GOP Olympians and Three New Champions Light Up Day 1 in Incheon

The first GOP Shields are off the shelf as Gods of Poker Incheon: The Labyrinth Trail wrapped up Day 1 at Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea. Three players walked away with their maiden GOP titles while the GOP Olympians drew 108 entries across four starting flights, with only 17 remaining to contest the title.

Click here for Day 1 results and scroll down for all the highlights.

GOP Olympians Down to Final 17 After Fiercely Contested Opening Day

Event #1: GOP Olympians wasted no time turning up the heat on the festival's opening day. Hero calls, crushing coolers, and a constant shuffle at the top of the chip counts kept the mood high across all four flights.

Alexander Ugay tops Day 1 flights

Emerging with the overall chip lead was Alexander Ugay, who dominated Flight A, bagging 773,000. Ugay was no stranger to this event, having finished 17th during GOP's previous visit to Incheon.

This time, he was determined to take it much further. Among Ugay's casualties was Li Vadim Illarionovich, whose trip-fours was no match against a full house.

Despite Ugay's big stack, come final day, he will have little room to relax as Flight B leader Nobuyuki Nakaoka will bring in a close 713,000.

Nobuyuki Nakaoka

Nakaoka's top story came against then-chip leader Hiroshi Motomura, who triple-barrel shoved the river with A ♥️ J ♣️ on a board 2 ♣️ 4 ♣️ 10 ♠️ 9 ♥️ Q ♠️. Nakaoka held 9 ♣️ 5 ♣️ mid-pair and after two time extensions, he made a spectacular hero-call for his tournament life.

Haisheng Qiu

Another familiar face making headway was Haisheng Qiu, who finished sixth at the previous GOP Incheon Main Event. Qiu took a steadier route through Flight C, grinding his way past early frontrunners Shimizu Atsuto and Hua Huang to bag the flight's biggest stack.

Yuma Endo

If the 17 survivors have anyone to thank for a little extra breathing room on the final day, it's Yuma Endo. The Flight D chip leader sent two players packing in quick succession to burst the bubble early and trigger a welcome rollback of the blinds to 4,000-8,000.

That will give the shortest stack, Nattichai Sutipanwihan, a healthier 21 big blinds to work with, while overall leader Ugay will return with 96 big blinds.

All 17 finalists have now secured a share of the KR₩ 41,472,000 prize pool with KR₩ 10,772,000 awaiting the champion.

Interesting tidbit: the final day seat draw places the three biggest stacks together at Table 6. Even more intriguing, Ugay and Nakaoka will be sitting just two seats apart with Ugay in position.

Final day kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday, October 31. 

GOP Olympians: Flight Results | Payouts | Structure | Photos

First Timers Claim Opening Day Trophies

First-time winners emerge! Ryota Yamaguchi, Tsubasa Sasaki, and Bin Deng all celebrated their maiden GOP titles on opening day, each taking home a coveted GOP Shield.

Ryota Yamaguchi

Tsubasa Sasaki

Bin Deng

Yamaguchi outlasted at Event #2: PL Omaha, Sasaki triumphed in Event #4: Big O - Turbo, and Deng topped the NLH Hyper Turbo - Double Board.

Congratulations to all three champions!

Click here for Day 1 results.

Up Next: More Trophies, More Chances at Glory

The Labyrinth Trail has only just begun! With GOP Incheon II running through November 8, there are still plenty of trophies waiting to be claimed and more opportunities for Gauntlet chasers to lock one up.

For those eyeing the GOP High Roller, a satellite offers a much cheaper route into the KR₩ 6,600,000 event. For just KR₩ 1,100,000, players can take their shot at securing a seat by accumulating 280,000 chips. Once that target is reached, the seat is theirs, with a maximum of one seat per player.

Satellite to the GOP High Roller takes place on Saturday, October 31 starting at 5pm.

The GOP High Roller runs on Sunday, November 1 with Flight A at 1pm and Flight B at 8pm.

In collaboration with Japan Poker Players Services, another event to look forward to on Day 2 is the JPPS NLH. Buy-in is KR₩ 990,000 with cards in the air at 4pm.

And for the Ladies, come out and claim the GOP Aphrodite Mirror Trophy as the first of four Aphrodite's Events hits the felt at 3pm. Buy-in is KR₩ 330,000.

See you at the tables!

Links:

GOP Incheon II - Full Schedule