The Triumph of a Lifetime for Jieming Xu
The main event of the entire festival, the Red Dragon Plus Championship, set new records. The tournament, with a buy-in of 4,000,000 KRW, attracted a massive 931 entries, boosting the prize pool to 3,217,536,000 KRW (~$2,193,111).
The winner was Chinese player Jieming Xu, marking the most significant victory of his career. The prize of over $340,000 is almost four times his previous career high.
The path to the title was not easy. Yunchao Yu entered the final day as the massive chipleader, with Jieming Xu starting as the seventh-largest stack at the final table. With patient play, Xu fought his way into the heads-up against American veteran Christian Harder.
The heads-up battle lasted nearly five hours and saw several lead changes until Xu ultimately broke his opponent's resistance with A c T c against Harder's A d 5 d on a board of 8 c Q d 2 c T h 2 h. Before the conclusion, Harder and Xu agreed to an ICM deal, resulting in the American taking a consolation prize of 400,000,000 KRW.
Final Table Results of Event #33: Red Dragon Plus Championship
|
Position |
Player |
Country |
Prize (KRW) |
Prize (USD) |
|
1. |
Jieming Xu |
China |
508,000,000₩ |
$343,475 |
|
2. |
Christian Harder |
USA |
400,000,000₩ |
$270,467 |
|
3. |
Yunchao Yu |
China |
251,350,000₩ |
$169,225 |
|
4. |
Wei Sun |
China |
177,250,000₩ |
$119,335 |
|
5. |
Naohiro Matsuda |
Japan |
127,150,000₩ |
$85,605 |
|
6. |
Ivan Karatayeu |
Belarus |
92,800,000₩ |
$62,480 |
|
7. |
Zehao Li |
China |
68,950,000₩ |
$46,420 |
|
8. |
Guoliang Wei |
China |
52,150,000₩ |
$35,110 |
|
9. |
Zuyou Wang |
China |
40,200,000₩ |
$27,065 |
Astonishing Comeback in the Super High Roller
To find the definition of a poker comeback, look no further than Event #54: Prestige Super High Roller with a $20,000 buy-in. Vietnam's Minh Thang Tran delivered a performance for the ages at RDPT. Tran started the final table as the shortest stack with just 10 big blinds but survived multiple all-ins to ultimately claim the title in the series' most expensive tournament.
Faced with Huu Dung Nguyen in an all-Vietnamese heads-up, Tran began with a daunting 4:1 deficit. However, after an ICM deal that secured Nguyen the largest financial reward, Tran launched an unbelievable turnaround.
In the decisive hand, the players went all-in pre-flop. Nguyen held A d Q h and found two pairs on the board of 4 d 2 h T d Q c A s, but Tran with K c J h hit a straight on the river, completing his comeback.
Final Table Results of Event #54: $20K Prestige Super High Roller
|
Position |
Player |
Country |
Prize |
|
1. |
Minh Thang Tran |
Vietnam |
$153,500 |
|
2. |
Huu Dung Nguyen |
Vietnam |
$178,000 |
|
3. |
Xiangyu Yu |
China |
$89,800 |
|
4. |
Khoa Anh Ngo |
Vietnam |
$67,900 |
Though the most expensive tournament of the series was dominated by Vietnamese players, the Chinese contingent maintained their dominance across most final tables, continuing a prevailing trend on the Asian circuit.
The Red Dragon Poker Tour Plus in Jeju shattered its records, perfectly capturing the essence of one of the most successful Asian festivals this year. For more information, live tournament updates, and photo galleries, visit our partner SoMuchPoker.
Sources: SoMuchPoker, Flick
