GOP Incheon II Day 4: First-Time Winners and Veteran Pros Shine; Main Event Coming Up

With four days of games in the books, the spotlight now turns to the Gods of Poker Incheon II Main Event! The opening flight is set to get underway at Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea on Tuesday, November 3 at 12:30 PM.

Players jumping into Flight A have an added incentive with rake-free entry, sponsored by Pokerfors, making it an opportunity not to miss.

GOP Main Event: Everything You Need To Know

Meanwhile, Day 4 delivered another action-packed round of games, with eight champions crowned. Here's a look at the latest winners and the stories behind their victories.

Tsutomu Muranaka Steals Titan Stack Title

Tsutomu Muranaka - Titan Stack champion

The Titan Stack was down to its final 13 players from an 83-entry field when the race for the title saw command change multiple times. In the end, Tsutomu Muranaka held on to claim his first-ever GOP title, the Silver Spartan Trophy, and the lion's share of the KR₩ 47,808,000 prize pool amounting to KR₩ 13,338,000.

Titan Stack – Final Results

Muranaka's Road to Victory

Muranaka started the day near the bottom of the counts with just 14 big blinds and had barely gained ground by the time the final table was formed. Chin Hei Chan was at the top with 60 big blinds but his run of luck soon faded as Rintaro Kato took charge with a ruthless knockout spree.

Titan Stack - Final Table

Kato eliminated Jinichi Kubo (8th) and Takuya Morita (7th), both of them trailing at showdown, then delivered a crushing defeat to Sung Woo Hwang (6th) who flopped trips only to be overtaken by Kato's turned straight. Shuhei Wakahara was next on Kato's chopping block in 5th place.

Kato turns and burns Hwang

Yet despite the rush, Kato could not bring down Muranaka who doubled up twice against him.

Kato recovered some of the lost chips after extracting maximum value off Chan. With a straight, Kato shoved the river and got paid when Chan couldn't let go of a flopped second pair.

Chan tanks to Kato's river shove

After the loss, Chan shoved the flop with bottom pair only to see Muranaka holding the same pair with a higher kicker to finish in 4th place.

Then came a cruel case of déjà vu for Inamura.

During Flight A, Inamura cracked pocket kings with ace-king to burst the money bubble.

This time, he found himself on the wrong side of the very same matchup. Risking it all with K ♠️ K ♣️ against Muranaka's A ♦️ K ♦️, Inamura watched two aces find the flop to end his run in 3rd place.

This set up heads up with Muranaka holding the chip lead over Kato. In fewer than ten hands, it was all over.

Heads up: Rintaro Kato and Tsutomu Muranaka

On a board 7 ♣️ Q ♠️ 8 ♦️ 7 ♦️, Kato committed his remaining chips with top pair A ♥️ Q ♣️, Muranaka snapped with 9 ♣️ 7 ♠️ trips. The 8 ♠️ river sealed the win with a full house as Kato settled for a runner-up finish.

With no prior stats in THM, this may well be Muranaka's first international poker series cash and title.

Event Results

Kakeru Murakami Commands Heads Up for Single Day High Roller Title

Kakeru Murakami - Event #25: Single Day High Roller champion

Dong Yan looked on course for the Event #25: Single Day High Roller title as he led the counts throughout much of the six-handed table until the tide turned at heads-up.

Kakeru Murakami chipped away at Yan's stack, winning pot after pot to capture the GOP Gold Spartan trophy.

Single Day High Roller – Final Results

*Deal at heads up

Yan arrived in Incheon today riding a hot streak. A familiar face in the GOP circuit, he finished eighth at the previous Incheon Main Event before tearing up GOP Taipei with four final tables across six cashes, which included two victories.

After Yan eliminated Keigo Uchimura in 3rd place with pocket aces over ace-two, it was heads up / bubble round against Murakami. Both players instantly struck a deal that ensured 2nd place a payout of KR₩ 2,000,000.

Winning hand

With two dealers, the fast action saw Murakami pick up pot after pot, with hidden straights and higher pairs. After steadily eating into Yan's advantage, he took the lead. Though Yan managed to double up once with king-jack over queen-jack, the comeback didn't last.

The final hand arrived with Murakami dominating throughout to lock up his first ever international live title and GOP trophy.

Event Results

Dong Yan Bounces Back With NL Omaha Winner-Take-All Victory

Dong Yan - NL Omaha Winner-Take-All Turbo champion

Dong Yan may have missed out on the Single Day High Roller title, but he wasn't done for the day. He jumped straight into the NL Omaha Winner-Take-All Turbo – KR₩ 300,000 Bounty and this time went all the way for his career third GOP side event win.

Event Results

Ryohei Takahashi Wins NL Hold'em

Ryohei Takahashi wins NL Hold'em

Day 4's Event #24: NL Hold'em attracted 61 entries, making it the largest single-day event of the series so far. With a KR₩ 550,000 buy-in, the event generated a KR₩ 29,280,000 prize pool, divvied among the top nine finishers.

Emerging victorious was international field newcomer Ryohei Takahashi, who defeated the more experienced Kenichi Takarabe at heads up to capture his first live poker title, the GOP Shield trophy, and a KR₩ 9,420,000 top prize.

Other First Time Winners and Veteran Pros

Another two first timers picked up GOP Shields - Junichi Kubo and Oki Nishizaki. Between the two, Kubo was fresh off an 8th place finish at the Titan Stack event when he jumped in the 5-Card PL Omaha High then took it to the limit.

This was also Kubo's third cash for him to be eligible for the Player of the Series title.

Junichi Kubo - 5-Card PL Omaha High

Oki Nishizaki - Titan Stack Turbo

The last two champions of the night were Japan's Kozo Yamada and Taiwanese pro Yen Han Chen. Chen is one of the worlds most recognizable poker players. Both players arrived today and came out as champions for their first-ever GOP titles.

Kozo Yamada - Hyper Turbo

Yen Han Chen - Hyper Turbo High Roller

Congratulations to all the winners!

Player of the Series Leadersboard Update

The Players of the Series title is officially on with three players so far eligible for the crown. To qualify, players need to cash a minimum of three times. All trophy events are point-generating.

Links:

Day 4 - Results

Players of the Series Leaderboard

GOP Incheon II - Photos

GOP Incheon II - Schedule