Liuheng Dai Wins the 2019 PokerStars APPT Jeju High Roller (?70,999,000|$61,400)
The last ?6,000,000 High Roller of the 2019 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour Jeju is over, and it was China's Liuheng Dai the player who was left in the end with all the chips in front of him. Liuheng Dai not only topped his best live cash with this win, but he also more than doubled his lifetime earnings from poker tournaments.
His best cash so far was a first place for $40,183 in a China-based tournament, and his total earnings before this cash were $59,279, according to the Hendon Mob database. With this win, he took home the trophy plus ?70,999,000 (~$61,400) in prize money.
Dai defeated another Chinese player in the heads-up, Jingxuan Zhu, who would have to settle with the second place prize money of ?49,073,000 (~$42,400).
Dai spent most of his Day 1 away from the spotlight, and returned for Day 2 with the third biggest stack, among the 13 finalists. In order to reach to the first place, he had to win a massive three-way all in while the play was still four-handed, that put him in commanding lead in the tournament, even though he exchanged lead a couple of times during heads-up.
Final Result 2019 APPT Jeju ?6,000,000 FInal High Roller
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in KRW) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liuheng Dai | China | ?70,999,000 | $61,400 |
| 2 | Jingxuan Zhu | China | ?49,073,000 | $42,400 |
| 3 | Ye Wang | China | ?31,323,000 | $27,100 |
| 4 | Hao Tian | China | ?24,015,000 | $20,700 |
| 5 | Sahil Chuttani | India | ?18,794,000 | $16,250 |
| 6 | Xingbiao Zhu | China | ?14,618,000 | $12,600 |
Action of the day
Day 2 started with 13 players and pretty much everyone knew who will be the first to depart from the field. Genhan Li advanced with just one big blind, and even though he managed to win an all in, he was found earlier in a battle between big stacks and was eliminated. The next eliminations were those of Changyang Liu, Haoqi Xie, and Siqi He, sending the nine remaining players to the final table of the event.
At that moment, Yang Zhang was the player who had the chip lead and looked like he could be on his way for another deep run after his runner-up finish in this festival's Main Event. However, things never go as expected, especially in poker, as after the eliminations of Christopher Park (9th place), and Yuan Yilu (8th place), the bubble offered an unforgettable experience to Yang Zhang.
In the crucial hand, Ye Wang had the lead 7-handed, and was shoving here and there preflop to win the blinds, and put pressure to his opponents. In one of those hands, Wang shoved from the button and Yang Zhang was in the big blind with more than 30 big blinds. At the same moment, there were several short stacks in the table, and they were happy to see Yang Zhang call Wang's shove with ace-jack, to face his opponent's king-nine. A king on the flop was enough to send Yang Zhang to the rail, and the remaining six players in the money.
When the players reached the money, they were very close in the counts, meaning that it could be anybody's game. The actual winner, Liuheng Dai, had just 90,000 in chips, equal to 9 big blinds.
The first elimination in the money, was that of Xingbiao Zhu, who was unfortunate enough to see his aces being cracked by Ye Wang's ten-eight, when he hit two tens for trips in turn and river, respectively.
Just a couple of hands passed, and it was time for the second elimination in the money, with Sahil Chuttani losing a flip with fours versus Tian's ace-eight.
Hao Tian put a closure to an extremely successful festival for him here in Jeju, since after his runner-up finish in the first High Roller, he had a fourth place finish in the last High Roller. He was the victim of a big three-way all in were Ye Wang was also left crippled, and Liuheng Dai took the big lead in the fight for the title. Tian had ace-queen in the small blind, and saw Ye Wang shove from the button with king-jack, only for Dai to wake up in the big blind with ace-king and win them both. With this cash, Hao Tian reached ?66,797,000 (~$57,700) in prizes only in Jeju's festival.
The leader of Day 1 was the player who busted in third place, after losing the biggest part of his stack during the previous three-way all in. He put his last four big blinds in the middle to get called by both the other players, who checked down the board till the river, and Dai made a pair to beat Wang's pocket threes.
Heads-up had to be as exciting as the rest of the final table, and it sure didn't disappoint anyone. Dai started with the chip lead but the two players were willing to risk their stacks from the first hand, so Jingxuan Zhu took the lead pretty soon. In the first all in situation of the heads-up play, the board was in the turn, Dai had a pair and a gutshot, while Jingxuan Zhu had top two pair and held in the river to take the lead, as the two players swapped positions in the counts.
Right after that, there was another all in between the two, and this time it was Dai who was in danger, and in need of a lot of help. He had threes against Zhu's nines, but he spiked a magic three on the flop to double-up, and retake the lead.
The final hand was another setup for the two players, as the dealer gave them queens and kings, so the preflop all in was unavoidable, based on how aggressive the two players were. Dai was the one who had kings and was slightly covering his opponent, and after five community cards he was lifting the trophy in the air of Landing Casino's poker room.
Here is the finish line for PokerNews coverage of the 2019 PokerStars APPT Jeju, but more exciting live events are to come, so stay tuned to the only place that brings to you everything about the world of live poker.