The inaugural 2024 Jin Bei Cup is off to a great start on the first of three days, thanks to 77 entries in the opening $5,000 NLH Event. This created a prize pool of $385,000 at the five-star Jin Bei Palace Hotel, which was split among the top ten finishers.
In the first international poker tournament in the southwest of Sihanoukville since 2016, the field consisted of many local business owners and high-stakes cash game players alongside some well-known Asian poker pros. However, the biggest name in the mix was certainly Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who reached the final table only to see his pocket aces cracked in a three-way all-in.
While Dwan departed in eighth place, the winner of the hand Yao Xiao never surrendered the top spot anymore and took down the event in dominating fashion. For his efforts, he collected a top prize of $131,000 and was overjoyed by the victory. He is widely known as “xiaoyao”, which means “happy” in Chinese and Xiao was certainly all smiles after the final hand.
Jin Bei Cup $5,000 NLH Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yao Xiao | China | $131,000 |
| 2 | Mic | China | $78,000 |
| 3 | Xia Feng | China | $48,000 |
| 4 | Jhon Tanaka | Indonesia | $34,000 |
| 5 | Ken Lin | China | $26,000 |
| 6 | Travis | China | $21,000 |
| 7 | Jiang Liu | China | $16,000 |
| 8 | Tom Dwan | United States | $12,000 |
| 9 | Ge Zhong | China | $12,000 |
| 10 | A Zheng | China | $7,000 |
Xiao was responsible for several eliminations prior to the money bubble and sent “Wei” to the rail as last player without any cash prize to show for, when ace-jack made broadway versus ace-nine. Xiao was the chip leader on the final table followed by Ken Lin, but the latter soon lost several pots to drop into the middle of the pack.
Instead, Xiao turned up the heat even more and scored a double knockout to cement his lead. Dwan and Ge Zhong were his victims when Xiao flopped bottom two pair with four-trey suited, prevailing against Zhong’s king-queen suited for top pair and Dwan’s pocket aces for the overpair.
The next three casualties in a row all sent their chips over to the now runaway chip leader as Jiang Liu, Travis, and Lin all succumbed to their short stacks in quick succession. Jhon Tanaka limp-called all-in with ace-ten and was ahead against Xia Feng, who held ace-deuce. However, a deuce on the flop sent the player from Indonesia out in fourth place.
Feng was still the shortest stack in three-handed play and doubled twice through Xiao. A potential third double-up ended in a bad beat when his ace-six suited came up short against the ace-trey suited of Xiao. Heads-up play thereafter was a brief affair when Mic three-bet jammed pocket nines and was pipped by Xiao’s tens. Another ten on the flop sealed the victory and Xiao ended the tournament with a literal mic drop.
With the traditional No-Limit Hold’em Side Event now completed, all eyes are set on the marquee tournament of the series. The $50,000 Jin Bei Cup Short Deck Main Event with a staggering $5,000,000 guarantee will be played across the following two days, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor in Sihanoukville to follow the action.