Li Yin Leads The Final 12 Of The GOP Jeju Main Event

On Friday, December 12, 2025, Gods Of Poker welcomed in Day 2 of the Main Event taking place at LES A Casino in Jeju, South Korea. From an initial field of 481 entries, just 66 players resumed the chase for the first-ever GOP title.

Before cards were in the air, brand CEO Ray Chiu addressed the room, offering his gratitude to all the players for embracing the tour’s debut and to the sponsors and venue for bringing the vision to life. Chiu said warmly,

"We created Gods Of Poker because we believe everyone has a chance to ascend to godhood in poker. Thank you everyone for your support. We would also like to thank the LES A Casino team who helped make this all happen, including our partners and supporters - CTP Club, JPPS, iPoker, and UP Poker, Jasper Chu, and to all the other sponsors. Of course, I would like to thank my team for their hard work." 

From there, the first shuffle was tabled and it was a race to reach one of the coveted final 9 seats. That however did not happen as it was announced later on that the event would only play until the end of Level 19 or to the Final 9 players, whichever was first reached. 

Li Yin - Day 2 chip leader

At the closing buzzer, 12 players still remained led by Li Yin with a stack of 10,285,000. Yin  eliminated more than a handful of players, among them were Wenchao Liu and Alan King Lun Lau. Yin was one five players from China who advanced to the final day. 

Japan's Kazuki Okamoto emerged as the second largest with 8,065,000 in chips. Coming final day, Okamoto will be the only player representing his country in the lineup. 

Locking up third rank was Taiwan's breakout player, Meng Ling Lin, who is at GOP Jeju chasing GPI points. Lin is currently running fourth in the ladies bracket and if she goes the distance, she will likely climb up a rung or two. 

Lin stormed out of the gates at Day 2, eliminating Joris Michl on the first hand of the day. She continued to cause havoc at the table, cleaning out GOP Player of the Series frontrunner Mike Takayama also during the opening level. Later in the day, Lin made a big hero-call to Joshua Figuerres the big pot and expose his bluff. She bagged up the third largest stack of Day 2 with 7,555,000. 

Kenji Hata, Elmer Kalaquian, Brian Green

Another player making his presence felt was Elmer Kalaquian who entered Day 2 running second-in-chips and stayed the course. Kalaquian bested overnight chip leader Peng Deng in a couple of big hands and even delivered a double knockout to Brian Green and Kenji Hata to end the day running fourth in chips. 

When play resumes on Saturday, December 13 at 12:45 PM, the returnees are all guaranteed KR₩ 13,620,000 (~USD 9,000) of the KR₩ 1,000,000,000 prize pool (∼USD 700,000) prize pool. But of course, all focus will be on the KR₩ 203,830,000 (∼USD 138,000) champion's prize and the irresistible GOP Black-and-Gold Gauntlet. 

The final day will open at Level 20 with blinds of 100K-200K ante 200K. Average stack is 24 big blinds which means action will be fast from the get-go. 

For the Main Event prize pool, click here.

For the Final Day chip counts and seat chart, click here.

Stay tuned as GOP brings you the Final Day action until the champion is crowned.