Lu Jin three-bet jammed for 3,000,000 out of the small blind and was called by Chi Wei Lo as the initial raiser.
Lu Jin: K♦Q♦ 
Chi Wei Lo: A♥K♠
The dominated hand found no help on the 10♠7♥5♣8♥J♠ runout and that spelled the end for Jin in 19th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
8,300,000
6,225,000
|
6,225,000 |
|
Busted |
Amit Ashkenazi raised it up from the cutoff and then called the button shove by Dmitry Suchkov.
Dmitry Suchkov: A♠6♠
Amit Ashkenazi: A♥A♣
Suchkov's timing was in rough shape but he got some hope with the K♣6♣3♦ flop. The 5♦ turn bricked, as did the 2♥ river and Suchkov bowed out in 18th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
10,500,000
1,125,000
|
1,125,000 |
|
Busted |
Over on the live stream table, Manabu Sato pushed all-in from the hijack and Qinxi Yang called all-in for around 2.1 million in the cutoff.
Qinxi Yang: J♣J♥
Manabu Sato: A♣Q♣
The J♦10♥2♥ flop gave Yang top set but Sato spiked the K♣ turn for broadway. Nothing changed with the 5♠ river and that sent Yang out in 17th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
6,275,000
2,175,000
|
2,175,000 |
|
Busted |
Among the recent two eliminations on the live stream table, the field has been reduced to the last 16 players and table 14 was broken randomly to bring the field down to the last two tables. One more hand will be played in this level before the blinds go up, then the final level of the night will be finished before bagging up the chips.
Level: 34
Blinds: 250,000/500,000
Ante: 500,000
Hao Wang pushed all-in for 875,000 from under the gun and Alex Lee three-bet to 1,500,000 on the button. Thiyam Singh reluctantly called in the bhig blind with 2,100,000 behind and checked the Q♣J♠8♦ flop. Lee pushed all-in with the covering 4,350,000 stack and Singh used some time bank before he called all-in.
Hao Wang: 6♣6♠
Thiyam Singh: J♣9♠
Alex Lee: A♥A♦
The 2♦ turn and 7♥ river were blanks and Lee sent two opponents out, both collecting 579,000 Thai Baht for their efforts.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
10,325,000
3,475,000
|
3,475,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Over on the outer table, the turn showed Q♠10♣9♠5♦ and Philipp Zukernik folded to a bet by Haoran Sun, who flashed queen-ten before collecting the pot. That was the last hand of the night and Sun surpassed Zukernik in the counts to leap into second place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
13,400,000
5,100,000
|
5,100,000 |
|
9,500,000
3,200,000
|
3,200,000 |
The final table was almost reached throughout an incredibly frantic day but the final 14 players are bagging up at exactly midnight. They will return at 6 p.m. local time tomorrow, August 5, 2025, to play down to a winner.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
16,175,000
5,775,000
|
5,775,000 |
|
||
|
13,750,000
10,000,000
|
10,000,000 |
|
|
13,400,000 | |
|
|
10,025,000
475,000
|
475,000 |
|
|
9,500,000 | |
|
|
8,825,000
1,500,000
|
1,500,000 |
|
6,275,000
3,000,000
|
3,000,000 |
|
5,650,000
650,000
|
650,000 |
|
4,250,000
1,250,000
|
1,250,000 |
|
2,300,000
1,850,000
|
1,850,000 |
|
|
2,225,000
4,050,000
|
4,050,000 |
|
900,000
3,000,000
|
3,000,000 |
|
750,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|
|
575,000
1,500,000
|
1,500,000 |
The first major live poker tournament in the Kingdom of Thailand is one step closer to crowning the winner in the second-ever officially government-approved competition on Thai soil. Out of a gargantuan field of 2,337 entries, only 14 players remain in contention in the 37,000 Thai Baht Championship Event of the inaugural 2025 WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition at UOB LIVE on the sixth floor of the Emsphere Mall in Bangkok.
With the biggest slice of the 75,488,000 Thai Baht (~$2,325,052) prize pool in travel funds still up for grabs, the final day on Tuesday, August 5, 2025 will be one to watch for poker enthusiasts from near and far after the newest live poker market in South East Asia came to life in spectacular fashion.
The series is hosted in cooperation between PokerTalk Thailand and WPTGlobal and an exciting opportunity awaits on top of the 11,477,000 THB ($353,497) in travel funds, as the winner also receives the $10,400 seat for the 2025 WPT World Championships in Las Vegas this December as well.
