Golden Lion roars for Junjie He in biggest-ever APT Korean Main Event

Poker in Asia is booming and the Asian Poker Tour (APT) is flying. The Main Event in Incheon was the biggest APT event to be held in South Korea and 1,281 entries created a total prize pool of just over $2 million. 

The last nine players took to the final table on Saturday to play for the $350,000 first prize and the Golden Lion trophy, with Junjie He holding the biggest stack and almost 25% of the chips in play.

They didn’t mess around either. It took just over four hours to find the winner, helped by two eliminations in the first few hands and the remaining three players agreeing to do an ICM chop, leaving $25,000 and the trophy to play for. All three got a $10K seat to the APT Main Event in Taipei in November. That's set to break records again with a $5 million guaranteed prize pool. 

Kouki Okumiya will have been the happiest player to do the deal. He started the final table as the short stack and was at risk on the first hand of the final table, with aces against a flush draw. He held there to double and the deal saw him lock in by far the biggest cash of his career.

The final nine players contested an action-packed final table in Incheon.

Kiyoto eliminated in third

The first big collision after the deal saw Kuroda Kiyoto double up with . He moved all-in and was called by He with in the big blind. 

The board ran out with neither player holding a spade. Kiyoto was still the shortest stack but was right on the heels of He.

Kiyoto couldn’t keep the momentum going, though, and was eliminated after raising preflop with . Okumiya called with and the flop was enough for both players to commit the rest of their chips. Kiyoto had the best of it but the runout gave the pot to Okumiya and took the action heads-up.

• Junjie He: 29,000,000 (73 BB)
• Kouki Okumiya: 22,000,000 (55 BB)

The stacks were built for some serious play but heads-up lasted only two hands. 

Kuoki Okumiya came second but only lasted two hands heads-up for the trophy.

The final hand saw both players dealt a king — Okumiya had and He had . 

The flop hit He square in the face but it was Okumiya who saw stars. Okumiya four-bet jammed and He called and was delighted to see that he was a 95% lock to win the 24K Gold Lion trophy.

Okumiya had to go runner-runner and was hoping to see a club on the turn to at least give him a sweat. The turn sealed the win for He. 

After his victory, He said, “I’m definitely very excited. I’ve always wanted to win a big Main Event title, and this time I did it. The trophy is beautiful — really cool. I’ve always believed that if you keep doing the right things, you will eventually get results. This is great proof of that. I hope I can continue doing the right things in the future."

APT Incheon Main Event results

*Denotes three-way ICM deal