Yichen Wu's Career-Defining Victory
The Red Dragon Classic Championship, with a buy-in of 2,500,000 KRW (~$1,860), attracted a total of 668 entries over four starting flights. The initially guaranteed prize pool of 1.2 billion KRW was easily surpassed, reaching a total of 1,442,880,000 KRW (approximately $1,075,170).
The French chipleader at the start of the final day, Hugues Girard, provided one of the most thrilling moments of the final table when he hit an incredible royal flush. However, it was only enough for a third-place finish.
Aleksandras Rusinovas began the heads-up with a 2:1 lead against Yichen Wu, but the duel lasted only three hands! In the first hand, Wu found two pair on the flop with 8 c 3 c and doubled his stack against Rusinovas holding K d J d.
Two hands later, Rusinovas went all-in with K c Q c and Wu called with A d J c. The board 4 s 6 h T s 8 c 4 c kept Wu in the lead, giving him the biggest win of his career.
Final Table Results of the Red Dragon Classic Championship:
|
Place |
Player |
Country |
Winnings (KRW) |
Winnings (~USD) |
|
1. |
Yichen Wu |
China |
266,980,000 KRW |
$198,940 |
|
2. |
Aleksandras Rusinovas |
Lithuania |
176,900,000 KRW |
$131,820 |
|
3. |
Hugues Girard |
France |
121,200,000 KRW |
$90,310 |
|
4. |
Lao Wu |
China |
84,700,000 KRW |
$63,110 |
|
5. |
Youfan Zhang |
China |
60,300,000 KRW |
$44,930 |
|
6. |
Hanyu Shao |
China |
43,700,000 KRW |
$32,560 |
|
7. |
Mingchen Zhang |
China |
32,450,000 KRW |
$24,180 |
|
8. |
Lei Li |
China |
24,550,000 KRW |
$18,290 |
|
9. |
Jing Su |
China |
18,900,000 KRW |
$14,080 |
Shuai Li Crowns His Stellar Form with a Title
The most expensive event of the festival, the Red Dragon Prestige High Roller with an entry fee of 8,000,000 KRW (~$6,000), saw a total of 108 entries following late registration on day two. This pushed the prize pool to 762,653,000 KRW (approximately $568,300), with monetary prizes set for the top 17 players.
The star-studded final table promised top-tier poker, featuring notable players like Michel Molenaar, Florian Duta, and Calvin Lee.
Shuai Li, in excellent form throughout the festival, claimed overall victory after besting fellow countryman Weiran Pu in the heads-up. Li notched his third final table appearance, having previously finished 4th in the KPC High Roller and 8th in the KPC Main Event.
Final Table Results of the Red Dragon Prestige High Roller:
|
Place |
Player |
Country |
Winnings (KRW) |
Winnings (~USD) |
|
1. |
Shuai Li |
China |
200,000,000 KRW |
$149,030 |
|
2. |
Weiran Pu |
China |
130,100,000 KRW |
$96,940 |
|
3. |
Florian Duta |
Romania |
87,353,000 KRW |
$65,090 |
|
4. |
Michel Molenaar |
Netherlands |
61,550,000 KRW |
$45,860 |
|
5. |
Calvin Lee |
USA |
44,850,000 KRW |
$33,420 |
|
6. |
Abhijith Cheruku |
India |
34,100,000 KRW |
$25,410 |
|
7. |
Dongwen Liu |
China |
27,000,000 KRW |
$20,120 |
|
8. |
Weiyang Zhou |
China |
22,350,000 KRW |
$16,650 |
|
9. |
Yaojie Li |
China |
19,350,000 KRW |
$14,420 |
Sources: SoMuchPoker, Flickr
