China’s Liuheng Dai Captures Second High Roller Event in South Korea

There were a lot of Chinese poker players who attended the 2019 PokerStars LIVE Asia Red Dragon Jeju festival which recently concluded at Landing Casino in Jeju Island, South Korea. Chinese poker hero Liuheng Dai came out on top of a 155-entry field to capture the ₩5,000,000 High Roller for ₩159,052,000 ($137,270), his biggest career-cash to date.

Dai bested fellow Chinese pro YangZhang to secure the title and take home the lion’s share of the massive ₩684,093,000 ($590,366) in prize pool which was shared among the top 23 finishers. China dominated the final table of the High Roller event, with a six out of the nine finalists all representing the country.

Dai’s latest victory follows on from his win in the 2019 APPT Korea ₩6,000,000 High Roller back in June, also sponsored by PokerStars. The software company owner has had a successful run in South Korea over the past few months, having scored a total of five cashes so far this year in Incheon and Jeju.

YangZhang meanwhile earned ₩107,745,000 ($92,990) as runner-up, bringing his total live winnings to almost $2 million. The Chinese pro currently occupies the 10th spot on China’s all-time money list, and also enjoyed deep runs at APPT Korea, having finished runner-up in the 2019 APPT Korea ₩2,500,000 Main Event which was won by Huidong Gu.

The ₩5,000,000 High Roller event drew some of the most prominent names on the Asian poker circuit, including Sparrow Cheung, Ben Lai, Pete Chen, Yake Wu, Alex Lee, as well as former EPT Barcelona Main Event winners Michael Soyza and Andre Lettau, each of whom left the table empty-handed.

Final Table Results

The final nine players battled it out and it was American Bawoo Yun who became the first casualty, exiting in 9th place for ₩15,871,000 ($13,700). He was followed to the rail by China’s Lei Yu who collected ₩19,907,000 ($17,180) for his 8th place finish. The next two players to fall were Vietnam’s Duc Trung Vu and Japan’s Kazuhiko Yotsushika, who busted in 7th and 6th place respectively, each walking away with ₩27,090,000 ($23,380) and ₩36,599,000 ($31,585).

Bin Sun‘s bid came to an end after losing consecutive all-ins against Zhang. He took home ₩47,202,000 ($40,735) for finishing 5th. Shortly after Sun’s elimination, Bin Wang and Fen Chen hit the rail after running out of chips. Wang earned ₩58,832,000 ($50,775) for his 4th place finish, while Chen took home ₩71,830,000 ($61,990) for finishing 3rd.

Dai and Zhang then engaged in an exciting heads-up battle, with both players alternately holding the chip lead. The crucial hand came when Zhang called a five-bet jam from Dai with tens against the latter’s pocket treys. Dai picked up a trey on the turn, ultimately winning the title and a nice payout!