Chun Lung Wong Takes Down Korea Poker Cup Main Event for Career-Best $141,255
The Landing Casino Jeju in South Korea hosted the Korea Poker Cup Series between April 6 and 13. The KRW 1,240,000 ($850) buy-in Main Event was the tournament everyone wanted to win. Over the course of five starting flights, 1,228 players bought in, creating a prize pool worth more than $914,000, obliterating the Main Event's $550,000 guarantee.
Chun Lung Wong was the last player standing. He reeled in his first six-figure score, one worth $141,255 plus the winner's trophy. Wong's previous largest haul weighed in at $17,723, his reward for taking down a $400 PokerNews Daily Deepstacks tournament at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The impressive Main Event turnout meant the top 149 finishers saw a return on their investment. Seasoned American pro Christian Harder navigated to a 91st-place finish, with Sheng Ye heading for the exits in 53rd place. Harder had previously finished as runner-up to Meng Ling Li in the $25,000 Super High Roller for $320,000.
The reigning WSOP Ladies champion Shiina Okamoto, Tony Lin, and Weiran Pu also cashed, the latter falling in 11th place and narrowly missing out on another final table appearance.
Korea Poker Cup Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chun Lung Wong | United States | $141,255* |
| 2 | Weiwei Tang | China | $112,590* |
| 3 | Chen Yu Sung | Taiwan | $71,070 |
| 4 | Yao Zhao | China | $50,315 |
| 5 | Qin Yuan | China | $36,240 |
| 6 | Daqiao Jiang | China | $26,530 |
| 7 | Sin Lan Chen | Taiwan | $19,915 |
| 8 | Yirui Zhang | China | $15,060 |
*reflects a heads-up deal
Chen Yu Sung sat down at the eight-handed final table as the chip leader, with the eventual champion Wong a couple of big blinds behind. Yirui Zhang was the shortest stack, which meant it was unsurprising when Zhang was the first finalist heading to the cashier's desk.
With blinds of 60,000/120,000/120,000a, Zhang open-shoved for 600,000 with ace-nine, Qin Yuan re-shoved from the small blind with king-queen, and Yao Zheng instantly called all-in with pocket aces from the big blind. The king-high board provided little in the way of drama, busting Zhang in eighth place, leaving Yuan with a meagre three big blinds, and giving Zhao some much-needed breathing room.
Yuan doubled through Sin Lan Chen and then took the rest of her stack a hand later. Yuan jammed all-in with pocket jacks from early position, and Chen called all-in from the small blind with ace-nine. The jacks remained the best hand, reducing the player count to six and leaving the Korea Poker Cup Main Event an all-male affair.
Wong rode something of a heater where he bolstered his stack to more than 100 big blinds. The rich became richer when Wong opened with ace-queen in the cutoff and then called Daqiao Jiang's eight big blind shove, which he made with pocket sixes in the big blind. Jiang turned a full house and looked like doubling his stack, but a queen on the river gave Wong a stronger full house, and Jiang was eliminated.
Yuan's attempts to rebuild were thwarted by Wong a couple of hands after Jiang bowed out. Yuan's last ten big blinds went into the middle with ace-seven of hearts from the button, and Wong had an obligatory call with ace-jack in the big blind. Wong's jack-kicker played, and the final table was down to four players after only 25 hands had been played.
It took another 104 hands before the remaining finalists enjoyed a little more elbow room. Down to a shade under 15 big blinds, Yao Zhao open-shoved from the small blind with queen-ten in an attempt to steal the ample blinds and antes. Wong looked down at king-seven and decided it was strong enough to call with. Wong flopped a seven but fell behind courtesy of a queen also landing on the flop. Another seven on the turn propelled Wong into the lead, and Zhao busted after the river missed him.
That hand put Wong in a commanding position, with his stack containing almost three times more big blinds than either of his opponents. However, it was a clash between the two shorter stacks that resulted in the Main Event progressing to heads-up.
Chen Yu Sung raised from the small blind with king-jack, Weiwi Tang called in the big blind with nine-eight of clubs, and the flop came down king-nine-four. Sung continued with a quarter-pot-sized bet, which Tang called. A ten on the turn was met with a chunkier pot-sized bet from Sung and a jam from Tang. Getting almost three-to-one on his money and having top-pair, Sung quickly called. Tang was in deep trouble but hit one of his five outs, an eight, in the river to win the pot.
Wong and Tang struck an ICM deal before the start of their heads-up clash, which lessened the pay jumps and left approximately $13,500 to play for. The final pair also agreed to shorten the blind levels to 15 minutes.
The now-rapidly increasing blinds started to bite into both players' stacks, and something had to give. On the 171st hand of the final table, with Wong's stack containing less than a small blind more than Tang's, Wong moved all-in and Tang called. Wong showed ace-eight, which was ahead of Tang's king-queen of diamonds. The jack-high flop missed both players, but the turn gave Tang outs to a flush and a gutshot straight draw in addition to being able to win by pairing either of his hole cards. It seems Tang had too many outs because an offsuit seven completed the board and confirmed his demise.
Tang took home a career-best $112,590, leaving Wong to scoop a $141,255 top prize and the title of Korea Poker Cup Series Main Event champion.
Lead image courtesy of SoMuchPoker
