Main Event
Day 1a Started
2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan
Buy-in
27,500 TWD
Entries
306
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
60,000
Welcome to the 2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event
Greeting poker fans, and welcome to the PokerNews coverage of the 2019 Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event.
The five-day, ten-event series, running August 16-20, is taking place at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association in Taipei, Taiwan, though the PokerNews live coverage will only be available for the Main Event. You can check out the full schedule and all the structures for the tournaments on the Poker King Club website.
With the TWD 27,500 (~US$875) Poker King Cup Main Event boasting a TWD 5 million (~US$160,000) guarantee, a sizable showing is expected for the Poker King tournament series' Taiwan debut.
This will be the first Poker King Cup Main Event hosted in Taiwan, and the organizers are pulling out all the stops to ensure it's a poker tournament to remember.
Running since 2016, the first showing of the successful Poker King tournament series took place in Manila, Philippines, drawing 279 entrants, with Hong Kong poker professional Jason Lo emerging victorious for a ₱3,800,000 ($82,549) payday.
Numbers have continued to increase, and the 2017 Poker King Cup saw the series make its Macau debut at Venetian Macau, with the Main Event drawing a total of 490 entries and China's Longyun Li claiming the HK$1,225,500 ($157,438) top prize.
The last installment, the 2018 Poker King Cup, again took place at Venetian Macau with the Main Event drawing 518 entries and China's Weiran Pu taking down the HK$1,464,000 ($187,363) first-place prize.
Poker King Cup Events
| Event | Venue | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poker King Cup 2018 | Venetian Macau | 518 | HK$7,536,900/$964,576 | Weiran Pu | China | HK$1,464,000/$187,363 |
| Poker King Cup 2017 | Venetian Macau | 490 | HK$7,129,500/$915,918 | Longyun Li | China | HK$1,225,500/$157,438 |
| Poker King Cup National Philippines 2016 | Poker King Club, Manila | 279 | ₱3,800,000/$82,549 | Jason Lo | Hong Kong | ₱857,100/$18,619 |
Boasting three separate starting flights, Day 1A of the Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event takes place at 1:00 p.m. local time on Aug. 16 with Day 1B and Day 1C both scheduled for Aug. 17—Day 1B kicking off at 1:00 p.m. and Day 1C with a slightly later start time of 6:00 p.m. The 1:00 p.m. start time is also reserved for the start of Day 2 and the final day’s play on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20 respectively.
Registration remains open until the start of level 10 on all starting flights, which should be around 8:30 p.m. local time on the days where it kicks off at 1:00 p.m.
The tournament will utilize the Big Blind Ante format that is fast becoming commonplace, where the player in the big blind posts the ante for the whole table, and the format also offers multiple re-entry over the three starting flights so players unable to get through to Day 2 on Day 1A can fire multiple bullets over the three starting flights. Even those who make it through can re-enter, with the format offering best stack forward, meaning the player's largest stack will be taken through to Day 2, with any other stacks removed from play.
Players begin with a 30,000-chip starting stack, with level length for two of the three starting flights, Day 1A and Day 1B, coming in at 40-minutes, increasing to 60-minutes from Day 2 onwards. The third and final starting flight, Day 1C, boasts a turbo format with slightly shorter 30-minute levels, though all three starting flights will see players compete over 12 levels with breaks scheduled every three levels on the opening flights, and every two levels from Day 2 onward.
Main Event Day 1A Structure
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 50 | 100 | 0 |
| 2 | 40 | 75 | 150 | 0 |
| 3 | 40 | 75 | 150 | 150 |
| 15-minute break | ||||
| 4 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 6 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 10-minute break | ||||
| 7 | 40 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 8 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 9 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 40-minute break | ||||
| 10 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 11 | 40 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 12 | 40 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
The PokerNews live coverage will begin as soon as cards are in the air for Day 1A at 1:00 p.m. sharp so stick around as we see who turns up and who makes Day 2 after the twelve 40-minute levels are done and dusted.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Cards in the Air
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Cards are now in the air for the opening flight of the Poker King Cup Taiwan Main Event with four players in their seats, all Taiwanese by the looks of things with Shao Hong Lee, Cheng Hui Chang, Toh Soon Lee and Shun Yan Ho the only players in action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |
New Entries
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Nine players are now in their seats, with more beginning to trickle in. New arrivals include Zong Ping Yang, Hsu Pei Shun, Xu Jieming and two other new challengers with Chinese names on their entry tickets which we will attempt to get translated at some point in the not too distant future.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Big Early Pot for Jieming
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The action was picked up on the river with close to 5,000 in chips already in the pot and the community cards spread 
.
First to act, Shun Yan Ho flicked in two large denomination chips, a blue 5,000 chip and a yellow 1,000 chip for a total bet of over the pot 6,000. Ho's opponent in the hand, Xu Jieming, made a quick call and sat waiting for Ho to reveal his hand.
Ho sheepishly rolled over a single 
with Jieming still making no move to showdown. Ho revealed his second card, the 
for king-high and Jieming then turned over 
for trip nines, which was good for a decent-sized early pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
46,500
16,500
|
16,500 |
|
|
12,250
-17,750
|
-17,750 |
Two Tables
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
There have been several new arrivals, bringing the total number of entries so far up to 14, spread over two tables. The new arrivals are Hao Shiang Wang, Kun Han Lee, Lo Wai Nok, and Peng Hsin Hui. Our two unnamed protagonists from earlier are Chen Pu Huang and Hsiao Yun Yang,
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Chang Wins Three-way
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Cheng Hui Chang opened the action from under-the-gun with a raise to 300, picking up a caller in the form of Hsui Pei Shun in the hijack, before cutoff Shao Hong Lee juiced it up to 1,500. The blinds got out of the way and both Chang and Shun made the call to take the action three-way to a flop of 
.
The rainbow nature of the flop didn't slow down the action any, and while Chang checked, Shun wasn't shy and pushed in a bet of 600. Lee did not take long to call, and Chang shrugged and tossed in the call to keep the three players in action going to the 
turn.
Now Chang sprang into action, leading for 5,000 and while that was enough to get Shun to bow out, Lee made the call to take action heads-up to the 
river.
Chang announced 'all-in' for around 21,500 and Lee mulled over his options, eventually deciding a fold was in order, leaving Chang free to scoop a decent-sized early pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
37,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
28,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
|
25,800
-4,200
|
-4,200 |
Three New Challengers
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
There have been more additions to the player pool, with Bo Wei Tong, Zoo Huailing and Choy Wing Ho joining the fray to bring the field up to 17 entrants.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |