Taiwan #1 – APT Taipei 2026 Sets Non-Championship Festival Entry Record: 26K Entries, USD 19.1M in Prize Money

• Khanna’s Stunning Comeback Lands APT High Roller Title, Career Best TWD 5.3M (~USD 170K) & APT Championship Seat

APT TAIPEI 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, May 3, 2026 – The Asian Poker Tour raises the bar again as the second festival of its 20-Year Anniversary season fuels a record-breaking run that dates back to February 2025.

Run in partnership with with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP) across two venues—the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and the Asia Poker Arena APA—the APT Taipei 2026 is officially the largest non-Championship festival in the tour’s 20-year history.

The 12-day series set a new all-time tour record for unique entries, with 3,890 unique players from 51 combined countries and regions generating a massive 26,009 total tournament entries over 161 trophy events and 4 satellites.

For APT Taipei 2026 Festival Breakdown by Nationality graphic please CLICK HERE

Players competed for a monstrous TWD 598,932,533 (~USD 19,135,225) in prize money, with the festival only just behind the APT Taipei 2025 and APT Championship 2025 in terms of money awarded.

For the seventh consecutive festival in a row the APT has set a new festival country/region record, whether it be for entries or prize money, with the run stretching all the way back to the APT Manila Classic 2025 which still remains the tour’s largest and richest Philippines based festival.

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• APT Championship Officially the Largest Asian Poker Festival of All Time
• Jeju Reigns Supreme: APT 20-Year Anniversary Ignites with Sixth Straight Record-Breaking Festival

APT Taipei 2026 by the Numbers

The APT Taipei 2026 festival saw over a thirteen percent (13.5%) increase in total festival entries, and over a nine percent (9.6%) increase in unique entries over the APT Taipei 2025 festival.

In addition to the entry records, the series also hosted the largest tournament field in Asian Poker Tour history with the Event #1 APT National Cup – Sponsored by DeepRun drawing a gigantic 2,940 entries and generating the richest APT opening event prize pool of all time – a substantial TWD 28.9 million(~USD 927K).

The fifth starting Flight E also earned a place in the APT record books, attracting a staggering 956 entries to break the tour’s largest single flight record.

South Korea’s Daeyoung Park outlasted the largest field in tour history in the APT National Cup – Sponsored by DeepRun

Including the record set in the APT National Cup, a total of four tour records and two international records were broken during the series.

The Event #40 Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 was the richest in APT history, as was the APT Super High Roller.

The Event #73 High Roller Ultra Stack was the largest non-APT Championship edition of the tournament ever to play out, also setting a new Taiwanese tour record for prize pool and top prize.

The APT's first excursion into combined mind sports and poker saw the tour break new ground and set the two international records.

The first came in the Event #70 Mind Sports Week - Chinese Chess / Poker tournament, which is the first tournament of this type ever hosted by any poker operator.

The second came in the Event #104 Mind Sports Week - Go (Game) (Weiqi, Baduk, Igo) / Poker with the tournament drawing 31 entries to set a new world record for a combined poker and mind sports event.

For a breakdown of prize money, player numbers, and records set during the festival you can view the APT Taipei 2026 Festival Breakdown by Prize Pool, Player Numbers & Records HERE.

APT Taipei Prize Pool Growth 2023-2026

View a graphic of APT Taipei Festival Prize Pool Growth HERE

TOP TEN APT TAIPEI EVENTS BY PRIZE POOL

For APT Taipei 2026 Event Breakdown by Prize Pool, GTD & First Place Prize graphic please CLICK HERE

Four-Figure Fields & Seven-Figure Prize Pools

In total, the festival hosted five tournaments that drew four-figure fields, with four tournaments generating seven-figure USD prize pools.

While the largest field came in the record-breaking APT National Cup, the flagship APT Main Event was not far behind with Hong Kong real estate agent Walter Lau defeating the second largest Main Event field in tour history.

Lau outlasted a massive 2,354 entries to tame the award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and claim the lion’s share of the TWD 111.8 million (~USD 3.5 million) prize pool – the second-richest ever generated in an APT Main Event, with an unprecedented eight APT Championship 2026 Main Event seats awarded over the course of the tournament.

Chun Shing ‘Walter’ Lau earned a career-best TWD 16.6M (~USD 533K) score in the Main Event

The tour’s richest-ever Mystery Bounty tournament was another that attracted a four-figure field, drawing 1,540 entries and generating a TWD 25.8 million (~USD 829K) prize pool.

The Event #133 Mini Main Event was another, attracting its second-largest field ever with 1,542 entries competing for a TWD 39.9 million (~USD 1.2 million) prize pool.

The surprise Event #171 Labor Day Monster Stack was the fifth, with 2,135 entries competing for a TWD 6 million (~USD 191K) prize pool and you can read more about both of these events in the final day side event press release.

Outside of the Main Event and the Mini Main Event, the richest two tournaments of the festival were the other two signature lion trophy events.

Mike Takayama became the first Filipino to tame one of the APT’s signature lion trophies

Mike Takayama made tour history by winning the tour’s richest-ever APT Super High Roller, becoming the first Filipino player to tame an APT Big Three Lion trophy after overcoming compatriot John Costiniano to claim the largest non-Championship Super High Roller top prize ever awarded.

