Another weekend for the history books folks. Two breathless days of non-stop poker, large quantities of beer, and a volume of general merriment unrivalled anywhere else. You know you’re at the LWPS when the entire table takes turns to knuckle bump-you when you double-up.

After a five month hiatus, the LWPS returned to the M/V Leisure World over the weekend, heralding the start of its third season. If there was any doubt that tournament poker was alive and kicking in the region, it was quickly dispelled within 2 hours of the Main Event, when the organizers declared Flight 1A sold out. By the time late registration for Flight 1B closed, a total of 167 runners had ponied up the buy-in, blitzing by some distance all LWPS prize-pool and field size records.

With all sorts of records already being broken, 3 former champions were looking to make history by being the first double Main-Event champion of the LWPS. Richard Lim (LWPS X), Freddy Kwek (LWPS V and owner of a remarkable 77.7% LWPS ROI record), and ‘Dangerous’ Daniel Chua (LWPS IX) were all in contention when the money bubble burst, though all would still have a mighty strong remaining field to contend with. Unfortunately for Freddy, he would be forced to showdown for his tournament life just once too many times, and he departed in 18th.



History was still in with a decent 1:3 chance moving into 6-handed at the final table, with both Daniel Chua and Richard Lim still in the fray. They were joined by the solid Mike Chang and Mark Sim, with online wunderkinds Feng Zhao and Neo Zhi Han also in the mix and gunning for their first LWPS Main Event titles. 1:3 swiftly became 1:5 when Daniel Chua found his AJ bested by Feng Zhao’s Q9 all-in preflop. Whatever slim chance of survival remained for Daniel after the 4 9 J board was quickly dashed when a turned Queen materialized, sending one of the series’ top players to the rail.

Mike Chang was next to exit, after getting the lot in against Feng Zhao in another all-in preflop situation. Mike was a massive favourite to double through when his opponent turned over A7; a massive underdog against his own AT. The J K 8 flop further solidified Mike’s advantage, until the river brought an improbable 7 to end Mike’s run, and with it voluble gasps of disbelief from the onlooking crowd.

Neo Zhi Han was next to fall, and once again the player involved was Feng Zhao, who was clearly intent on trying to vacuum up every chip in sight. The action was opened by Feng Zhao in late position, and Zhi Han wasted little time in shoving from the big blind with AT, only to find his opponent tabling AJ for the call after some deliberation. On this occasion, the dominated hand would brick out, and Zhi Han was eliminated in fourth.

A big swing hand would occur thereafter, completely changing the complexion and dynamic of play. The remaining 3 players found themselves inveigled in a 3-way all-in preflop. Chip-leader Feng Zhao was again in the thick of things, when he found his steal shove snapped off by Mark in the small blind with JK. Unfortunately for Mark, Richard too elected to join the melee from the big blind, tabling AK. Feng Zhao was on the verge of eliminating both players when his Q5 spiked a pair on the flop, but a K on the turn reversed the tide completely, drawing considerable elation from Richard. The Jack Mark needed to spike did not materialize on the river, and he was out in third, with a nice $4,500 to take away from his maiden LWPS adventure.

The heads-up contest was arguably the most brutal in the series’ history, with a 2:1 chip lead swinging back and forth on no less than four times, a duel made more remarkable by Richard. He managed to get aces cracked twice in the space of 5 hands, and still survive to tell the tale. The defining point came when, with close to even stacks, Richard found his A2 > 97 in yet another aggressive preflop encounter. Crippled but not dismayed, Feng Zhao managed to pull back a couple of double throughs and was threatening to make another go of it, before he found his 68 beaten by Richard’s 58, the river (where else?) delivering the killer 5. The runner-up takes with him a handy $6,500 for his troubles, while Richard, in addition to his winner’s purse of $10,000, inks himself into the LWPS annals as the first ever 2-Time LWPS Main Event champion.



The LWPS congratulates all winners, and thanks all participants and sponsors Pokerstars and Youbet.com for making LWPS XIII a truly extraordinary weekend.

Full Results

The Pokerstars Freeroll:

1st: Lee Jin Peng - ME Seat + Merchandise
1st: Phua Si Yang – ME Seat + Merchandise
3rd: Gary Yow - Merchandise
4th: Ding Yu – Merchandise
5th: Moses Tan – Merchandise
6th: Freddy Kwek – Merchandise
7th: Jape Foo - Merchandise
8th: Germaine Zhuang – Merchandise

LWPS XIII Main Event:



1st: Richard Lim - $10,000
2nd: Feng Zhao - $6,500
3rd: Mark Sim - $4,500
4th: Neo Zhi Han - $3,000
5th: Mike Chang - $2,000
6th: Daniel Chua - $1,500
7th: Michael Loke - $1,200
8th: Dhanesh Chainani - $1,000
9th: Sivakumaran - $800
10th: Saravanakumar - $600
11th: Jeremy Wee - $600
12th: Gary Lee - $600
13th: Ding Wu - $600
14th: Goh Boon How - $600
15th: Li Walken Escudero - $530
16th: Don Zhang - $530
17th: Ong Ee How - $530
18th: Freddy Kwek - $530

The LWPS XIII Head-Hunter:



1st: Vijayarengan Visvalingam - $2,200
2nd: Calvin Chong - $1,300
3rd: Ronald Wong - $750
4th: Chris Chong - $500
5th: Gary Yow - $350