Liuheng Dai Wins 2019 PokerStars APPT Jeju High Roller for ?70,999,000 ($61,400)
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The last ?6,000,000 High Roller of the 2019 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour Jeju is over, and it was China's Liuheng Dai who was left in the end with all the chips. Dai not only topped his best live cash with this win but also more than doubled his lifetime earnings from poker tournaments, according to The Hendon Mob. With this win, he took home the trophy plus ?70,999,000 (~$61,400) in prize money.
Dai overcame a 32-player field and defeated another Chinese player heads-up, Jingxuan Zhu, who had to settle with second place, worth ?49,073,000 (~$42,400).
Dai returned for Day 2 with the third biggest stack, among the 13 finalists. In order to reach the first place, he had to win a massive three-way all in while the play was still four-handed. Winning that hand put him in commanding lead in the tournament, which proved pivotal towards his eventual victory.
2019 APPT Jeju ?6,000,000 High Roller Final Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in KRW) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liuheng Dai | China | ?70,999,000 | $61,400 |
| 2 | Jingxuan Zhu | China | ?49,073,000 | $42,400 |
| 3 | Ye Wang | China | ?31,323,000 | $27,100 |
| 4 | Hao Tian | China | ?24,015,000 | $20,700 |
| 5 | Sahil Chuttani | India | ?18,794,000 | $16,250 |
| 6 | Xingbiao Zhu | China | ?14,618,000 | $12,600 |
Action of the day
Day 2 started with 13 players, with one short stack trying to spin it up from the proverbial chip and a chair. Genhan Li had advanced with just one big blind and would become the first to go. The next eliminations were those of Changyang Liu, Haoqi Xie, and Siqi He, setting the final table for this event.
Yang Zhang had the chip lead and looked poised for another deep run after finishing runner-up in this festival's Main Event earlier this week. However, things never go as expected, especially in poker, and after the eliminations of Christopher Park (9th place), and Yuan Yilu (8th place), it was the dreaded bubble that would become Zhang's bane in this tournament.
Ye Wang held the lead 7-handed and pressured his opponents by repeatedly shoving all in. In the bubble hand, Wang shoved on the button and Yang Zhang was in the big blind with more than 30 big blinds. While several short stacks occupied the table, Zhang called Wang's shove with ace-jack and had to fade his opponent's king-nine. A king on the flop was enough to send Zhang to the rail, leaving the remaining six in the money.
The first elimination in the money was that of Xingbiao Zhu, who was unfortunate enough to see his aces being cracked by Ye Wang's ten-eight, when he hit two tens for trips in turn and river, respectively. Sahil Chuttani lost a flip with fours versus Tian's ace-eight, leaving the field with four.
Hao Tian put a closure to an extremely successful festival for him here in Jeju; after finished runner-up in the first High Roller, he had a fourth-place finish in the last High Roller. Unfortunately for him, was the victim of a big three-way all-in were Ye Wang was also left crippled, and Liuheng Dai took the big lead in the fight for the title. Tian had ace-queen in the small blind, and saw Ye Wang shove from the button with king-jack, only for Dai to wake up in the big blind with ace-king and win them both. With this cash, Hao Tian reached ?66,797,000 (~$57,700) in prize money during the APPT Jeju's festival.
The leader of Day 1 was the player who busted in third place, after losing the biggest part of his stack during the previous three-way all in. He put his last four big blinds in the middle to get called by both the other players, who checked down the board till the river, and Dai made a pair to beat Wang's pocket threes.
Heads-up had to be as exciting as the rest of the final table, and it sure didn't disappoint anyone. Dai started with the chip lead but the two players were willing to risk their stacks from the first hand, so Jingxuan Zhu took the lead pretty soon. In the first all-in situation of heads-up play, Dai had a pair and a gutshot on the turn, while Jingxuan Zhu had top two pair. Zhu held up after the river to take the lead, as the two players swapped positions in the counts.
Right after that, there was another all-in between the two, and this time it was Dai who was in danger and in need of a lot of help. He had threes against Zhu's nines, but he spiked a magical three on the flop to double-up, and retake the lead.
The final hand was another setup for the two players, as the dealer gave them queens and kings, so the preflop all in was unavoidable, based on how aggressive the two players were. Dai was the one who had kings and was slightly covering his opponent, and after five community cards, he was lifting the trophy in the air of Landing Casino's poker room.
That ends it for PokerNews coverage of the 2019 PokerStars APPT Jeju. The next stop of the APPT tour will be in Manila, running from July 26 to August 4.
