GOP Jeju Main Event Swells To 441 Entries; Kevin Choi Claims Hong Kong's First Gauntlet

Day 6 at the Gods Of Poker debut taking place at LES A Casino in Jeju , South Korea delivered its strongest surge yet, as the Main Event’s final flight pulled in the largest crowd of the series. 

The day also witnessed the crowning of Yun Lam Kevin Choi at the Titan Stack High Roller, becoming the first player from Hong Kong to hoist the coveted GOP Gauntlet. For those stories and all of the day's winners, scroll down. 

GOP Jeju Main Event Flight D Brings Big Crowd; Reg Still Open

It was a big day at the GOP Main Event with the brand's signature Cronus Structure introducing its longest blind levels of four hours per level at Flight D. With the final heat's registration open through the full eight-hour window, it drew 197 entries. 

Ying Li

For players still on the rail, the door remains open for one last chance to jump in on Thursday, December 11 just before Flight D resumes at 12:30 PM. Short stacks aren’t out of options either. Anyone returning with crumbs tomorrow will have the choice to forfeit and re-enter the flight with a fresh stack of 120,000 (30 big blinds). From there, the heat will play down to the money.

Chao Ting Cheng

At Flight D's opening two levels, 100 players remained at bagging time with China's Ying Li sitting on the largest stack of 589,500. 

In second position was Taiwan's Chao Ting Cheng with 580,000. Cheng knocked out two players simultaneously during the last hands called when his A ♠️ K ♥️ rivered a king to crack both Hua-Wei Lin and Jia Hao Jian's pocket queens. Rounding out the top three was Jia Qi He with 571,500. 

Other players surviving with big stacks were Gold Gauntlet winner Eng Loong Choi, Nevan Chang, Meng Ling Lin, Jin Bo, and Ronnie Tate who got full value with 3 ♦️ 4 ♦️ trips threes over Gemmy Tue An's pocket Sevens. 

For the complete list of Flight D survivors after two levels, click here.

Kevin Choi Crushes Titan Stack High Roller To Claim A Gauntlet

Another GOP Gauntlet is off the table after Hong Kong’s Yun Lam Kevin Choi bulldozed the Titan Stack High Roller final table to claim the magnificent trophy and the champion's payout of KR₩ 82,958,000 (∼USD 56,434). In a post-win interview with GOP host, Erica Tsang, Choi shared,

I feel happy, I am happy to be the first Hong Kong player to win the Gauntlet. The structure is quite novel. I started with 180,000 and then dropped to 18,000 when I lost with aces. Because the structure is quite slow, I was able to make my way back.

Event Recap

Two opening flights kicked off Event #37: Titan Stack High Roller on December 9 drawing 47 runners for a prize pool of KR₩ 243,648,000 (∼USD 165,000). The first flight bagged up when Marc Rivera shoved his short stack with Ace-Three on hand that slammed into Rudy Edenata's pocket Aces. 

Flight B also came to an end with rockets dropping the kill. It was a double knockout with Wenchao Liu's pocket Aces crushing Seunghyun Michael Nam's pocket Kings and Yankai Zhang's pocket eights to officially close Day 1 as chip leader. 

• Buy-in: KR₩ 6,000,000 (∼USD 4,070)
• Entries: 47
• Prize pool: KR₩ 243,648,000 (∼USD 165,000)
• ITM: 8 players

Titanic Stack High Roller - Finalists

Only eight players returned for the final day, and the action wasted no time thinning the field. Within the first hour, short stacks John Niko Costiniano and John Tech bowed out in succession, followed soon after by Ryan Plant in 6th place.

Five-handed play then settled into a grind until the stalemate finally cracked with the exit of Harry Halim. From there, the floodgates opened for Kevin Choi. His first strike came against Edenata, who shoved from the small blind with A ♥️ 3 ♥️ into Choi’s Q ♣️ Q ♠️, which held firm.

Titanic Stack Super High Roller - Heads-up

With a mountain of chips in front of him, Choi put them to work. Next on his chopping block was the day's entering chip leader Liu, who three-bet jammed over Meng Ling Lin’s open only to be snap-called by Choi. Liu tabled A ♥️ 6 ♣️ but Choi’s 10 ♠️ 10 ♦️ found a set on the flop, leaving Liu drawing dead.

Heads-up began with Choi holding a commanding 108 big blinds to Lin’s 32 big blinds. After a dozen hands of largely untouched stacks, Lin opened, then tank-called her tournament life with K ♥️ Q ♣️. Choi flipped over 4 ♦️ 4 ♥️. The board ran 3 ♦️ 5 ♠️ 9 ♠️ 6 ♠️ 5 ♣️ locking up the win for Choi and the Rose Gauntlet.

Despite the defeat, Lin’s runner-up finish capped another impressive performance having reached her second final table of the series.

For the Titan Stack High Roller details, click here.

Other Winners Of Day 6

Kazuki Okamoto wins Single Day High Roller

In addition to the festival highlights were several side events bringing action to the floor. By the time the floor cleared out, five players had also swept a portion of the awards table, all claiming their well-earned GOP hardware. Here were the day's winners: 

• Daqiao Jiang outlasted the 34 runners of Event #44: Medusa Head Hunter to earn a payout of KR₩ 6,725,600 (∼USD 4,600) and his first GOP Shield trophy.
• Kazuki Okamoto came through at Event #45: Single Day High Roller, besting a field of 19 entires for a payout of KR₩ 32,834,000 (∼USD 22,300) and his first GOP Spartan trophy.
• Arlene Rivera lifted today's Aphrodite's Event Mirror trophy making this her second win this series. Along with the matching merch, Rivera earned a payout of KR₩ 2,073,600 (∼USD 1,400).
• Daniil Shalaev picked up his second GOP Shield trophy and fourth cash of the series at Event #47: Big O - Turbo. His first was at Day 4's Event #31: 5-Card PLO Double Board Bomb Pot.  He has now earned a combined KR₩ 9,400,000 (∼USD 6,400).
• Thanpisit Manomaiphibul is one of the new arrivals who quickly picked up a win, taking down Event #48 Hyper Turbo for his first-ever GOP Shield trophy. Manomaiphibul topped a field of 20 runners, pocketing KR₩ 3,839,600 (∼USD 2,600) in winnings.
• Hua Wei Lin added a GOP Shield to her collection of poker trophies and KR₩ 15,552,000 (∼USD 10,500) after coming out on top of Event #49: Hyper Turbo High Roller's 40 entry field.

GOP Player of The Series

GOP Player of the Series crown

With six days of games now in the books, the GOP Player of the Series race continues to heat up. Jianfeng Sun currently leads the race. At Day 5, Sanjay Kumar Chaudhary tightened the gap after his victory at Event #43: Hyper Turbo High Roller for his fifth cash in this series, and Arjun Agarwal is ranked third. 

Listed below are the Top 5 players in points after six days of games:

To be in contention for the lone GOP Crown Trophy, players need to accrue the most number of points throughout the series and have cashed in at least three point-generating events. 

Along with the trophy, the POS winner will receive USD 1,500 in GOP Tournament Credits.

For second place, USD 1,000 in tournament credits will be awarded and for third place, $500 in tournament credits. 

For all of the GOP Player of the Series Leaderboard and Information, click here.

Fast Track To Eden Awakens

To enter the gates of Eden Awakens without having to wait in line, players are encouraged to complete the Les A Casino membership pre-registration in advance. Simply scan the QR code below to register before arrival and enjoy faster entry once you reach Jeju.

Links:

Eden Awakens - Complete Player Guide
Eden Awakens - Schedule
GOP Eden Awakens - Photo Gallery