Manh Cuong Bui Leads KPC High Roller as Dakota Anderson Tops KPC Main Event Day 1B at JPF
Manh Cuong Bui bagged the chip lead on Day 1 of the KPC High Roller at Jeju Poker Festival 2026, finishing with 748,000 as 25 players advanced from a field of 50 entries. In the KPC Main Event, Dakota Anderson leads Day 1B at LES A Casino after a late-night chip rush.
Day 1C also played out, taking the KPC Poker Main Event to 348 entries with two flights still to come.
Bui Leads KPC High Roller
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Manh Cuong Bui
The KRW 5,000,000 KPC High Roller built a KRW 216,001,600 (~USD 160,960) prize pool, and 25 players return today to play down to a winner. Bui, who finished 5th in the opening day's Single Day High Roller, needed a re-entry but finished the night with a stack well clear of the field, ahead of Yilong Wang (474,000) and Qinxue Jiang (447,000).
Mingchen Zhang rivered a full house with king-queen and got a pot-sized bet called by Ningyi You's pocket aces, though You recovered to bag 446,000. Ziyu Gao won a big pot from Zhi Ye when both held king-queen and a spade on the river gave Gao a flush.
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Ziyu Gao
Fresh from re-entering, Nang Quang Nguyen eliminated Single Day High Roller champion Anton Florin when his ace-ten turned a straight against ace-eight.
Fabian Gumz (422,000) and Jianting Cai (402,000) bagged top-six stacks after both also survived KPC Main Day 1A. Joseph Cheong, two-time APPT Main Event winner Aaron Lim and Wynn Summer Classic winner Sebastian Toro Henao are also through.
Ranno Sootla, Michel Molenaar, Seunghyun Nam and Aaron Gao were among those who fell.
KPC High Roller Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manh Cuong Bui | Vietnam | 748,000 |
| 2 | Yilong Wang | China | 474,000 |
| 3 | Qinxue Jiang | China | 447,000 |
| 4 | Ningyi You | China | 446,000 |
| 5 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | 422,000 |
| 6 | Jianting Cai | China | 402,000 |
| 7 | George Mircea Tomescu | Romania | 388,000 |
| 8 | Hyunyeong Kang | South Korea | 359,000 |
| 9 | Jaemoon Seok | South Korea | 350,000 |
| 10 | Mingchen Zhang | China | 337,000 |
Anderson Leads KPC Main Event Day 1B
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JPF 2026 Day 2: Bui Leads KPC High Roller, Anderson Tops Main Event Day 1B
Day 1B of the KPC Main Event drew 185 entries, with 28 players cashing and 24 advancing to Day 2. Dakota Anderson bagged the lead with 465,000, just ahead of Yuqi Chang on 456,000.
He eliminated Lifeng Lu when the river gave his pocket kings a flush against a straight, then sent out Haonan Tian with trip kings.
Kok Cheng Chai was the bubble, his pocket tens falling to Renqiang Wang's pocket kings. Earlier, Sheng Zhong almost walked away from a pot he had won after rivering a flush with ace-queen against pocket jacks, and Zhiqi Li nearly mucked a winning straight before seeing Jingwei Cheng's trip eights.
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Yiwen Guan
Jiawen Xue, the TLPT Jeju Main Event champion, had her stack dented when Xiaoxiao Chen rivered a full house with king-deuce.
She went out in Level 8, shoving queen-five on the flop into Yao Wang's pocket aces. Wang also sent out Yiwen Guan, rivering a full house with pocket jacks to crack her queens.
Florian Duta, Maxim Lykov, Slaven Popov and Chi Jen Chen also fell, while Youfan Zhang cashed for the second flight running.
KPC Main Event Day 1B Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakota Anderson | United States | 465,000 |
| 2 | Yuqi Chang | China | 456,000 |
| 3 | Hui Liu | China | 377,000 |
| 4 | Jing Su | China | 368,000 |
| 5 | Zhen Xu | China | 368,000 |
| 6 | Enze Shi | China | 349,000 |
| 7 | Long Chen | China | 312,000 |
| 8 | Yuefeng Pan | China | 307,000 |
| 9 | Renqiang Wang | China | 288,000 |
| 10 | Thi My Phuong Nguyen | Vietnam | 241,000 |
Wei Shen Leads Day 1C
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Wei Shen
Day 1C drew 63 entries, and eight players bagged for Day 2, led by Wei Shen on 475,000. Yang Su has now bagged two flights after adding 64,000 to the 15,000 he finished with on Day 1A, while Xue's exit from 1C ended her run across all three flights so far.
KPC Main Event Day 1C Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wei Shen | China | 475,000 |
| 2 | Shaoping Xiao | China | 426,000 |
| 3 | Weiyang Zhou | China | 343,000 |
| 4 | Phuong Ngoc Nguyen | Vietnam | 288,000 |
| 5 | Wei Sun | China | 121,000 |
| 6 | Wenwen Chen | China | 90,000 |
| 7 | Ruiyang Wang | China | 84,000 |
| 8 | Yang Su | China | 64,000 |
Side Event Winners
Taiwan's Yih Ming Hsu won the Big O Championship, while Li Ta Hsu took the NL 2-7 Single Draw. Dapeng Qiao finished runner-up in the Super Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo, with Daisuke Nakagawa 3rd for his second podium of the festival.
| Event | Buy-in | Entries | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #9 Big O Championship | KRW 1,500,000 | 15 | Yih Ming Hsu | Taiwan | KRW 9,160,000 |
| #13 NL 2-7 Single Draw | KRW 600,000 | 13 | Li Ta Hsu | Taiwan | KRW 3,860,000 |
| #15 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 400,000 | 28 | Xuliang | China | KRW 3,470,000 |
| #16 NL Super Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 300,000 | 16 | Xin Jiang | China | KRW 1,847,000 |
Schedule: Friday, 30 October
| Start | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 | MS5 Milestone Satellite to KPC Main Event | KRW 300,000 |
| 12:00 | #3 KPC Main Event Day 1D | KRW 1,300,000 |
| 13:00 | #12 KPC High Roller Day 2 | KRW 5,000,000 |
| 13:00 | #17 FL Dealer's Choice | KRW 1,000,000 |
| 13:00 | #18 NL Hold'em | KRW 800,000 |
| 17:00 | #19 NL Hold'em Bounty | KRW 800,000 |
| 17:00 | #20 KPC Single Day High Roller | KRW 3,000,000 |
| 18:30 | #21 5 Card PLO | KRW 500,000 |
| 20:00 | #3 KPC Main Event Day 1E | KRW 1,300,000 |
| 21:00 | MS6 Milestone Satellite to Baby Dragon Classic | KRW 300,000 |
| 21:30 | #22 NL 6 Card Archie Single Draw Hyper Turbo | KRW 400,000 |
| 22:00 | #23 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 400,000 |
| 23:59 | #24 NL Hold'em Crazy Pineapple Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 300,000 |
The KPC High Roller plays down to a winner from 13:00, the KRW 3,000,000 KPC Single Day High Roller starts at 17:00, and Day 1D and Day 1E close out the Main Event's starting flights. Follow the full schedule on the Jeju Poker Festival 2026 page.
Follow Somuchpoker on Facebook and Instagram for updates throughout the festival.
Images and data courtesy of RDPT and KPC.
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Source: SOMUCHPOKER
Original article: SoMuchPoker