Leading the way after an action-packed penultimate tournament day is South Korea's Duhan Lee with 16,175,000 followed by Hong Cai (13,750,000) and Haoran Sun (13,400,000), both representing China. Among the notable finalists are also Canada-born Bangkok resident Philipp Zukernik (9,500,000) and Alex Lee (8,825,000) from Singapore, who sit in the middle of the pack.
Lee is the most-accomplished player on paper still in the mix and has nearly $1.6 million in live poker cashes to his name with several victories on the Asia-Pacific live poker scene. Nikhil Kedia from India has only 750,000 chips at his disposal but eyeballs a second final table during the series in Bangkok after he finished fourth in the Opening Freeroll for THB 200,000.
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | Haoran Sun | China | 13,400,000 | 22 |
| 13 | 2 | Nikhil Kedia | India | 750,000 | 1 |
| 13 | 4 | Amit Ashkenazi | Israel | 10,025,000 | 17 |
| 13 | 5 | Mingzhe Zhang | China | 4,250,000 | 7 |
| 13 | 6 | Duhan Lee | South Korea | 16,175,000 | 27 |
| 13 | 7 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 9,500,000 | 16 |
| 13 | 8 | Alex Lee | Singapore | 8,825,000 | 15 |
| 16 | 1 | Allen Nielsen | Denmark | 5,650,000 | 9 |
| 16 | 2 | Hong Cai | China | 13,750,000 | 23 |
| 16 | 3 | Chi Wei Lo | Taiwan | 575,000 | 1 |
| 16 | 4 | Manabu Sato | Japan | 2,225,000 | 4 |
| 16 | 5 | Atsunobu Konishi | Japan | 6,275,000 | 10 |
| 16 | 6 | Shaohung Yu | Taiwan | 900,000 | 2 |
| 16 | 8 | Hoai Lam Vu | Vietnam | 2,300,000 | 4 |
The penultimate tournament day kicked off in exhilarating fashion as more than one third of the 292 Day 1 survivors were eliminated within the first hour of play, which doesn't necessarily come as a surprise based on the 20-minute level structure to comply with the allowed gaming hours according to the current Thai law. A total of 15 levels were played and the action never really slowed down until it came time to bagging and tagging.
Among the notable casualties on Day 2 were the 2025 WPT Cambodia champion Artem "veeea" Vezhenkov, The Hendon Mob flag hunter Dominick French - who earned his 68th flag - Raiden Kan, Konstantin Lichagin, Lili Tang, Clithon Taliwanth, Kush Kataria and Pierre Mothes.
Singapore's Lee appeared in the spotlight during the opening stages when he notched up a double knockout and he built a large stack in a period when the casualties seemingly came a dozen at a time. Several female players were still in contention along with ten contenders from Thailand and Watchareeporn Jadyham checked both boxes, going the furthest among the Thai players in 81st place for THB 113,000. Tanupat Punjarojanakul has Thai roots as well and was eliminated near the end of play on the final three tables in 22nd place for THB 391,000.
Lu Jin from China was the last female contender in the mix and narrowly missed the final two tables after bowing out on the live stream table in 19th place for THB 473,000. The night ended with the double elimination of Hao Wang and Thiyam Singh when they ran into the pocket aces of Lee.
All remaining 14 hopefuls return to their same seat assignments at 6 p.m. local time and the action will continue with level 35, which features blinds of 300,000-600,000 and a big blind ante of 600,000. With an average of just 11 big blinds, the conclusion may be a speedy affair after all.
| Place | Travel Funds in THB | Value in USD |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11,477,000 THB | $353,497 |
| 2 | 7,620,000 THB | $234,699 |
| 3 | 5,658,000 THB | $174,269 |
| 4 | 4,231,000 THB | $130,317 |
| 5 | 3,201,000 THB | $98,592 |
| 6 | 2,442,000 THB | $75,215 |
| 7 | 1,879,000 THB | $57,874 |
| 8 | 1,458,000 THB | $44,907 |
| 9-10 | 1,142,000 THB | $35,174 |
| 11-12 | 902,000 THB | $27,782 |
| 13-14 | 721,000 THB | $22,207 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to capture all of the action and the live stream with cards-up coverage and commentary will be available on the PokerTalk Thailand YouTube channel as well. All updates for the final table will be published according to the 30-minute security delay then.
