Ren Lin has been named Player of the Series at the King Poker Cup in Jeju, closing out the festival with seven cashes, two Mix titles and a run of results that few players in Asian poker have matched this year. Lin collected a Gold Ring and a $10,000 wallet deposit for the honour as Ye Wang took the Main Event title.
The Player of the Series award is not decided by a single score, and that is precisely what makes Lin's win notable. Seven cashes across a festival schedule represents sustained performance across formats and structures, not one hot run at a final table.
The Results Behind the Award
Two performances anchored Lin's series.
He finished runner-up in the $30,000 Final Coronation for $394,500, the festival's marquee high roller event and the tournament that Bao Qiang Ho won for $608,600. A second-place finish at that buy-in level is a career-defining result for most players; for Lin it was one of seven cashes.
He then won the $10,000 NLH/PLO Mix, defeating David Coleman heads-up for $134,540. Beating Coleman — one of the most accomplished tournament players of the past decade — in a mixed-format event is a meaningful line on any résumé, and it speaks to the breadth of Lin's game.
The combination of a high roller runner-up and a mixed-game title is unusual. Most players who accumulate Player of the Series points do so by entering everything and cashing frequently in the mid-tier events. Lin did it by performing at the top of the buy-in ladder while also winning in a format that punishes Hold'em specialists.
Why Mixed-Game Ability Is the Differentiator
The NLH/PLO Mix format alternates between No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, and it is one of the most effective filters in tournament poker for identifying genuinely complete players.
The two games demand different instincts. In Hold'em, hand values are relatively static and equities run far apart — a premium pair is a large favourite over most holdings. In Pot-Limit Omaha, four hole cards compress equities dramatically, the nuts changes on every street, and drawing hands frequently hold more equity than made hands. A player who has internalised Hold'em heuristics will systematically overvalue made hands in PLO and get punished for it.
The betting structure compounds the difference. Pot-limit betting caps the maximum wager, which changes how pots are built and makes it far harder to protect a vulnerable hand. Players used to jamming over a raise in No-Limit find their most reliable tool unavailable.
Anyone considering a crossover into mixed events should start with our Omaha guide and the Hold'em versus Omaha comparison, which covers the specific adjustments that trip up first-timers. Understanding equity at a deeper level than "which hand is ahead" is essentially mandatory in PLO.
The King Poker Cup and the Asian Circuit
The King Poker Cup has established itself as a fixture of the Asian tournament calendar, and Jeju has become one of the region's most reliable poker destinations. The South Korean island's status as a visa-free entry point for many nationalities makes it accessible in ways that mainland Asian venues often are not, and it has hosted both KPC and Triton Super High Roller Series festivals.
That concentration of high-stakes poker in Jeju has changed the region's competitive landscape. Triton's Jeju festivals have produced some of the largest buy-in tournaments on earth, and the KPC operates as a complementary tier — serious money, but accessible to a wider range of players than a $100,000+ Triton event.
Lin himself has been part of that scene's rise as a WPT Global ambassador, and his Jeju results this year — including a Main Event victory earlier in 2026 worth $600,700 — put him among the most consistent performers in the region.
The Depth of the Field Matters
Player of the Series awards are only as impressive as the fields that produce them. The KPC schedule attracted established international names — Coleman's presence in the mixed-game final is one indicator, and the $30,000 Final Coronation field drew serious high roller regulars.
Winning a points race in that company requires more than volume. It requires converting deep runs into final tables consistently, which is the hardest thing to do reliably in tournament poker precisely because it is where variance bites hardest.
What This Means for Players
Consistency is a skill, not luck. Seven cashes in one festival is not a run of good fortune; it is the product of solid fundamentals applied across many events. Players chasing single big scores frequently overlook that the players who accumulate results do so through disciplined event selection and steady execution.
Format breadth pays. Mixed-game events consistently feature softer fields than their Hold'em equivalents at the same buy-in, because far fewer players study non-Hold'em formats seriously. For a player willing to put in the work, a PLO or mixed-game schedule is one of the best value propositions available in live poker.
Deep runs are where the points and money are. Cashing is worth relatively little in top-heavy tournament payout structures; final tables are worth a great deal. That argues for playing to accumulate chips rather than to ladder, which brings ICM considerations into sharp focus — knowing when the pay jumps justify caution and when they do not is a genuine edge.
Practice the formats online before playing them live. Live mixed-game events are infrequent and expensive; online PLO and mixed tables run constantly at every stake. Our reviews of BetOnline and TigerGaming cover the non-Hold'em game availability at each site, and the cash games hub covers game selection principles.
Looking Ahead
The Asian tournament calendar continues to expand, with Jeju anchoring the region's high-stakes schedule and the World Poker Tour adding Cambodia and Australia stops to its Season 24 itinerary. For players in the region — and for the international regulars who now build their schedules around Asian festivals — there is more high-quality live poker available than at any point in the circuit's history.
Lin's series in Jeju is a reminder of what it takes to stand out in that environment: not one score, but seven.
Our tournaments hub tracks the major live festivals and guarantees running each month, and high stakes covers the biggest buy-in events on the calendar.