Chih Wei Fan Clinches Inaugural GOP Taipei Main Event

The Gods of Poker Taipei crowned its first Main Event champion with Taiwan's Chih Wei Fan rising at three-handed to claim the NT$ 4,323,180 (~US$ 136,864) champion's payout and the magnificent Black-and-Gold Gauntlet. In a post-win interview, Fan shared, 

I think the structure is brilliant! I rate the structure really high.

Prior to the final day, Fan first made headlines after he shipped a three-way cooler to launch into the upper ranks. He entered the final day running third-in-chips and stayed wedged in the middle of the pack for a majority of the day.  

The turning point came at three-handed play against Long Hin Shiao and Yu Yeh Chun, where Fan wrested control of the table then dealt a brutal bad beat that ended Shiao’s run in third place. 

With Fan holding a commanding chip advantage of 100 big blinds to Chun's 33 big blinds, he grinded down Chun to just eight big blinds before sealing the victory. 

Final Day - Payouts

You can relive Fan's race to the title via the livestream on Gods of Poker FB page and CTP Twitch. 

You can also read up on the action via the Live Reports.

Final Day Recap

Taking place at the CTP Asia Poker Arena from January 12-18, the Main Event drew 556 entries across five flights, each one ponying up the NT$ 45,000 buy-in to breach the guarantee. A total of 77 players earned a share of the NT$ 21,617,280 (∼US$ 684,000) prize pool with the largest cuts claimed on the final day. 

Final day action got underway with 11 players returning to the felt, led by Lin Wei Kai, who surged in Day 2 after spiking quads. As it turned out, that was only the prelude.

With the final table looming and just two eliminations to get there, the first bust came almost immediately. Yao Hou Chun fell to Long Hin Shiao with pocket queens dominated by pocket aces. 

Lin Wei Kai lands the straight

Moments later, Lin's biggest hand arrived. Up against Juhyung Son, and both backed by towering stacks, Lin proceeded to crack Son’s pocket aces with a turned straight. After the counts, Son was ousted in 10th place and Lin carried more than a third of the chips in play into the final table. 

Final 9 player of the Main Event

Lin's prowess continued at the final table where he knocked out two short stacks - Seung Hyuk Jung in 9th place and Andy Tsai in 8th place. Jung fell on a missed draw and Tsai on a flip. 

The lone gauntlet holder at the table, Kevin Choi, who won the GOP Jeju Titan Stack, survived two all in showdowns before he fell to Lavonne Watkins in 7th place. Watkins outdrew Choi's ace, pairing his king on the board. 

At six-handed, Lin's rush came to hard halt when both Fan and Yu Yeh Chun doubled through him. Fan's ace-king dominated king jack and Chun's pocket threes held against overcards. With Chun's newfound chips, he eliminated Soohyeok Lee in 6th place holding a set of hooks over top pair. 

Down to five players, Long Hin Shiao grinded to the lead then widened the gap after he cleaned out Watkins in 5th place on a flip followed by Lin in 4th place. Despite the rush, Shiao's time up top was cut short when he lost a big pot to Chun that gave Fan the lead. 

Shiao's run ended abruptly and brutally in 3rd place after Fan delivered a stabbing bad beat on the river with just a twelve percent chance of catching his outs. This brought about heads up for the title with Fan ahead 100 big blinds to Chun' 33 big blinds. 

Though still deep, Chun was unable to keep up until he finally pushed with jack-four offsuit that fell to Fan's queen-nine offsuit. 

Congratulations to Chih Wei Fan for his victory!