The Talented Jieming Xu, the Hottest Running Player at PD22 Jeju

Who is Jieming Xu?

That became the question at Poker Dream 22 Jeju as he kept walking away with trophies. One title became two. Two became three. By the end of the festival, the Chinese hotshot closed out the series as the last player standing, lifting his fifth trophy, which was a record for the brand.

Sure, there are plenty of lucky players in poker. But during this festival, it felt like luck had picked a favorite.

Ask Xu why he keeps winning and he smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Then, almost immediately, he laughed and tried to soften it.

Skills, up here, skills. And natural born talent.

At the Short Deck Ante Only – which he won – , Xu cleaned out his entire table before the final table was even set. Along the way he landed quads not once but TWICE! And a straight flush!

Underneath it all, Xu is a player who has figured out something that others have not, and in just a short period of time.

It’s a secret, but I found the way to win. I win now because I know how to win.

At PD22 Jeju, the results backed him up. Xu walked away with five titles:

Event #9: High Roller Single Day
Event #29: Win The Button
Event #37: NLH Knockout Bounty Turbo
Event #42: Short Deck Ante Only Turbo
Event #67: All In or Fold

In total, Xu cashed in nine events at the series which included a 67th place at the Main Event and 20th at the QQPK Masters.

Just two weeks prior, Xu captured the Red Dragon Plus Championship in Jeju for a career-high KRW 508,836,000 (~USD 345,000). He also final tabled Triton on the island, finished fourth in one of poker’s toughest fields, and even drew two big bounties!

Photo courtesy of Triton Poker Series

I only had two bounties, and I won the two biggest — $100,000 and $50,000.

And yet Xu insists there is more to it than luck.

我的座右铭 命运是弱者的借口，幸运是强者的谦辞

My motto is: Fate is the excuse of the weak, luck is the humble word of the strong.

Jieming Xu’s Determination

Xu only began playing poker in 2019 before COVID interrupted everything. During the shutdown years, he obsessed over studying the game, consuming endless hours of Triton, WSOP, EPT, and APT footage.

I used to study 24 hours because I want to win. I want to find a way.

Eventually, he believes he found it.

Now it’s in my head. Now I found the path.

His style reflects it. Xu loves suited connectors, one-gappers, and aggressive pressure poker when deep-stacked. But he is equally disciplined when short.

I’m very, very aggressive when I have more chips, when I have less chips, I stay tight. I just sit down and wait. Wait for my chance then snatch the chance!

Jieming Xu’s Jeju Ritual

Jeju has also become something of a spiritual home for him. Xu shared that when he first arrived on the island, he prayed to Jeju’s famous Dolhareubang grandfather statues — and now repeats the ritual before final tables.

Two years ago, I passed by a place with an old stone grandfather on Jeju Island. The sky was so blue then. I took a picture and prayed to the old man. I’ve used that picture as my iPhone wallpaper ever since. My goal was to win a Main Event title in my poker career, and I never imagined it would come true just two years later.

Whether it is superstition, confidence, or simply a player operating at the peak of his powers, nobody in Jeju seemed capable of slowing him down at the PD22 Jeju series.

There is also one Jeju memory Xu still cannot quite shake. At Triton in Jeju, in a hand against Jason Koon, Xu had the nut flush on the turn, Koon had two pair with only four outs, and then the river came.

The Triton ace, the spade ace, it’s the Triton logo. Only four outs and it was the Triton ace!

Shaking his head, Xu still remembers every detail agonizingly. He hopes for the chance to face Koon again and beat him fair and square.

Away from the tables, Xu runs his own e-commerce company in China, similar to Amazon, and manages long-term investments, including an early investment at Pop Mart that has been paying off massively.

The same instincts seem to carry over to poker.

With Jeju as his personal hunting ground, you can expect to see Xu back in Jeju for PD27 on November 20 to 29 at Les A Casino.