was a battle of the Frenchmen as Romain Arnaud and Rui Cao locked horns. Following a short break, the pair came back to discuss a deal and decided to go for an ICM chop, with a blind all-in shoot out for the trophy.

Arnaud had maintained his chip lead on through the day and came in with the better stack at the start of the heads-up play, but eventually lost the first hand in the final showdown. It took him four more hands to win the title. On the final hand, Arnaud’s went up against Cao , with the board running . Arnaud’s king-kicker was good enough to get him his career-first live title and best live score of ₩748,000,000. With this win, Arnaud trumped the previous highest score won in South Korea, which was ₩158,700,000 and set by fellow final tablist Michael Soyza in 2017.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Romain Arnaud – ₩748,000,000

2. Rui Cao – ₩694,100,000

3. Michael Soyza – ₩376,200,000

4. Ivan Leow – ₩288,420,000

5. Wai Kin Yong – ₩225,720,000

6. Shunu Zang – ₩175,560,000

₩450,000 NLH Turbo

The NLH Turbo was a fast-paced event which attracted a total of 77 entries generating a prize pool of ₩30,800,000 for a buy-in of ₩450,000. China’s Zejin Shen defeated fellow countryman Guoliang Wei to not only win his first PokerStars LIVE title, but also to post his first-ever recorded live cash of ₩8,310,000.

A total of ten players cashed for a share of the ₩30,800,000 prize pool and Jia Tang finished 10^th for ₩920,000, bubbling the final table.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Zejin Shen – ₩8,310,000

2. Guoliang Wei – ₩5,540,000

3. Chuandong Zhu – ₩3,700,000

4. Yi Long Wang – ₩3,080,000

5. Xu Zhu – ₩2,470,000

6. Mu Chen – ₩2,160,000

7. Feng Zhao – ₩1,850,000

8. Liu Jian – ₩1,540,000

9. Kelvin Wei Ming Ang – ₩1,230,000

₩400K Knockout

Chen An Lin outlasted a field of 145 entries to take down the Knockout event for a lion`s share of the ₩36,250,000 prize pool, while Mongolia’s Bold Buyanjargal finished runner-up for ₩6,345,000.

Other notable who also finished in the money included Xin Hong Li (10^th for ₩905,000), Yung Bing Chu (12^th for ₩725,000), Kengo Sakurai (13^th for ₩545,000), Liu Jian (14^th for ₩545,000) and Hao Tang (15^th for ₩545,000).

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Chen An Lin – ₩9,415,000

2. Bold Buyanjargal – ₩6,345,000

3. Xing Long Huang – ₩4,170,000

4. Xiaqing Ji – ₩3,265,000

5. Yifan Zhang – ₩2,540,000

6. Jun Wang – ₩2,175,000

7. Yi Kun Feng – ₩1,810,000

8. Guoliang Wei – ₩1,450,000

9. Qi Xie – ₩1,090,000

₩15M Short Deck Ante Only Event

The Short Deck Ante Only drew in a total of 55 entries (30 unique and 25 re-entries), which included six Super High Roller finalists, champion Romain Arnaud, runner-up Rui Cao, Ivan Leow and Wai Kin Yong. For a buy-in of ₩15,000,000, the event collected ₩775,500,000 in prize pool.

Debuting at a PokerStars tournament series, this high-octane poker variant seems to have stirred the interest of several players. With all deuces through to fives removed from the traditional deck of 52-cards, the game plays with a deck of 36, flushes beat full houses and jack-ten plays like ace-king.

With only the top seven places set to receive payouts, the event played down to the seven-handed final table on Day 1 and saw Arnaud taking the pole position, yet again, with a stack of 2,114,000.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Romain Arnaud – 2,114,000

2. Jun Wah Yap – 1,637,000

3. Tianle Wang – 1,554,000

4. Wai Kin Yong – 1,293,000

5. Wei Hsiang Yeu – 781,000

6. Guo Feng Wang – 467,000

7. Nan Wei – 390,000

₩2.2M NLH

Another event that ran alongside the Short Deck Ante Only was the NLH event which gathered a strong field of 151 entries for a prize pool of ₩302,000,000.

Several Indians were seen in the fray, namely Kalyan Chakravarthy, Young Gun Abhinav Iyer, Adda52 Team pro Kunal Patni, Sumit Sapra and MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli. Only Iyer made the cut for Day 2 with a workable stack of 61,500.

Other notables who progressed to Day 2 were APPT Manila Champion Wilson Lim (82,500), Hong Kong’s Andy Ying Kit Chan (53,800), and Carson Ka Shing Wong (20,400).

Hong Kong’s Ben Lai (188,000) topped the 62 survivors, with Jianfeng Sun (178,800) and Daniel Hyongin Lee (123,900) rounding up the top three stacks.

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 1

1. Ben Lai – 188,000

2. Jianfeng Sun – 178,800

3. Daniel Hyongin Lee – 123,900

4. Jingyang Yu – 123,600

5. Dong Hui Xu – 118,500

6. Mu Chen – 105,300

7. Soichiro Kojiya – 104,700

8. Tzai Wei Phua – 93,100

9. Zhuo Jie Mao – 92,900

10. Wei Zhang – 90,300

Even though many events crowning winners, with a few on the verge of coming to a conclusion, the much-awaited event at the stop i.e. ₩2.2M Red Dragon Main Event will be kicking off on December 5.

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon!