Main Event Closing in on 1.4K Entries; Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin Leads Flight 1B

Main Event Closing in on 1.4K Entries; Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin Leads Flight 1B

Main Event Closing in on 1.4K Entries; Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin Leads Flight 1B

posted by Ben Wilson

Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin Leads Flight B of the Main Event

  • DeepRun Cofounder Phachara Wongwichit Gunning for 7th Tour High Roller Title With SuperStar Lead

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

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 27, 2026 – 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—Day 6 of the APT Taipei 2026 saw the second of four APT Main Event flights play out at Red Space.

There was also plenty of high stakes action on offer with the arrival of the TWD 800K (~USD 25.7K) Superstar Challenge, and Day 1 of the TWD 75K (~USD 2.4K) High Roller – Ultra Stack, also both playing out at Red Space.

Monday also saw the start of a brand new addition to the APT schedule with Mind Sports Week kicking off with the debut of the Event #70: Chinese Chess/Poker tournament, which played out over at the Asia Poker Arena.

Including satellites and Natural8 promotional events, there were an impressive 20 tournaments in action across the two venues over the course of the day, offering an eclectic mix of all the poker variants you can possibly think of, and probably quite a few you have never heard of.

You can read more about the goings on in the Main Event and the Superstar Challenge below, and all about the High Roller - Ultra Stack in the Day 6 side event press release; there will be a more in-depth look at some of the mind sports featured in Mind Sports Week in tomorrow's edition.


Main Event Closing in on 1.4K Entries; Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin Leads Flight 1B

APT Big Three Trophy Photoshoot.JPG The award-winning APT Big Three trophies are pulling in the crowds

The second of the four starting flights in the TWD 55,000 (~USD 1,700) APT Main Event and its hefty TWD 70 million (~USD 2.2 million) guarantee got underway at 11am with the action playing out over ten levels; six 45-minute levels, and four 60-minute levels.

In addition to the eight-figure (six-figure USD) top prize, and the award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy awaiting the eventual champion, the other top six finishers will all claim a seat to the USD 5M GTD Asia Poker Championship (APTC) Main Event playing out in November.

There will also be two random draws for a further two seats; one on Day 4 and one when the tournament reaches the paying (ITM) positions, with all players remaining in the tournament at the time of the draws eligible to win.

Flight B saw 371 entries (297 unique) pile into the poker room and begin their Main Event journey, bringing the total number of entries up to 1,395 with a further two flights left to go. Late registration remains open for the first level on the two respective Day 2 flights.

It was Taiwan’s Zi Han Lin leading the Flight B charge, bagging up 352,500 in chips to carry through to Day 2B.

India’s Joshi Ajit (323,300) finished close behind, with the duo the only two players to conclude the flight over 300K in chips.

South Korea’s Hyundong Lee (281,700) rounded out the top three stacks - more with a total of 147 players surviving the tournament maelstrom to make Day 2B, with the top ten Flight B stacks as follows:

MAIN EVENT FLIGHT 1B TOP TEN STACKS

Pos.PlayerCountryChips
1Zi Han LinTaiwan352,500
2Joshi AjitIndia323,300
3Hyundong LeeSouth Korea281,700
4Katsunori TakeuchiJapan242,200
5Grant WangUnited States232,300
6Yu CenChina226,000
7Ronald HaverkampNetherlands222,300
8Akira TakasugiJapan213,500
9Hugues GirardFrance207,000
10Phanlert SukonthachartnantThailand195,300

For APT Main Event Flight 1B Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT Main Event Flight 1B Survivors please CLICK HERE

Former APT Main Event champions to make it though included defending Taipei champion Akira Takasugi (213,500), APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Super High Roller winner Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (195,300), and fresh off Super High Roller victory, two-time Main Event winner Mike Takayama (150,400).

Other notables to bag at the end of the evening’s play included Germany’s Konstantin Held (187,300), Australia’s Yita Choong (180,900), the USA’s Christian Harder (107,000), Thailand’s Napat Chokejindachai (99,000), and APTC Mystery Bounty champion Sweden’s Sofia Lovgren (65,500).

All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Flight 1B tournament page.

You can read about how all the Flight B action played out via the APT Blog.


Multi-Flight Madness

APT Main Event Trophy.jpg The award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event Trophy

With two more starting flights left to play out, there are still opportunities for those unsuccessful in their endeavours to win their way through.

The final two starting Flights 1C & 1D — both boasting six 30-minute levels and four 45-minute levels each — get underway on Tuesday, April 28, at 11am and 6pm respectively local time.

For the first time in tour history there are two Day 2 Flights – Day 2A for the survivors of flights 1A, 1C, & 1D, and Day 2B for the survivors of Flight 1B.

