Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo bagged the Day 3 chip lead in the Main Event

• South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim Bags Overnight Lead in Largest & Richest Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8

APT TAIPEI 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, May 1, 2025 – Playing out at the tournament tables of the brand-new Red Space 多元商務空間 and run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), the largest Main Event in Asian Poker Tour history has reached the business end, with the massive 2,547 field whittled down to a more manageable 48.

Day 3 of the tournament saw 375 players in contention, all guaranteed a TWD 85,000 (~USD 2,620) share of the richest prize pool ever generated in a Taiwanese poker tournament with a gigantic TWD 121,033,440 (~USD 3,735,600) in the purse.

The eventual champion will walk away with a massive TWD 19,009,440 (~USD 586,710) top prize, in addition to an Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event seat valued at TWD 350,000. This is the largest first place prize of the APT New Era (which began at APT Taipei in April 2023).

For Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Play recommenced on level 18 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante with the action playing out over nine 60-minute levels.

The elimination of Singapore’s Jason Chan in 49th place for TWD 307,500 (~USD 9,490) at the hands of compatriot Andrew Ong concluded the Day 3 play and saw the remaining 48 players bag up their chips.

It is Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo who is leading the charge after bagging up a chip leading 7,575,000.

The Taiwanese poker professional is one of two former APT Main Event champions remaining in the field, the other being Vietnam's Dang Thi Hue (985,000) and both will be looking to join Lester Edoc, Mike Takayama and Henrik Tollefsen in the ranks of esteemed double Main Event title winners.

Kuo has over 2 million chips (39 big blinds) more than next closest rival Huang Mu Shiang of Taiwan, who concluded the action with 5,205,000.

Hong Kong’s Wayne Lam (5,175,000) rounds out the top three stacks, with the top ten as follows:

MAIN EVENT DAY 3 TOP TEN STACKS

Other notables still in the running include India's Nishant Kumar (2,615,000), start-of-day chip leader Nicholas Go of Hong Kong (2,350,000), the USA’s Robert Kiss (2,100,000), India’s Rishi Mehra (1,765,000), the USA’s Peter Kiem (1,095,000), APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event runner-up Abraham Ceesvin (1.025,000), and Thailand’s Kiwanont Sukhum (835,000).

For Main Event Day 3 Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Main Event Day 3 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Day 4 Draw please CLICK HERE.

For Main Event Payouts from 375th to 49th Place please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Day 3 tournament page.

The penultimate Day 4 gets underway at 11am local time (GMT+8) on Friday, May 2, where the 48 remaining players will all be looking to secure a spot on the final table.

The action will be live streamed via the official APT YouTube channel.

You can follow all the Main Event Day 3 action as it happened via the APT Blog, or watch the action as it played out via the Main Event Day 3 live stream.

South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim Bags Overnight Lead in Largest & Richest Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8

Gab Yong Kim bagged the overnight chip lead in the record-breaking Zodiac Classic

All the record-breaking action was not exclusive to the Main Event, with the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 also entering the APT record books.

A total of 626 entries (436 unique) ponied up the TWD 80,000 (~USD 2,470) buy-in and packed into the tournament area, setting a new record for the event.

The TWD 20 million (~USD 617K) guarantee was left in the dust, with a chunky TWD 42,919,120 (~USD 1,324,664) prize pool generated, making this the richest Zodiac Classic in tour history.

A total of 87 players will make the money, with a min-cash coming in at TWD 133,000 (~USD 4,105) and the eventual champion walking away with a sizable TWD 8,222,620 (~USD 253,785) top prize, in addition to a TWD 350,000 Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event seat.

For Zodiac Classic Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE.

It is South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim leading the 192 Day 1 survivors after powering into pole position with a 581,500 stack, which was good for the overnight chip lead.

With over USD 3.1 million in live tournament winnings, Kim sits at #4 on the South Korea All-Time Money List and will be looking to add a third APT title to his already stacked poker resume.

Kim’s compatriot Chang Sungya bagged the second-largest stack of 533,200, with Vietnam’s Ngoc Minh Le (521,100) rounding out the top three, with the top ten stacks as follows:

ZODIAC CLASSIC TOP TEN STACKS

Natural8 Ambassador Hua-Wei Lin made it through with a stack of 212,800.

Other notables returning for the Final Day include: Brit bracelet winner Alex Lindop (300,000), the Philippines John Tech (208,000), USA’s Joseph Cheung (167,500), Australia’s Alexander Lynskey (158,700), Ireland’s Gary Thompson (130,200), Thailand’s Thanisorn Saelor (123,600), multiple bracelet winner Anson Tsang (118,700), APT Taipei 2024 Zodiac Classic champion Jun Li (117,400), and former Main Event champion Farhad Aghayev (88,600) to name but a few.

For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE.

For Zodiac Classic Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE.

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time on Friday, May 2, with the tournament playing down to a champion.

All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic - Day 1 tournament page.