A New Red Dragon Champion Will Be Crowned in Jeju
Only nine players out of a field of 869 entries remain in the biggest live poker event in the history of South Korea at the Jeju Shinhwa World - Landing Casino and will aim to become the 28th Red Dragon Main Event champion in the 2019 PokerStars LIVE Asia Red Dragon Jeju ₩2,500,000 Main Event.
So far, all finalists are guaranteed at least ₩32,242,000 ($27,728) for their efforts, but the unique red dragon trophy in the most influencial poker event of the Asia-Pacific Region is up for grabs. The winner can look forward to the top prize of ₩393,553,500 ($338,456) and a luxurious Rolex watch worth USD$14,000, exclusively sponsored by 6UP – the official partner of PokerStars in Asia.
Zhihao Zhang enters the final day with 11,750,000, 45% of the chips in play, and there is a massive gap to Xin He (2,450,000) and Ting Yi Tsai (2,445,000), who sit in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Tsai is the only remaining non-Mainland Chinese player in contention and one of the most accomplished finalists with 40 live cashes – including five live tournament titles – to his name for live tournament winnings just shy of US$147,000.
All further remaining six finalists have between 10 and 20 big blinds at their disposal and one double up would significantly alter the chances of a possible top-three finish. Yifan Cao (2,045,000), Cangsheng Ni (1,880,000), Wenyan Liu (1,875,000), Dapeng Wang (1,570,000), Zhenhua Lu (1,190,000) and Rongshan Li (1,020,000) complete the line-up for the final day.
Lu has reached his second Red Dragon Main Event final table as he finished fourth to Alvin Yifang Zhang in February 2018 out of a field of 1,122 in Macau and received his largest score of HK$800,000 ($102,293) so far. Ni is the next most successful player in terms of money won, with over US$118,000 in live tournament cashes, though he has yet to win a title.
Seat Assignments for the Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wenyan Liu | China | 1,875,000 | 19 |
| 2 | Rongshan Li | China | 1,020,000 | 10 |
| 3 | Ting Yi Tsai | Taiwan | 2,445,000 | 24 |
| 4 | Yifan Cao | China | 2,045,000 | 20 |
| 5 | Cangsheng Ni | China | 1,880,000 | 19 |
| 6 | Dapeng Wang | China | 1,570,000 | 16 |
| 7 | Xin He | China | 2,450,000 | 25 |
| 8 | Zhenhua Lu | China | 1,190,000 | 12 |
| 9 | Zhihao Zhang | China | 11,750,000 | 118 |
The action is set to resume at 1 p.m. local time with 40:42 minutes remaining in level 29 at blinds of 50,000-100,000 with a big blind ante of 100,000 and the final showdown will be broadcasted live on the Red Dragon Poker website with Mandarin commentary and hole cards displayed on a security delay of 30 minutes.
All PokerNews updates until the conclusion of the tournament will be published according to the delay on the live stream.
and just like that ten minutes into the final table, Liu was eliminated in 9th place for ₩ 32,242,000.
from the small blind and chip leader Zhihao Zhang checked his option with 
. Both flopped a pair on 
and Lu check-raised from 100,000 to 300,000. Zhang gave it some consideration and made the call.
flop improved Cao to a pair of queens and he made two pair with the 
turn to leave Li drawing dead and make the 
flop was bad news for Cao and he was drawing dead as soon as the 
followed on the river and Cao was already on his way out to collect ₩ 73,019,000 for his efforts.
turn and the 
river spelled the end for He in 4th place.
and the ace on the turn left Ni drawing dead in third place for a payday of ₩146,986,000.