The “pride of Hungary”, Mate Hanusi, has taken down the WPT Korea Main Event, turning a $110 satellite ticket into a monster $321,782 payday at the Landing Casino in Jeju, South Korea.
WPT Korea Main Event gathering lots of attention
The flagship $2080 buy-in Main Event attracted a field of 1065 entries, continuing the recent massive numbers that tournament poker has seen worldwide.
WPT Ambassador Phil Ivey and 2022 WSOP Main Event champ Espen Jorstad wereamong the runners, with Ivey firing bullets on days 1a and 1b to find a bag.
With a prizepool of KRW 2,603,286,000, equating to $1,934,424, it meant the $1.5million guarantee was shattered, but Ivey wasn’t among those who made the 134 paid spots on day 2. Jorstad, however, finished 75th for a small cash, $4521.
By close of play on day 3, only nine contenders for the WPT Korea crown remained, led by Taiwan’s Po Wen Fang with 65BB, with Hungary’s Hanusi the short stack in 9th place on roughly 14 bigs.
It took more than an hour and a half for the first bustout, Vietnam’s Duy Nguyen hitting the rail at the hands of Linghui Dai, one of four Chinese players left in the mix.
Next up it was Hanusi playing executioner, destroying Russian Valeriy Fokin’s hopes when all the chips went in pre-flop…
Hanusi: K♦ K♣
Fokin: A♦ 10♦
Flop: 3♣ 4♦ 9♥
Turn: Q♣
River: 8♦
Yayun Ding, one of two women at the final table, fell in 7th spot, followed by the Japan-based Azeri player, Aghayev, who lost a race with A♦7♦ against Chi Zhang’s pocket 5s.
Five-handed and with the stack-to-blinds ratio dwindling, Taiwan’s Powen Fang took a chance and was flushed away by Dai, the remaining four now having six-figure scores sewn up.
Hanusi’s tournament looked like it might end in 4th when he got it in good with AQ only to run into flopped two pair, but the turn Q saved him.
Dai the fell to Zhang’s flopped set, but then the Chinese player saw his jacks upended by compatriot Li Ma’s AQo, spiking an ace on the river to send Zhang out in 3rd for $158,624.
Hanusi and Ma fighting for the crown
Surprisingly, perhaps, given the massive sums involved, there was no talk of a deal, Hanusi and Ma battling for a difference of more than $100,000.
The heads-up finale when it arrived was a standard showdown, Ma all-in and at risk…
Hanusi: 8♥ 8♣
Ma: A♦9♠
Flop: J♦ 5♠ Q♦
Turn: K♥
River: 4♣
Hanusi’s resurrection from final table short stack was complete, the VIP Grinders player from Hungary scooping the $321,782 top prize as well as the WPT Korea trophy and winner’s ring.
WPT Korea Main Event Final results
1 Mate Hanusi $321,782
2 Li Ma $214,663
3 Chi Zhang $158,624
4 Linghui Dai $118,450
5 Powen Fang $89,337
6 Farhad Aghayev $68,103
7 Yayun Ding $52,492
8 Valeriy Fokin$40,876
9 Duy Nguyen $32,182
Afterwards, Hanusi revealed he had won his seat via a $110WPT Global satellite, a one-shot winthat turned into a Korean dream come true.
Although he has no specific plans to celebrate, Hanusi explained that the WPT Korea experience was, “worth travelling from Europe – a nice tournament and a good field, with a lot of Chinese players.”
The next WPT stop in Asia is Macau, running June 18-24.
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