Yichen Wu Eyes Back-to-Back Red Dragon Main Event Titles With Massive Final Table Lead
Red Dragon Classic champion Yichen Wu is the overwhelming favourite to win back-to-back main events at Jeju Poker Festival 2026, taking 10,400,000 into the Red Dragon Plus Championship final table at LES A Casino, more than double his nearest rival.
Ruiyang Wang won the Red Dragon Plus Mini Main, and Seunghyun Nam leads the USD 12,000 Red Dragon Prestige Super High Roller.
Wu Closes In on Back-to-Back Titles
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Yichen Wu
The Red Dragon Poker Tour's KRW 4,000,000 headline event resumed with 42 players from 407 entries, all chasing a share of the KRW 1,800,000,000 (~USD 1,341,280) prize pool.
Wu, who won the Red Dragon Classic for KRW 266,980,000 (~USD 198,940) less than a week ago, said after that win that he wanted to become a Red Dragon double champion. He now has almost a third of the chips in play with nine left.
Early Exits
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John Matsuda
Day 2 chip leader Jakob Karlsson flopped trips with eight-seven of hearts to climb to around three times the average early on. The Swede could not hold on, though, and went out in 20th for KRW 13,150,000 (~USD 9,800).
John Matsuda followed in 21st, while Atsushi Yokoyama (28th), Zhi Ye (32nd) and Michel Molenaar (40th) also cashed.
Qian Liu turned a straight with ace-four to knock out Xiangyu Yu, and Kyungtae Min doubled through Chen Wang when his king-eight caught a king.
Yagura and Zhu Make Their Moves
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Xixiang Luo
Takashi Yagura moved all in on a jack-five-six flop with pocket aces, and Xixiang Luo called with jack-five for two pair. A six on the river counterfeited Luo, leaving him with four big blinds.
Luo got his remaining chips in shortly after when he turned a straight with jack-eight, but Shuanghong Zhu had flopped a set of queens and made a flush on the river to send him out in 16th.
Xugang Zhang then got Yagura to fold trip kings face up with a river bluff, holding just ten-eight.
Down to the Final Table
Weiyang Zhou's pocket aces held against Jianyi Ni's king-six of clubs to send Ni out in 15th.
Hyung Tai Kim fell in 14th, and Junqing Ge's ace-seven caught an ace on the turn against Hongjun Zhao's pocket threes in 13th.
Yagura's ace-king held against Weiwei Li's ace-ten in 12th, despite the flop giving Li chop outs. Wu then sent out Day 2 runner-up Zhengshan Hao in 11th when his pocket nines held against seven-six of hearts.
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Pan Hai
Zhou found pocket aces again on the final table bubble, three-betting from the big blind and getting a call from Pan Hai's pocket sevens. The aces held, and Pan left in 10th for KRW 19,250,000 (~USD 14,340).
Joseph Cheong heads to the final table sixth in chips, and Yagura is the shortest stack.
Red Dragon Plus Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yichen Wu | China | 10,400,000 |
| 2 | Qian Liu | China | 4,950,000 |
| 3 | Wenjie Sun | China | 3,425,000 |
| 4 | Weiyang Zhou | China | 2,950,000 |
| 5 | Xugang Zhang | China | 2,800,000 |
| 6 | Joseph Cheong | United States | 2,525,000 |
| 7 | Junqing Ge | China | 2,375,000 |
| 8 | Shuanghong Zhu | China | 1,625,000 |
| 9 | Takashi Yagura | Japan | 1,525,000 |
Ruiyang Wang Wins Mini Main
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Ruiyang Wang
The KRW 2,500,000 Red Dragon Plus Mini Main drew 53 entries for a KRW 114,480,000 (~USD 85,310) prize pool, and Day 1A chip leader Ruiyang Wang turned that start into the title for KRW 35,680,000 (~USD 26,590).
