Run Like the Sun! Haoran Sun Wins 2025 WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship
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History has been made at UOB LIVE in the heart of Bangkok and the winner was crowned in the flagship tournament of the first-ever WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition. Only a few days before the event which is hosted by PokerTalk Thailand and WPTGlobal, the Thai government recognised poker as a sport and the following days saw the tournament area filled to the brim for the 37,000 Thai Baht Championship Event.
Across four starting days, the first major live poker event in the Kingdom of Thailand attracted a massive field of 2,337 entries and generated 75,488,000 Thai Baht (~$2,325,052) prize pool in travel funds. Only 14 players returned for the final day and China's Haoran Sun convinced with a very aggressive playing style, storming to victory and wrapping things up in style within two hands of heads-up play against Philipp Zukernik.
2025 WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Travel Funds in THB | Value in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haoran Sun | China | 11,477,000 THB | $353,497 |
| 2 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 7,620,000 THB | $234,699 |
| 3 | Duhan Lee | South Korea | 5,658,000 THB | $174,269 |
| 4 | Hong Cai | China | 4,231,000 THB | $130,317 |
| 5 | Alex Lee | Singapore | 3,201,000 THB | $98,592 |
| 6 | Atsunobu Konishi | Japan | 2,442,000 THB | $75,215 |
| 7 | Allen Nielsen | Denmark | 1,879,000 THB | $57,874 |
| 8 | Amit Ashkenazi | Israel | 1,458,000 THB | $44,907 |
| 9 | Nikhil Kedia | India | 1,142,000 THB | $35,174 |
The 33-year-old engineer started playing poker in home games and quit his job to pursue the passion for the card game. Sun was second in chips after Day 1b and continued to be among the big stacks for the remainder of the event. In his first international tournament, Sun stormed to victory in dominating fashion and claimed the top prize of 11,477,000 THB ($353,497) in travel funds. On top of that, he also received the $10,400 seat for the 2025 WPT World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas in December.
Runner-up Zukernik has the Canadian and Czech passport with many of his live cashes coming from the King's Resort in Rozvadov. He entered the tournament with more than $1 million in live cashes but the biggest score to date came in his current residence of Bangkok, as Zukernik earned a consolation prize of 7,620,000 THB (234,699).
Among the finalists was also Singaporean poker pro Alex Lee, who bowed out in fifth place after losing the vast majority of his stack against the three outs of Zukernik. Start-of-the-day chip leader Duhan "Henry" Lee bowed out in third place while Nikhil Kedia from India reached his second final table of the series and finished ninth.
Action of the Final Day
Due to the regulations in the brand new Thai live poker market with only six hours of poker play allowed during the week days, the level duration was reduced to 20 minutes each and that saw an average of just 11 big blinds at the start of the final day. Five players had severe short stacks and it only took 35 minutes to reach the final table.
Chi Wei Lo was forced all-in during the very first hand and failed to survive, immediately heading towards the exit door. Kedia was able to spin up his last big blind in consecutive hands and even sent Mingzhe Zhang to the rail in 13th place, securing the first ladder-up.
The next three eliminations all took place on the outer table and Hong Cai was responsible for each of them after knocking out Manabu Sato, Hoai Lam Vu, and Shaohung Yu in quick succession to enter nine-handed play with the lead. From there on, however, nothing went the way of Cai and others jumped into the spotlight.
Kedia's second final table appearance in Bangkok lasted all but a single hand and Amit Ashkenazi was the next to call when he was all-in for fumes from under the gun with ten-six suited. Cai's ace-nine came up short against the pocket queens of Lee with the Singaporean all but closing the gap.
Sun then claimed the short stack of Allen Nielsen and continued to apply pressure on all other finalists to pull ahead at the top of the leaderboard. Atsunobu Konishi fell to Zukernik, who then scored a very fortunate double with ace-five against the ace-king suited of Lee. One hand later, the Singaporean busted to the very same nemesis and suddenly there were only four players left with two big stacks and two very short stacks.
Both Cai and Lee were all-in the same hand for very few chips and Cai bowed out when the big stacks checked it down. However, Lee essentially suffered the same fate soon after and that set up the stage between Sun and Zukernik in heads-up. The duel lasted a mere two hands and Sun had the most fun when all was said and done.
