Over the past fortnight, the Triton Poker Series has welcomed a record number of players to Jeju in South Korea. Among the winners, stars such as the Russian pro Anatoly Filatov, American tournament crusher Sean Winter, the Thailand high roller specialist Punnat Punsri and even the leader of The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List, Bryn Kenney.

Between victories for such luminaries sits another very notable result, as Chinese player and PokerStake seller Renji Mao turned a $30,000 buy-in in the 8-Max NLHE Event #5 into a third-place finish worth an incredible $737,000. As we found out, a month in South Korea has proven to be the most successful of Renji’s poker career so far.

The Million Dollar Month

While Renji’s result in Jeju has taken over as his biggest ever live result in poker, it is by no means his only huge accomplishment in the game. In the past five and half years, Renji has cashed for over $2.49 million in live ranking poker tournaments. That haul of cash has come with eight ranking titles, a World Series of Poker bracelet, and countless victories across several of the world’s continents.

Renji’s first cash at the live felt dates back to 2019, when he won just $1,729 for scraping into the money in the Crazy Eights events at the WSOP. Costing $888 to enter, Renji doubled his money and would have to wait three years until long after the COVID pandemic had cleared, and he won an Elite Shot Clock event in his native China for $14,480.

To say the last month at the live felt has been sensational for Renji is an understatement. Since February 11^th, Renji has cashed ten times, with results in Cambodia and South Korea. Winning a huge $192,019 by finishing second to Martin Zamani in the NLHE Super High Roller at the Poker Dream 16 festival, Renji’s success at Landing Casino in Jeju was followed by more and more and more.

The icing on the cake came in the $30,000-entry Triton Poker Series Event #5. Coming third for $737,000, behind only the winner Ramin Hajiyev ($1.51m) and runner-up Vyacheslav Balaev ($1m), Renji’s biggest result career-wise could be his most important, as it allows him to play virtually anything within his range in the coming months and book a huge schedule of WSOP events. The popular but understated player sells well on PokerStake every time his action becomes available.

Taking Gold and Making Gold

Renji’s biggest result money-wise might be his recent podium finish in Jeju but his WSOP bracelet win back in 2023 signposted him as a real player to watch. In Event #26 of that year’s raft of events in Las Vegas, Renji won the top prize of $402,588 and the fabled WSOP gold bracelet after defeating American Matthew Elsby heads-up.

Just a dozen hands into heads-up play, Renji’s uphill battle changed into an advantage as he took the lead, then inside a dozen hands, he had the bracelet. After victory, Renji spoke to reporters and explained that he ramped up the aggression in the event as it came to a conclusion. A lengthy penultimate day saw both players wait overnight before playing to a winner.

“I did a lot of homework last night,” said Renji, who chose study over sleep. “I changed my strategy completely today to be on a more aggressive end.”

Topping a field of 4,747 entries across three gruelling days play, Renji showed that he is a match for anyone. The win was for more money than he’d earned in all of his previous nine cashes at the WSOP combined and changed his life.

A Bright Future

Far from winning over $634,000 in WSOP events across 36 cashes in America and Europe, Renji’s variety of locations and festivals sets him out as a highly respected travelling poker professional. The former MIT graduate, who was once an investment professional and Chief Financial Officer, is now a fully-fledged GGPoker Team Pro and has been successful at poker in all four corners of the world.

Renji may well be known as a high roller specialist after his latest victory in Jeju. The truth, however, is more nuanced. Here is a player who adapts to his surroundings, be they a location, the structure of a tournament or the pace of his heads-up opponent better than many in the game.

The future is even brighter than the present for Renji Mao and after a million dollars in prize money over the past four weeks, that’s saying something. From APT Hanoi to WPT Cambodia, Triton Jeju to the WSOP in Las Vegas, Renji Mao is a player to watch. Invest in Renji today on PokerStake by following him on his personal staking page.

Photography by Matthew Berglund and Danny Maxwell for WSOP and PokerNews respectively.