Hugues Girard Heads Final 16 in Red Dragon Classic as Li Ta Hsu Wins Fourth Title at JPF
Jeju Poker Festival 2026 has officially passed the halfway mark, with eight of its 15 days now complete at LES A Casino. Hugues Girard leads the final 16 of the Red Dragon Classic Championship with 2,730,000 as the players return today chasing a share of the KRW 1,442,880,000 (~USD 1,075,170) prize pool.
Jiaxian Pan bagged the lead on Day 1 of the Red Dragon Prestige High Roller, and the JPF 3rd Anniversary Event got underway with two flights. The Red Dragon Poker Tour's Prestige High Roller drew 76 entries, while Li Ta Hsu won his fourth title of the festival.
Girard Leads Red Dragon Classic Final 16
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Hugues Girard
Day 2 of the Red Dragon Classic started with 138 players, and 101 were paid at least KRW 5,050,000 (~USD 3,760). Joseph Cheong, 3rd in the Dragon's Gate High Roller the night before, was the unlucky bubble in 102nd, while overnight leader Bowen Yi fell in 70th.
Girard did plenty of damage on his way to the lead. He called down with ace-high to pick off a bluff from Peng Deng, then made a full house with pocket sevens to leave Zhuoqi Li short after Li mucked a rivered straight.
Lifeng Lu (2,185,000) survived a preflop five-bet war against Shengnan Wang, his ace-queen of diamonds turning the nut flush against ace-king.
Day 1C leader Jing Su sits third on 2,310,000 behind new arrival Lao Wu (2,415,000), while Wing Yin Lee called a big river bet with a rivered straight to stay in contention.
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Maxim Lykov
Maxim Lykov, KPC Main Event finalist Aleksandras Rusinovas and Youfan Zhang, who flopped a set of jacks to eliminate Martin Sedlak in 49th, are also through. Aaron Lim was the last player out in 17th for KRW 9,950,000 (~USD 7,410).
Red Dragon Classic Top 10 Stacks
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hugues Girard | France | 2,730,000 |
| 2 | Lao Wu | China | 2,415,000 |
| 3 | Jing Su | China | 2,310,000 |
| 4 | Lifeng Lu | China | 2,185,000 |
| 5 | Lei Li | China | 2,030,000 |
| 6 | Maxim Lykov | Russia | 1,980,000 |
| 7 | Mingchen Zhang | China | 1,805,000 |
| 8 | Aleksandras Rusinovas | Lithuania | 1,715,000 |
| 9 | Yichen Wu | China | 1,660,000 |
| 10 | Youfan Zhang | China | 1,560,000 |
Jiaxian Pan Leads Prestige High Roller
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Jiaxian Pan
The KRW 8,000,000 Red Dragon Prestige High Roller drew 76 entries for a KRW 536,682,000 (~USD 399,910) prize pool, and 33 players return for Day 2. Jiaxian Pan bagged the lead with 2,501,000, having been on 281,500 early in the day.
Michel Molenaar re-entered and finished just behind Pan with 2,465,000, while Zhi Ye, the Dragon's Gate High Roller bubble, bounced back to bag 1,821,000. Chengcai Pan doubled up Wei Sun when his check-raise all in with bottom pair ran into pocket kings.
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Fabian Gumz
KPC Main Event finalist Fabian Gumz (1,184,000), Florian Duta and Cheong are also through, while Baby Dragon champion Ranno Sootla, Sedlak and Seunghyun Nam were among those who fell.
Prestige High Roller Day 1 Top 10 Stacks
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jiaxian Pan | China | 2,501,000 |
| 2 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | 2,465,000 |
| 3 | Zhi Ye | China | 1,821,000 |
| 4 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | 1,184,000 |
| 5 | Yuan Li | China | 945,000 |
| 6 | Weiran Pu | China | 923,000 |
| 7 | Wei Sun | China | 899,000 |
| 8 | Florian Duta | Romania | 790,000 |
| 9 | Manh Cuong Bui | Vietnam | 773,000 |
| 10 | Petr Rudnev | Russia | 762,000 |
JPF 3rd Anniversary Event Underway
The KRW 2,000,000 JPF 3rd Anniversary Event has drawn 117 entries across its first two flights, building a KRW 202,176,000 (~USD 150,650) prize pool.
Yi Ma led the 14 players through from Day 1A with 404,000, and content creator Takashi Yagura bagged 274,000. Day 1B drew 29 entries, with Guoan Yuan topping the five survivors on 311,000 and Baby Dragon 3rd-place finisher Bizhen Li also through.
Side Event Winners
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Dajie Zhuo
Li Ta Hsu won the PL Drawmaha High Sviten on a re-entry for his fourth title of the festival, and Sishu Peng took the NLH Atomic Pineapple Hyper Turbo after cashing 30th in the Red Dragon Classic.
Tianjiao Fang topped a 90-entry field in the NL Hold'em Bounty Hyper Turbo, and Phuong Ngoc Nguyen won the NL Hold'em Pineapple Super Hyper Turbo before cashing 18th in the Red Dragon Classic.
| Event | Buy-in | Entries | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #59 NL Hold'em Pineapple Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 300,000 | 26 | Phuong Ngoc Nguyen | Vietnam | KRW 2,585,000 |
| #61 2-7 Mix Championship | KRW 1,500,000 | 15 | Xinhong Li | China | KRW 9,160,000 |
| #63 PL Drawmaha High Sviten | KRW 600,000 | 20 | Li Ta Hsu | Taiwan | KRW 4,678,000 |
| #64 NL Hold'em Bounty Hyper Turbo | KRW 600,000 + 100,000 | 90 | Tianjiao Fang | China | KRW 11,943,000 |
| #65 NLH Atomic Pineapple Hyper Turbo | KRW 300,000 | 13 | Sishu Peng | China | KRW 1,913,000 |
| #66 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 500,000 | 41 | Dajie Zhuo | China | KRW 5,718,000 |
Schedule: Thursday, 5 November
| Start | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | #41 Red Dragon Classic Championship Day 3 | KRW 2,500,000 |
| 12:00 | #60 JPF 3rd Anniversary Event Day 1C | KRW 2,000,000 |
| 13:00 | #62 Red Dragon Prestige High Roller Day 2 | KRW 8,000,000 |
| 13:00 | #68 PL Big O Fanatic Day 1A | KRW 800,000 |
| 13:00 | #69 NL Hold'em Survivor Bounty (20% of the field) | KRW 800,000 |
| 17:00 | #70 NL Hold'em | KRW 1,000,000 |
| 17:00 | #71 NL Hold'em Single Day High Roller | KRW 5,000,000 |
| 18:30 | #68 PL Big O Fanatic Day 1B | KRW 800,000 |
| 19:00 | #60 JPF 3rd Anniversary Event Day 1D | KRW 2,000,000 |
| 20:00 | #72 NL Hold'em High Roller Hyper Turbo | KRW 2,000,000 |
| 21:00 | MS12 Milestone Satellite to Red Dragon | KRW 500,000 |
| 21:30 | #73 NL Super Hold'em Hyper Turbo | KRW 400,000 |
| 22:00 | #74 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 500,000 |
| 23:59 | #75 NL Hold'em Crazy Pineapple Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 400,000 |
The Red Dragon Classic and the Prestige High Roller both play down to a winner, the JPF 3rd Anniversary Event runs two more flights, and the KRW 5,000,000 Single Day High Roller starts at 17:00. 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