Lots of great poker action taking place in Malaysia with Poker Dream back at Resorts World Genting Highlands in Kuala Lumpur. Like its inaugural run, the high roller events have once again dragged in the industry’s biggest players and locals have come out in full force.
The series kicked off on January 9 and will run through January 15. Several events have already completed. Among the early winners were 2022 GPI National – Hong Kong winner Danny Tang, Thailand pro Phachara Wongwichit, and Malaysia’s Tan Zi Xuan. The two-day Super High Roller also wrapped up with Serbia’s Milos Skrbic capturing his first title on Asian soil.
The highly awaited MAIN EVENT lit up the felt today with a sizable 144 entering Day 1A. A much larger turnout is expected for the upcoming final two flights – Day 1B and Day 1C Turbo. Both flights take place on Friday, January 13 at 1pm and 8pm. Buy in is RM 5,000 (~$1,145). Certain to drive the rush is the RM 2,000,000 (~$457,400) guarantee which was boosted a generous RM 1M from the brand’s first visit. Click the link for the festival details and scroll down for some of the early highlights.
Poker Dream Malaysia – Player eGuide
Event 1: Warm Up – TAN ZI XUAN – RM 123,300 (~$ 28,200)
It was a mad rush from the get-go with amateurs and pros pulling up seats to the Warm Up event. Three entry flights were offered on opening day. A combined 592 signed up to easily crush the guarantee for a larger RM 799,200 prize pool. Unsurprisingly, the locals dominated the field and the final table with 6 out of 9 players hailing from the host country. Tan Zi Xuan captured his maiden victory along with a career high payout of RM 123,300 (~$28,200). He earned the first PD side event title of the year.
Buy in: RM 1,500 (~$345)
Guarantee: RM 300,000 (~$68,600)
Entries: 592
Prize pool: RM 799,200 (~$182,780)
ITM: 90 places
Final table payouts
Rank
Player
Flag
Payout in RM
1
Tan Zi Xuan
Malaysia
123,300
2
Yang Hsiang Jen
Taiwan
111,700
3
Alton Yong Kah Kin
Malaysia
63,710
4
Tan Ong Kwan
Malaysia
50,000
5
Teoh Beng Key
Malaysia
40,300
6
Chang Kok Leong
Malaysia
31,300
7
William Jia
Australia
23,000
8
Pitakparadon Papach
Thailand
16,000
9
Huidong Gu
Macau
12,500
Event 2: 20,000 NLH – DANNY TANG – RM 305,000 (~$69,750)
Returning from a fantastic 2022 season that earned him the GPI National Hong Kong title, Danny Tang picked up his first victory of the new year after outlasting the 57 entry field of the 20,000 NLH event. Tang claimed the RM 305,000 (~$69,750) top prize and his career first Poker Dream win.
The RM 20,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em was the first of six high roller tournaments scheduled. Forking out the big bucks were numerous World Series of Poker bracelet winners that included Tang, Chin Wei Lim, Mike Takayama, and Chan Lok Ming. Also back for his second PD series was Irish-American pro Steve O’Dwyer. All of these players failed to reach the money round however among those that were successful were PD creator Winfred Yu in 2nd place, and past PD series champions Lee Wai Kiat (4th), Yeu Wei Hsiang (6th), Sim Kok Wai (7th).
Buy in: RM 20,000 (~$4,575)
Entries: 57
Prize pool: RM 1,048,800 (~$239,860)
ITM: 8 places
Payouts
Rank
Player
Flag
Payout in RM
1
Daniel Tang
Hong Kong
305,000
2
Winfred Yu
Hong Kong
221,000
3
Lai Muk Pin
Malaysia
142,500
4
Lee Wai Kiat
Malaysia
107,836
5
Chan Ying Kit
Hong Kong
83,500
6
Yeu Wei Hsiang
Malaysia
65,000
7
Sim Kok Wai
Malaysia
52,000
8
Ling Tien Loon
Malaysia
40,500
Event 4: 15,000 NLH Single Day – PHACHARA WONGWICHIT – RM 150,000 (~$34,300)
Back to back Poker Dream high roller 15K No Limit Hold’em titles for Thailand pro Phachara Wongwichit. At the brand’s debut last year, Wongwichit won this exact same event at this exact location then returned this year to impressively defend his title. Wongwichit bested a loaded final table that included Philippine pro Mike Takayama at heads up.
Buy in: RM 15,000 (~$3,430)
Entries: 33
Prize pool: RM 455,400 (~$104,150)
ITM: 6 places
Rank
Player
Flag
Payout in RM
1
Phachara Wongwichit
Thailand
150,000.00
2
Mike Takayama
Philippines
103,838.00
3
Yohei Kitazato
Japan
66,300.00
4
Tang Ying Seng
Hong Kong
50,800.00
5
Ling Tien Loon
Malaysia
39,800.00
6
Ang Kailoon
Malaysia
31,000.00
Event 6: Super High Roller – MILOS SKRBIC – RM 704,000 (~$161,000)
It was a mixed bag of elite players from around the world battling to seize the Super High Roller title and the RM 704,000 (~$161,000) top prize. In the end, the last one standing was esteemed Serbian Milos Skrbic for his first ever live win on Asian soil.
Among the 48 runners Skrbic bested were the highly decorated Triton Jeju SHR champion Christopher Michael Soyza (2nd) and Irish/American pro Steve O’Dwyer (4th). One of Skrbic’s most memorable accomplishments was finishing 9th at the 2019 WSOP Main Event and 2nd at the WPT $10.4k Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event. Both of these events gained Skrbic seven figures.
Buy in: RM 50,000 (~$11,435)
Entries: 48
Prize pool: RM 2,234,400 (~$511,000)
ITM: 7 places
Rank
Player
Flag
Payout in RM
1
Milos Skrbic
Serbia
704,000
2
Christopher Michael Soyza
Malaysia
508,000
3
Vlach Lubomir
Czech Republic
324,400
4
Steve O’Dwyer
Ireland
246,000
5
Zhang Chi
United Kingdom
190,000
6
Ewe Eng Siang
Malaysia
145,000
7
Liu Chun Keat
Malaysia
117,000
Other winners
Event 3: Mystery Bounty
Buy in: RM 3,000
Guarantee: RM 400,000 (~$91,480)
Entries: 287
Prize pool: RM 774,900
ITM: 44 places
Winner: BEH BENG OOI – RM 90,653 (~$20,730)
Event 5: Deepstack
Buy in: RM 1,200 (~$275)
Entries: 169
Prize pool: RM 178,464 (~$40,815)
ITM: 23 places
Winner: LIM BENG WEI – Malaysia – RM 40,000 (~$9,150)
Links:
Poker Dream opens 2023 at Genting Highlands
*All images by Poker Dream
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