Overnight leader Hugues Girard finished 6th and Fabian Gumz 4th. Wang's ace-queen made a full house against Taku Okumura's ace-jack in 3rd, then flopped two pair against Alan Pham's king-four on just the second hand of heads-up.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruiyang Wang | China | KRW 35,680,000 |
| 2 | Alan Pham | Australia | KRW 22,700,000 |
| 3 | Taku Okumura | Japan | KRW 15,250,000 |
| 4 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | KRW 10,800,000 |
| 5 | Manh Cuong Bui | Vietnam | KRW 8,100,000 |
| 6 | Hugues Girard | France | KRW 6,450,000 |
| 7 | George Tomescu | Romania | KRW 5,500,000 |
| 8 | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | KRW 5,000,000 |
| 9 | Wenchao Liu | China | KRW 5,000,000 |
Nam Leads Prestige Super High Roller
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Seunghyun Nam
The USD 12,000 Red Dragon Prestige Super High Roller drew 18 entries on Day 1 for a USD 200,038 prize pool, with registration open for a short time on Day 2.
Nam leads the eight survivors with 2,130,000, just ahead of Sebastian Toro (1,860,000), who bounced back from bursting the Red Dragon Plus bubble.
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Calvin Lee
Calvin Lee (1,845,000), Gumz, Ranno Sootla and Florian Duta are also through, and Cheong has registered for Day 2.
Matas Cimbolas, Girard, Martin Sedlak, Molenaar and Prestige High Roller runner-up Weiran Pu were among those to fall.
Dragon Egg Mystery Bounty Day 1
The KRW 4,500,000 "We Poker" Dragon Egg Mystery Bounty ran two flights after Day 1A was moved, drawing 124 entries in total. Twenty-five players return for Day 2.
Prestige High Roller champion Shuai Li leads overall with 378,000 from Day 1C, while Jiaxian Pan topped Day 1B on 359,000. Iulian Blebea, Tomescu, Papazian and Zhi Ye are also through.
Side Event Winners
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Aleksandras Rusinovas
Aleksandras Rusinovas picked up his second title of the festival in the NL Hold'em Hyper Turbo. He went into heads-up with a big lead against Zheng Hu, lost it, then won it back before king-jack made two pair against ace-six on the final hand.
Xiangyu Yu took a second mixed-game title after a heads-up deal in the T.O.R.S.E Championship, and Weiyong Zeng won the 5 Card PLO Bounty Hyper Turbo.
| Event | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| #110 T.O.R.S.E Championship | Xiangyu Yu | China |
| #114 NL Hold'em Hyper Turbo | Aleksandras Rusinovas | Lithuania |
| #115 5 Card PLO Bounty Hyper Turbo | Weiyong Zeng | China |
| #116 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | Huafeng | China |
RDPT Taiwan Coming in 2027
The Red Dragon Poker Tour heads to Taiwan next year, with RDPT Taiwan running from 27 February to 7 March 2027.
The headline Red Dragon Championship has a buy-in of TWD 38,000. Keep an eye on Somuchpoker for the full schedule as it's announced.
Final Day Schedule: Wednesday, 11 November
| Start | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | #76 Red Dragon Plus Championship | KRW 4,000,000 |
| 12:00 | #104 "We Poker" Dragon Egg | KRW 2,500,000 + |
| 12:00 | #118 Dragon's Ascent Finale | KRW 1,500,000 |
| 13:00 | #112 Red Dragon Prestige Super High Roller | USD 12,000 |
| 13:00 | #119 PLO / NLH Mix | KRW 1,000,000 |
| 15:00 | #120 NL Hold'em Ultra Stack Turbo | KRW 1,000,000 |
| 18:00 | #121 NL Hold'em High Roller Hyper | KRW 2,000,000 |
| 18:30 | #122 PLO Hyper Turbo | KRW 300,000 |
| 20:00 | #123 NL Hold'em Super Hyper Turbo | KRW 600,000 |
Jeju Poker Festival 2026 reaches its final day, with Wu leading the last nine of the Red Dragon Plus Championship from 12:00.
The Prestige Super High Roller and the Dragon Egg Mystery Bounty also play down to a winner as the festival comes to a close. 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 Jeju Poker Festival.
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Source: SOMUCHPOKER
Original article: SoMuchPoker