Xiaqing Ji Turns $visa slots for rejected students fall 20230 into $100K in TLPT Opening Event

Table Of Contents

• TLPT Opening Event Final Table Results
• Winner's Reaction
• Final Table Action

To run up a bankroll from a small investment is the dream of every poker player, and few can claim to have turned $0 into six-figures in just two days — but that's exactly what Xiaqin Ji did after overcoming a 446-player field in the TLPT Opening Event. Ji booked his place in the tournament by qualifying online, and for the victory, he claimed US$100,000, which represented the lion's share of the US$600,000 freeroll.

The inaugural event played out at breakneck speed inside the luxurious Landing Casino at Shinhwa World Hotel Jeju, and the turbo structure seemed to suit Ji perfectly. He was aggressive when it mattered most, unafraid to put chips in the middle — and even triple-barreling with just five-high.

Ji came into the final table as chip leader, and although he faced a few setbacks along the way, he consistently found ways to regain control. Ji's persistence paid off as he claimed the trophy and etched his name in the history books as the first-ever TLPT champion.

TLPT Opening Event Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

Following the win, Ji explained how important the win was to him following a slump in results.

"I feel more confident about No-Limit tournaments after this win," Jin said through the use of a translator. "I played the Red Dragon series for about ten days, but the results weren't ideal. However, winning this title has greatly boosted my confidence."

With renewed determination and hunger, Ji said he will continue to play tournaments when has time.

"I hope to achieve even better results in upcoming tournaments. I still really enjoy tournament poker and will participate when I can."

Final Table Action

With an average stack of under 20 big blinds, it came as no surprise that players found themselves all in right out the gate. Within the first 10 minutes of play, Xiaoyan Xu and Yawen Ren both committed their stacks preflop and ended up second best after being called to fall in ninth and eight place respectively.

A clash between the big stacks of Ji and Jiawei Yuan occurred shortly thereafter, wherein Ji lost the chip lead after getting feisty with second pair against Yuan, who held a pair of queens.

Ji was able to recover some of the self-inflicted damage, however, by picking up his own pair of queens and holding against Jia Wang, who shoved into Ji with king-ten suited to be sent out in seventh.

Yuan began adapting a slowplay strategy in a few hands, including after flopping trips with king-queen against Ji's pair of sevens and getting paid off on the river. Following the hand, Yuan had nearly twice as many chips as Ji and appeared to be cruising toward the title.

Meanwhile, a small lull in the action from the short stacks saw the blinds go up and force both Jiaman Sun and Xinyuan Yang to make a move, which resulted in both them being eliminated in sixth and fifth respectively after shoving preflop, getting called, and ending up second-best.

Ji climbed nearly back to even with Yuan after eliminating Yang Chen in fourth place with pocket aces, which set up arguably the tournament-defining hand. Ji raised on the button with pocket sevens and Yuan shoved from the big blind holding ace-ten suited. Ji didn't back down and called all in for his tournament life only to be rewarded with a massive double up on a clean runout.

Yuan was left short following the clash and the rest of his chips were soon scooped up by Jinsui Fan after Yuan shoved with ace-five into Fan's ace-ten.

Ji entered the heads-up battle between him and Fan with a solid lead and wasted no time putting his chips to work. In one of the first hands of their duel, Ji made an epic triple-barrel bluff holding five-high to take an over 3-to-1 chip lead.

A few hands later, Ji shoved with a king on the button and Fan took his chances and called all in with eight-seven suited. The board ran out clean and just like that — Ji was crowned as the first-ever TLPT champion.

Be sure to check out our live-reporting hub for continuing coverage of select upcoming events from the 2025 TLPT series.