Level length is 60-minutes for both Day 2 flights. Day 2A gets underway at 11am local time, with late registration remaining open for the first 60-minute level of play, closing at 12:15pm.

Day 2B restarts the action at 3pm local time, with late registration remaining open for the first 60-minute level of play, closing at 4:15pm.

Any player who survives Flights 1A, 1C, & 1D can only play Day 2A, and any player who survives Flight 1B can only play Day 2B.

While players who have not played any of the Day 1 flights can buy-in directly to one of the two Day 2s, it is important to note that they can't play two, so it's an either or situation – a player can either buy-in directly to Day 2A, or buy-in directly to Day 2B, but not both.

Both Day 2 flights are scheduled for ten 60-minute levels of play, but the action will conclude on each when the two respective Day 2 money bubbles burst.

ITM for Day 2A is 14.5% of the combined entries from Flights 1A, 1C, 1D and 2A. ITM for Day 2B is 14.5% of the combined entries from Flights 1B and 2B.

Any player that makes it through the two Day 2 flights reaches the business end of the tournament, with all surviving players making it through to Day 3 earning a place in the hallowed money spots. The Day 3 action gets underway at 11:15am (TST) on Thursday, April 30 with ten levels of play scheduled.

Live Streaming & Blog Coverage

All of the Main Event flights will be featured on the APT Blog, with the Main Event live stream on the official APT YouTube channel starting on the two Day 2 flights at 11:45am on Wednesday, April 29.


DeepRun Cofounder Phachara Wongwichit Gunning for 7th Tour High Roller Title With SuperStar Lead

01CHIPLEADER.jpg DeepRun cofounder Phachara Wongwichit running deep in the Superstar Challenge

While it got off to a slightly later than scheduled start, by the time registration closed at 8:30pm local time a total of 26 high rolling entries (21 unique) had ponied up the hefty TWD 800,000 (~USD 25,700) buy-in for the most expensive event on the schedule – the Event #75: Superstar Challenge.

While not the largest field of the festival, it was full of top tier players, several of whom had already tasted success in this event previously, with two-time Superstar Challenge champion Joseph Cheong, Taipei Poker Classic 2024 winner Chih Wei Fan, APT Jeju 2025 winner Danny Tang, and APT Jeju 2026 winner Tony Ren Lin all in the mix.

Fresh after bagging up chips in the Main Event, Super High Roller champion Mike Takayama also jumped into the action, joining APT Taipei Main Event champion Punnat Punsri, APT Manila High Roller champion Daniel Neilson, poker vlogger Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau, and computational wizard Dominik Nitsche, to name but a few.

By the time play concluded at the end of the seventeenth 40-minute level played, just 5 players were left in contention, all of whom had made the hallowed money spots and were guaranteed a share of the sizable TWD 19,696,950 (~USD 631,310) prize pool and a shot at claiming the TWD 7,247,750 (~USD 232,300) top prize, the USD 5M GTD APTC Main Event seat and the exclusive Black Stealth Lion Superstar Challenge trophy.

FT SSC.jpg Standing L-R: Daniel Neilson, Rudy Edenata, Ren Lin, Chih Wei Fan, Wai Kiat Lee Seated L-R: Phachara Wongwichit, Chin Wei Lim, Alexander Wice, Danny Tang

While nine players made the final table, only 5 would last the final few levels. Of the aforementioned notables, only Fan and Neilson made the cut.

It is DeepRun cofounder and former APT Taipei 2023 High Roller champion Phachara Wongwichit who topped the counts, bagging up a 2,195,000 stack valued at 73 big blinds when play resumes for the Final Day.

Fan sits second in the pecking order with a 1,501,000 stack (50 big blinds), with Malaysia’s Chin Wei ‘Webster’ Lim (1,260,000) rounding out the top three.

Lim’s compatriot Wai Kiat Lee (860,000) will return fourth in the counts, and Neilson rounds out the final five with 645,000 in chips.

With the shortest stack still valued at 22 big blinds, and level length remaining at 40-minutes, there is still plenty of play before one of the quintet claims the accolades.

SUPERSTAR CHALLENGE FINAL DAY STACKS

Pos.PlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1Phachara WongwichitThailand2,195,00073
2Chih Wei FanTaiwan1,501,00050
3Chin Wei LimMalaysia1,260,00042
4Wai Kiat LeeMalaysia860,00029
5Daniel John NeilsonAustralia645,00022

For Superstar Challenge Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Superstar Challenge Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Superstar Challenge Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Superstar Challenge Day 1 tournament page.

You can read about how all the Superstar Challenge Day 1 action played out via the APT Blog.

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time (TST) on Tuesday, April 28, and in addition to the blog coverage you can also watch the action as it plays out via the Superstar Challenge Final Day live stream on the official APT YouTube channel from 11:45am (TST).

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