Takayama earned a career-best TWD 9.7 million (USD 312K) top prize, and an APTC Main Event seat, as did Costiniano.

The last of the festival’s signature lion trophy events to play out was the final tournament of the festival to award a seven-figure prize pool, with India’s Ritwik Khanna taming the Rose Gold Lion APT High Roller Trophy, and earning a career-best score. You can read about this in more detail below.

For APT Taipei 2026 Festival Event Prize Pool Contribution graphic please CLICK HERE

Khanna’s Stunning Comeback Lands APT High Roller Title, Career Best TWD 5.3M (~USD 170K) & APT Championship Seat

India’s Ritwik Khanna battled back to claim a career-best score in the APT High Roller

The last of the festival’s marquee events to play out saw India’s Ritwik Khanna stage one of the most incredible comebacks of the New Era in the TWD 120,000 (~USD 3,800) Event #149 APT High Roller.

Just 62 players out of the 329-entry field—the second largest APT High Roller field in tour history—return for the Final Day.

Over a third of them would depart empty-handed, with only the top 47 places cashing for a share of the chunky TWD 34,110,720 (~USD 1,089,800) prize pool – the second richest ever generated in this event.

It was Khanna who showcased his lion-taming skills to best effect, defeating defending Taipei High Roller champion Trung Quan Nguyen in an epic heads-up match that saw Khanna battle back from behind, not once, but twice.

Reduced to just five big blinds after getting bluffed off the best hand, Khanna utilised all of his extensive online experience to overcome a 10-to-1 chip deficit and retake the chip lead.

Defending champion Trung Quan Nguyen and Ritwik Khanna duke it out for the APT High Roller title

The Indian player won three subsequent all-ins to take the lead before finding pocket kings at the perfect time to deny Nguyen a record second signature lion trophy victory and claim a maiden APT title victory of his own.

This win almost doubles Khanna’s career live tournament winnings, earning the Indian online professional a career-best TWD 5,336,300 (~USD 170,490) top prize for his incredible victory after cutting an ICM deal with slight chip leader Nguyen when play reached heads-up.

“This was one of the greatest moments in my life. And just sharing it with my family was very special because they've been supportive all throughout, even though, you know, my dad's always been like, 'you've got to do our business'.”

“They've been really supportive to help me just take this as a career. And you know, I've been playing live for two years and finally just getting that monkey off my back.”

“My parents have been really happy. They've been watching the stream. They don't understand poker, but they've been on the stream. And, uh, I, I just don't have any words because it is unbelievable,” a shell-shocked Khanna confided in his post match interview immediately following his win.

Khanna was keen to point out the support of a vocal Indian rail featuring reigning APT Championship Main Event champion Nishant Sharma, and tour regular Akshay Nasa, was instrumental in mounting the king of all comebacks.

Ritwak Khanna celebrates his incredible comeback win with his vocal Indian rail

“I think this rail's been incredible because we've been going through a rough time in India with poker, but having all of these guys over here supporting…” Khanna said when asked about the vocal support he received.

“If it wasn't for them or if they didn't push me. Because these boys, Nasa [Akshay Nasa], Nishant Sharma [APTC Main Event champion], these guys really told me that 'you're playing really good and you are really good. Don't underestimate yourself.'

“The push that these Indians have given me is phenomenal. So I think if it wasn't for them, or if it wasn't for their support, it would have been very difficult.”

Lively Indian rails are likely to be a feature in the 2026 APT Championship (APTC) Main Event, with Khanna and runner-up Nguyen both receiving a ticket to the November’s APTC.

“You know, a lot of these Indians are crushing it over here. And, you know, it's just a motivation for people back home, that they could also do it, which is what I felt like when I saw Nishant win the Championship over here.’

“It felt like, okay, Indians are doing good. You can come here, you can make a mark for yourself. So definitely, I think a lot of these boys are going to take inspiration and they're going to come back here and hopefully, they win, they chop. Let's go!”

Defending APT Taipei 2025 High Roller champion Nguyen came within a whisker of becoming the first player in tour history to claim a second Rose Gold Lion, but ultimately had to settle for a TWD 5,335,420 (~USD 170,460) consolation prize.

Vietnam’s Tran Anh Tuan Le rounded out the winner’s podium, banking TWD 3,107,400 (~USD 99,280) for third place, with the final table paying out as follows:

APT HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Standing L-R: Yi Cheng Lo, Tran Anh Turan Le, Trung Quan Nguyen, Quang Trinh Do, Hei Mong Ying Seated L-R: Mikael Andersson, Rene von Reden, Nirunrut Rachburom, Ritwik Khanna

The Netherlands' Rob Hollink (10th) narrowly missed out on making his third final table appearance of the series.

Other notables to cash but come up short of the final table included reigning APT Taipei Super High Roller champion Mike Takayama (17th), APT Jeju 2026 High Roller champion Rudy Edenata (22nd), APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong (27th), and APT Jeju 2025 Main Event champion Abraham Ceesvin (28th).

For APT High Roller Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT High Roller Results please CLICK HERE

You can read about all high rolling Final Day action via the APT Blog or follow all the action as it played out via the APT High Roller Final Day Live Stream on the official APT YouTube channel.

All tournament information can be found on the APT High Roller - Final Day tournament page.