Introducing Team Australia that will participate at the 2019 Asian Nations Cup in Taiwan:
Jarryd Godena
After an interest in watching poker on TV, I started out learning online poker at the smallest stakes. I enjoyed the challenge of playing all forms of poker including online and live, tournaments and cash games, Holdem, Omaha and the mixed games. Outside of poker I enjoy sports and traveling.
Chris Wookey
I have been obsessed with poker since Joe Hachem won the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Primarily a live cash game grinder, I do play the occasional tournament. Career highlights include cashing in the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event. Poker is my passion, particularly the mental warfare and strategic elements.
Julius Colman
I love poker as a mind sport. I love its competitiveness, its risk, its assessment of odds. I love that it is a metaphor for life where, to succeed, you need to make decisions doing the best you can with information that is often imperfect.
Ashley Warner
Ashley is a 31yo poker player from Perth, with poker highlights including 2nd at ANZPT Melbourne in 2012 and numerous final tables at Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth over the last 8 years.
Heidi May
High stakes cash game player, won the 2017 WSOP ladies bracelet in 2017, enjoys volunteering for animal sanctuaries and fostering dogs when not playing poker.
Tanja has been crushing the online and live felt since 2009 and is one of the only female poker players in Australia to hold a triple crown title. On the live felt Tanja is best known for playing high stakes cash with a notable win in the 2016 Perth Poker champs main event.
Team Korea, being represented by the newly federation Korean Poker Association, to participate the 2019 Asian Nations Cup in Taoyuan city, Taiwan will be comprised of:
Jung Hyung Sun – Jung Hyung Sun, better known as Sunny Jung, a professional poker player, ranked 3rd in all time money list of South Korea 2019. In 2008 – 2013 he was mostly playing cash games across Asia, that made him very famous. In 2013 he won his first live tournament the Main Event of the ACOP and got his highest cash – $561,228. in 2014 he once again proved that he one of the strongest poker players in Asia. He finished 2nd in the same Main Event of ACOP, that was even bigger than the previous one.
Hong Jinho – Hong Jinho was a famous Starcraft pro gamer in the world, who played under the alias “YellOw” together with “BoxeR”, who was his rival at that time. Even though he started his poker career only a year ago, he has already got great achievements. Actually, when he was a pro gamer, he was famous for always being 2nd, and now he also got many 2nd place finishes in poker tournaments. Just recently, he has become the Runner-up of the APT Main Event. However, he has also won two tournaments the Monster Stack of APPT and The Main Event of the J88PT Shanghai.
Shin Jae Wook – Shin Jae Wook, also known as Justin, started playing in online tournaments in 2010 and it did not take him much time to become a famous online poker player. In 2015, he decided to try himself in offline tournaments as well and he had a great performance. Since that time Justin has won several live events, however his biggest win was in 2019, when he became the Champion of the WPT Vietnam High Roller, that brought him the best live cash – $82,696. Actually, High Rollers are his favourite types of tournaments. Right now, he is ranked 15th in the all time money list of South Korea.
Kim Jiyoung – Kim Jiyoung is a famous female professional poker player, who started participating in live tournaments in 2015. Her best result was in 2019 when she won the Ladies Championship of the 50th WSOP with 968 entries and got her biggest cash – $167,308.
Lim Yohwan – Lim Yohwan “BoxeR” is a former professional StarCraft player, known as the Terran Emperor, who transitioned to poker after retiring in 2014. Since 2016, He has shown amazing results in various events. He is already 9th in all time money list of South Korea. In 2019 he got his best result by winning the Championship Event of the APT, that brought him $ 88,040.
Yea Joon Hee – Yea Joon Hee, better known as Steve Yea, is travelling all over the world participating in various tournaments like WSOP, Aussie Millions, APT, EPT, WPT, etc. Even though he won several events, he got the biggest live cash for the 2nd place of No Limit Hold’em, APT 2008 that brought him $250,000.
