Welcome to Day 2 of the 2019 PokerStars Red Dragon Jeju ?2,500,000 Main Event
After three starting days, a record-breaking field of 869 entries has been culled down to 300 survivors at the Jeju Shinhwa World - Landing Casino and the guaranteed prize pool of the 2019 PokerStars LIVE Asia Red Dragon Jeju ?2,500,000 Main Event has been nearly doubled for the biggest live poker tournament on South Korean soil thus far.
It will be a day filled with plenty of poker action as of 1 p.m. local time as the event will burst the money bubble and pay out a portion of the ?1,896,592,500 (~$1,626,470) prize pool on the penultimate tournament day. Out of the 300 survivors, almost two-third will walk away empty-handed as only the top 108 spots get paid.
Leading the field into Day 2 is Xiaqing Ji with 355,500 and fellow countryman Hanze Wang (332,000) is the only other player with more than ten times the starting stack at his disposal when the action resumes at blinds of 1,000-2,500 with a big blind ante of 2,500. Other notables in the top 10 include Yifan Cao (248,000), Canlin Chen (238,000), James Won Lee (228,000), and Single-Day High Roller champion Ben Lai (220,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts Heading Into Day 2
| Place | Player | Country/Region | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xiaqing Ji | China | 355,500 | 142 |
| 2 | Hanze Wang | China | 332,000 | 133 |
| 3 | Yifan Cao | China | 248,000 | 99 |
| 4 | Dong Jiang | China | 240,000 | 96 |
| 5 | Canlin Chen | China | 238,000 | 95 |
| 6 | Wen Kai Chen | Taiwan | 235,500 | 94 |
| 7 | Jun Su | China | 232,000 | 93 |
| 8 | James Lee | United States | 228,000 | 91 |
| 9 | Hoa Thinh Nguyen | Vietnam | 225,500 | 90 |
| 10 | Ben Lai | Hong Kong | 220,000 | 88 |
Furthermore, familiar faces such as Paul Newey (203,000), Kilian Loeffler (196,500), Lei Yu (182,000), Nan Hong (174,000), Daniel Lee (164,000), Quan Zhou (134,500), Jiayu Ruan (134,500), Szymon Wysocki (131,000), Tae Hoon Han (117,000), Xixiang Luo (115,000), Jun Obara (99,500), and reigning APPT Korea Main Event champion Sparrow Cheung (99,500) all return with above-average stacks.
Three former Red Dragon champions remain in contention to become the third two-time champion as Denny Feng (160,000). Alvan Yifan Zheng (105,000) and Kenichi Takarabe (38,500) advanced to Day 2. Defending champion Yuechun Shi, who won the first-ever Red Dragon Main Event outside of Macau in 2018 after topping a field of 613 entries, did not make the cut.
The 2019 Red Dragon Main Event in Jeju at a Glance
| Day | Total # | Unique Entries | Re-Entries | Survivors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | 252 | 223 | 29 | 80 |
| Day 1b | 444 | 360 | 84 | 143 |
| Day 1c | 173 | 137 | 36 | 77 |
As of Day 2 and for the remainder of the tournament, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each and it seems likely that at least and up to 11 levels will be played today. The live stream with hole cards displayed on a 30-minute delay on the Red Dragon Poker website will commence after the first break and the PokerNews team will be there all the way until a champion is crowned in Jeju.