Jeju, South Korea (July 22, 2023) – Yin Tao conquered the WPT® Korea main event field of 758 entrants Saturday evening at Jeju Shinhwa World. Tao, from China, earned a prize of $232,667 in the special event hosted by the World Poker Tour® in South Korea.
The KRW 3,400,000 (USD $2,643) buy-in event generated a KRW 2,246,947,400 (USD $1,746,343) prize pool, which paid out the top 95 finishers. Stemming from the large field, it was announced on Day 3 of the tournament that play would extend an extra day to reach a winner.
“What an incredible experience Jeju has been, from the player turnout to the celebrations and all-around atmosphere.” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “Thank you to our partner Jeju Shinhwa World for the exceptional hospitality and for putting on a world class event. And congratulations to Yin Tao for becoming our WPT Korea champion.”
When the field was cut to three, the players negotiated an ICM deal to evenly allocate the remaining payouts, while still competing for the title and trophy. Former WPT Korea champion Valeriy Pak finished as the runner-up, claiming a payout of $197,332. Third place was Chao Ting Cheng who took home the largest payout of $251,595, derived from his chipleading position when the ICM deal was made.
The remaining final-table finishers were Jian Guo Shu (4th place – $115,545), Chun Hao Zhang (5th place – $86,994) and Toshihide Sawada (6th place – $64,673). Other notable players that cashed were Steve O’Dwyer (29th place – $9,470), Michael Wang (59th place), and American actress, singer, and model Arden Cho (80th place – $4,858).
Beginning with Day 1A on July 17, the entire event was livestreamed. Feature-table play from each day can be found on the WPT YouTube Channel. All photos from WPT Korea can be accessed via our Flickr Page.
Another marquee event of the WPT Korea festival was the KRW 170,000,000 (USD $132,126) buy-in WPT Alpha8 for One Drop at Jeju Shinhwa World. The tournament drew 18 entries and a prize pool of KRW 2,846,016,000 (USD $2,211,958). Professional poker player Steve O’Dwyer ended in the winner’s circle, taking home the first-place prize of just over USD $1,000,000.
Next up on the World Poker Tour is a couple of Prime stops. Starting August 2 is WPT Prime Aix-en-Provence, featuring a €1,100 buy-in and livestreamed final table on the final day, Aug 6. Directly following the stop in southern France is the WPT Prime Taiwan festival. The schedule of events begins Aug 8 with the TWD 33,000 buy-in from Aug 17-21, which boasts the first-ever $1,000,000 Prime prize pool guarantee in Asia.
For more information regarding this and all World Poker Tour events, visit WPT.com.
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