Masato Yokosawa Dominates WPT Korea Final Table ($100,000)

It was the first main tour event on the continent of Asia, and it featured one of the most dominating final table performances in World Poker Tour history as Masato Yokosawa quickly took the chip lead and never relinquished it.

Yokosawa started the final table second in chips behind Chane Kampanatsanyakorn, but it just wasn’t Kampanatsanyakorn’s day.

Kampanatsanyakorn lost the chip lead after about a dozen hands, and steadily dropped down from there until Hand #39, when he was down to 10 big blinds and moved all in with [Ah5h]. But Chris Park called with a dominating [5c5s], and the best hand held up to eliminate Kampanatsanyakorn in sixth place.

Even though he hadn’t claimed Kampanatsanyakorn’s chips, Yokosawa already had more than half the chips in play. When we see a dominating final table performance, it usually involves eliminating most of the other players, but Yokosawa earned his chips in a steady stream of smaller pots with his aggressive play. Yokosawa never seemed to ease up on his opponents.

The next player to fall was Jae Kyung "Simba" Sim moved all in for about a dozen big blinds in Hand #44 with [AdQd], only to run into Park’s [KhKs]. The board never gave Sim any hope, and he was out in fifth place.

Kosei Ichinose was crippled after getting it all in against Hyunshik Hun in a race situation when they had similar chip stacks in Hand #61. Hun caught a king on the turn with his [KsJs] to outrace Ichinose’s [10d10s], and that knocked Ichinose down to just two big blinds.

Two hands later, Ichinose would be out in fourth place. It was the only pre-heads up elimination for Yokosawa, but it didn’t add much to his massive chip stack.

Three-handed play continued for about 40 hands, until Hyunshik Hun got it all in preflop with [KdQc] against Park’s [10d10h]. The board came low, and Hun was out in third place.

Even after eliminating Hun, Park still had less than a third of the chips. He wouldn’t fall quickly or quietly, but today was Yokosawa’s day.

It took about 40 more hands, but the Yokosawa juggernaut couldn’t be stopped.

In the final hand, Park took the betting lead on every street of a [10s8c5s5d2h] board. Park shoved the river with [Ah10c] (two pair, tens and fives), but Yokosawa called with [6h5h] (trip fives) to win the first WPT title awarded in Asia.

1st:  Masato Yokosawa  –  $100,000*
2nd:  Chris Park  –  $60,700
3rd:  Hyunshik Hun  –  $38,500
4th:  Kosei Ichinose  –  $28,500
5th:  Jae Kyung Sim  –  $21,400
6th:  Chane Kampanatsanyakorn  –  $17,100

* Includes a $15,400 entry into season-ending WPT World Championship in April.