Lee Gyeong Byeong – Lee Gyeong Byeong, ranked 12th in the all time money list of South Korea, officially started playing poker in 2016 and he had the best start ever. His first cash was for the 1st place of the APT Main Event. In 2017 he participated in the WSOP, and finished 91st in the Main Event with 7,221 entries! And this year, he final tabled in the Main Event of Aussie Millions Poker Championship. His 6th place brought him the highest live cash – $ 222,078.
Sim Jae Kyung – Sim Jae Kyung, also known as “Simba”, is a professional poker player ranked 6th in the all time money list of South Korea. In 2013 he became the Champion of the APPT Cebu Main Event, that brought him $95,487 of live earnings. However, his best cash $103,256 was for the 3rd place in the Main Event of the EPT 2014 with 609 entries.
From Left to Right:
Top Row – Vince Lau (Singapore Poker Federation President), Phua Tzai Wei (Team Captain)
Middle Row – Lisa Tan Meiling, Fong Xi Yuan, Brandon Gerald Tan, Desmond Oh
Bottom Row – Daniel Chua (Team Vice Captain), Lim Min Soon (Player-Manager), Freddy Kwek, Ivan Tan
Seasoned Veterans and Promising Young Guns Aiming to Improve their third place finish from their 2013 Asian Nations Cup Outing.
Phua Tzai Wei (Team Captain)
A huge Liverpool fan! Tzai Wei enjoys the competition, mental simulation and freedom to “be your own boss” aspects of Poker the most. Tzai Wei left school to pursue poker as full time profession and first ventured into tournaments in 2018. He made history earning a coveted Pokerstars Platinum Pass when he won a Manila Megastack event last year. He looks set to make his mark in the game in years to come.
Lisa Tan Meiling
Lisa takes pride in being a casual tournament player, despite claiming 3 titles this year and becoming the first woman to win the Manila Megastack Main Event. She enjoys grinding out cash games with strangers and prefers burying herself in a book or two to pass the time. But as a female, she fairly warns anyone in her way who try to outplay or give her a bad beat, hell has no fury like a woman scorned!
Fong Xi Yuan
Professional cash game player. A feared and respected regular in RWS. Years of experience sweeping chips of cash game tables in Singapore. A Business Management graduate from SMU, he declares his other hobby as playing 狼人杀 (werewolf kill) online game. Xi Yuan is immensely passionate about poker and enjoys the freedom it brings.
Brandon Gerard Tan
A self-declared foodie, Brandon is a professional poker player focusing on live and online cash games. He was featured on the highly popular Live At The Bike stream earlier this year. A recent graduate of SMU in 2018, he cites tennis and pool as his other hobbies.
Desmond Oh
Asian Game Gold Medalist, of Team Singapore Contract Bridge that made history when Contract Bridge made its Asian Games debut in Jakarta in 2018. Desmond is a public servant that loves card games since he was young. A former international chess player of Team Singapore Youth team, he has transited to playing card games. Desmond is the founder of KDR Bridge school, and coaches aspiring students in the game of Contract Bridge.
Daniel Chua (Vice Captain)
Daniel is an esteemed veteran of the game. He has over 26 cashes in Hendon Mob since 2009 and has a phenomenal 9 first place finishes. One of the most dangerous tournament players around, this card shark represented Singapore in Chess and Pool during his youth.
Lim Min Soon (Player-Manager)
Min Soon works in a global bank as a fraud risk manager when he’s not catching bluffs at the poker table. A Manchester United fan and former college football captain, he is the only triple crown winner of the highly popular Singapore Poker Championship series. A well respected name in the Poker community, he’s happily married with 2 lovely daughters.
Freddy Kwek
Freddy is a veteran of the game, having started playing in 2008 and fell in love with the game ever since. He won the main event of the Singapore Poker Championship and has numerous cashes in this long running poker cruise series. Freddy is happily married with 1 daughter and is a Chief Operating Officer of a regional marketing company.
Ivan Tan
Currently retired, Ivan is widely regarded as a pioneer and one of the best poker players in Singapore, with winnings in excess of USD 200,000, Ivan burst onto the scene in 2007 finishing runner-up in an APPT Macau Main Event.