China’s Dong Li Shen won the first WPT Seoul INSPIRE Championship on November 9, 2026, at INSPIRE Entertainment Resort in Incheon, South Korea. The World Poker Tour’s official event page lists his prize as $188,149. Somuchpoker’s results put it at KRW 252,378,000. The ₩1,750,000 buy-in event drew 1,033 entries across four Day 1 flights and beat its ₩1 billion guarantee.
Japan’s Yosuke Sekiya finished runner-up. Somuchpoker reports his payout as KRW 246,238,000. The two payouts are close because, according to Somuchpoker and Spade Poker, the last two players made a deal heads-up before playing out the title. The Championship was Event #27 of an 11-day, 45-event festival that ran from October 30 to November 9. It was the WPT brand’s first festival in Korea.
Who made the WPT Seoul INSPIRE Championship final table?
The WPT Seoul INSPIRE Championship final table had nine players: five from Japan, two from China, one from the United States and one from Mongolia. Shen started the final day with 13,300,000 chips, nearly twice the stack of second-placed Jun Li. The official WPT Seoul live updates show Shen still holding the chip lead with four players left, on 20,725,000 chips. Below are the final table payouts as published by Somuchpoker. WPT’s own payout tab currently lists only the winner.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dong Li Shen | China | 252,378,000 |
| 2 | Yosuke Sekiya | Japan | 246,238,000 |
| 3 | Jun Li | China | 124,950,000 |
| 4 | Tomoharu Hikino | Japan | 92,310,000 |
| 5 | Juhyun Lee | United States | 68,720,000 |
| 6 | Myagmardorj Batsukh | Mongolia | 54,670,000 |
| 7 | Andrew Tomoya Matahira | Japan | 45,290,000 |
| 8 | Hayato Nagasawa | Japan | 36,700,000 |
| 9 | Yumi Hanzawa | Japan | 28,900,000 |
Sources: champion and prize from the official WPT event page (checked November 2026); places 2-9 from Somuchpoker.
How big was the WPT Seoul INSPIRE Championship field?
The WPT Seoul INSPIRE Championship drew 1,033 entries, which the official WPT Seoul live updates confirm. Re-entry was allowed in each flight until registration closed. WPT’s event rules say ₩1,575,000 of each ₩1,750,000 buy-in went to the prize pool and ₩175,000 was the entry fee. Somuchpoker reports a final prize pool of KRW 1,561,896,000 (about USD 1.15 million), paid to 128 places. That is roughly 56% above the ₩1 billion guarantee.
Japanese players had a big festival overall. The WPT Seoul results page shows Japanese winners in the Mini Championship (Satsuki Suzuki), the Championship Turbo, the Closer 7 Max, the PLO Bounty Turbo and the Evening Hyper Turbo, all on the last day.
Does the WPT Seoul title count as an official WPT win?
No. The WPT Seoul title is not an official WPT Main Tour win. The rules on WPT’s event page say WPT Seoul was a special event presented by licensee Khartes, that it “is not considered an official event of the World Poker Tour”, and that players do not earn WPT Player of the Year points. The prize still carries WPT value, though. The official WPT Seoul site says the Championship winner receives a $10,400 entry to the 2026 WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.
Will WPT Seoul return to INSPIRE next year?
WPT Seoul is expected to return to INSPIRE. The official WPT Seoul site summarises an interview with WPT’s Angelica Hael in which she confirmed the festival will come back to the resort. No 2027 dates or guarantees have been announced yet. INSPIRE is about 10 minutes from Incheon International Airport, which makes it one of the easiest major poker stops in Asia to reach.
The next big live stop in the region is the APT Championship 2026 in Taipei, starting November 13. The WPT brand returns to Asia in January with WPT Prime Taiwan 2027. If you are playing in Korea, see our Paradise City poker room guide, a short ride from INSPIRE, and the full PSR poker events calendar.