China’s Tianhao Zheng kept up the momentum that saw him top Flight B to bag the Day 2 chip lead
APT JEJU CLASSIC 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | LIVE REPORTING | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
JEJU, SOUTH KOREA, February 4, 2026 – For the second consecutive Korean-based poker series, and the fifth festival in a row, the Asian Poker Tour has set an international poker record with the APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event officially the largest poker tournament ever to play out in the country.
Running Sunday, February 1 to Saturday February 8 in partnership with Landing Entertainment Korea at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World resort and playing out at the tournament tables of LES A Casino, the KRW 2.3M (~USD 1,600) APT Jeju Classic Main Event has etched its name into the annals of APT history, drawing a massive 1,718 entries (850 unique) by the close of registration at 12:15pm (KST) on Wednesday, February 4.
This generated a hefty KRW 3,414,009,600 (~USD 2,370,840) prize pool – the second richest the tour has ever awarded in the country, and the fifth richest in the APT’s 20-year history.
The top 255 places will make the money, with a min-cash good for KRW 3,510,000 (~USD 2,440). In addition to an APT Championship (APTC) Main Event seat valued at KRW 14.4 million (USD 10,000) for the top three places, the eventual champion will walk away with a monster KRW 579,649,600 (~USD 402,535) top prize – the second largest the tour has ever awarded in the country, and the fourth-largest APT Main Event prize ever awarded.
For Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
It was Yongqiang Tian returning in pole position with the start-of-day chip lead, and while the Chinese player is still in contention after bagging up a stack of 338,000, it was Flight B frontrunner Tianhao Zheng the man to bag the largest Day 2 stack of 1,173,000.
The Day 2 action concluded 48 minutes into the eighth 60-minute level played (level 18), with the short stacked Lei Song forced all-in from the big blind for his last 6,000.
Lei Song exited on the money bubble
Despite holding a superior king-three and pairing the latter, Song was eliminated on the money bubble by Tsurumi Shun after the Japanese player, holding five-four suited, spiked a four on the turn to guarantee the remaining field a place in the paying positions.
One of the Day 2 players to make the money did so without even playing a hand; China’s Yu Zhou made it through from Flight A with 165,000 and, despite not showing up to play Day 2, squeaked into Day 3 and the paying positions with a stack of 13,000.
Quang Minh Nguyen followed up his runner-up finish in the Superstar Challenge by bagging the second largest stack of 1,101,000 and the Vietnamese player will be looking for another deep run in the Main Event.
China’s Dong Li (1,100,000) rounded out the top three. Mixed game specialist Qibang “James” Cheung of the UK also bagged a top ten stack, as did Natural8 Ambassador Chih Wei Fan (797,000).
MAIN EVENT DAY 2 TOP TEN STACKS
For Main Event Day 2 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 2 Survivors please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the Main Event Day 2 tournament page and you can read about all the action on the APT Blog or watch it as it happened via the Main Event Day 2 live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
Notables to make through include Flight C frontrunner Junh Young Ki (521,000), Flight D frontrunner Yasuhiro Yamamoto (402,000), two-time Main Event winner Lester Edoc (288,000), China’s Hao Chen (202,000), Natural8 Ambassador Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (197,000), Australia’s Yita Choong (195,000), APT Taipei 2025 Super High Roller champion Trung Quan Nguyen (161,000), and Ireland’s Ryan Plant (85,000).
Tony Ren Lin continued his 100 percent cash success rate by making Day 3 and the paying positions with a stack of 79,000, though the Chinese pro will have his work cut out for him if he wants to make good on his jest about settling for second place in the Main Event.
Tony Ren Lin has a 100 percent cash success rate at the APT Jeju Classic 2026
Danil Karpov became the first player to officially make the money, with the Russian player winning his way through OnLive on Natural8 and also battling his way through Day 2 live. Karpov’s shorter live stack has been removed from play, earning him a 255th place min-cash of KRW 3,510,000 (~USD 2,440), and he will be returning with a stack of 213,000 with which to make his run for the title.
That means 254 players will be returning for Day 3, which includes the 37 OnLive players who won their way through on Natural8, with APT Taipei 2023 Main Event champion Punnat Punsri (341,000) just one of the more formidable players returning with designs on a second New Era Main Event title.
The Day 3 action gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Thursday, February 5 with 48-minutes remaining on the clock on level 18, with blinds of 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante and the action playing out over ten 60-minute levels or down to the final 48 players – whichever comes first.
Full coverage will be available on the APT Blog, and you can also watch all the tournament thrills and spills via the Main Event Day 3 live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.