APT Super High Roller Generates Over USD 1M Prize Pool
Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 Sets New Tour Record
APT TAIPEI 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 26, 2025 – Playing out at 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 second day of the 10-day APT Taipei festival continues to raise the bar.
There were 12 tournaments in action, ten of which played down to thrilling conclusions, bringing the number of newly minted APT Taipei 2025 champions up to 20 in total.
Attractions included Day 1 of the first of the tour’s three signature trophy events—the TWD 330,000 (~USD 10,185) APT Super High Roller—and the three opening flights of the record-breaking TWD 17,000 Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 – more on these below.
Taiwan’s Shi Rong Wang Takes TWD 3.45M (~USD 106K) Top Prize Plus APTC Main Event Ticket Worth TWD 350K With APT National Cup Win
Taiwan's Shi Rong Wang claimed a career-best score in the APT National Cup
It was the Final Day of the record-breaking TWD 12,000 APT National Cup which was the largest of the exciting events to play down to a champion.
With the three National Cup Day 1 flights attracting the second-largest opening event field in the tour’s 19-year history—a sizable 2,161 entries comprised of a record 1,265 unique players—there was a noticeable buzz of excitement in the air when the Final Day resumed.
The 302 returning players were all guaranteed a TWD 18,000 (~USD 556) share of the tour’s richest-ever opening event prize pool with a hefty TWD 21,264,240 (~USD 656,304) in the purse.
With the eventual champion earning a great return on investment and claiming an impressive TWD 3,454,240 (~USD 106,612) top prize and a TWD 350,000 ticket to the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event (running November 14-30) there was all to play for, and the action was high octane from the get-go.
While it was the UK’s Jason Cooper returning with the start-of-day chip lead, it proved to be the field of dreams for local player Shi Rong Wang, with the 21-year-old young gun booking his first international poker title and claiming a career-best score.
The top prize decuples Wang’s total live earnings and moves him up over 2,300 places on the Taiwan All Time Money List into the top 125 tournament players of the region.
“I’m feeling super happy — extremely happy. This is a huge milestone for me,” an ecstatic Wang confided in his post-match interview via the aid of a translator.
“There were so many things I had to think through. Without learning and studying, I really wouldn’t have made it here.”
Wang cites Taiwanese Natural8 Ambassadors Eric “Six Poker” Tsai and I-Chun “Charlie” Chiu as two of his biggest influences when it came to working on his game, admitting playing in the APT was a major step up from the local tournament’s he usually competes in.
“I treated it as a major challenge. For me, it’s like chasing a dream — yes, definitely a dream.”
What makes Wang’s dream feel even more special is the fact he now feels vindicated in pursuing poker over his academic career, taking the time to thank his backers and friends, as well as making an admission to his family.
“Thank you to my investors—my friends—who believed in me. And to my family – I’m sorry. I may not have been the perfect kid; I stopped studying two years ago, but I kept it from you. I focused on playing poker on my own and finally achieved some success. I hope you can support me as I continue down this path.”
Here’s hoping this is just the start of something special for the young budding professional, who will find himself competing on the Asian poker circuits’ biggest stack in November having claimed his seat in the upcoming APTC Main Event.
APT NATIONAL CUP FINAL TABLE RESULTS
*Plus an APTC Main Event ticket valued at TWD 350,000
For all APT National Cup Results please CLICK HERE
You can follow all the action via the APT Blog.
All tournament information can be found on the APT National Cup Final Day tournament page.
APT Super High Roller Generates Over USD 1M Prize Pool With APT All Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong Leading
The USA's Joseph Cheong is aiming for his first signature lion trophy
Boasting the second largest buy-in on the schedule, the TWD 330,000 (~USD 10,185) APT Super High Roller regularly attracts the best and brightest of the international poker circuit.
This series proved to be no exception, with several former APT signature tournament champions in the mix, all looking to make tour history and become the first player to bag a second award-winning signature lion trophy.
While the 122-strong (83 unique) field did not break any records, it did generate the second-richest APT Super High Roller prize pool of the New Era, with a hefty TWD 37,040,420 (~USD 1,143,223) in the purse.
This is the second largest APT Super High Roller to run in Taiwan, sitting just behind the 137-strong APT Taipei 2024 tournament, and is the third largest overall.
The eventual champion will take home a sizable TWD 9,230,920 (~USD 284,905) top prize—the second largest the event has ever awarded—in addition to a TWD 350,000 seat to the APT Championship (APTC) Main Event running from November 14-30.
Only 25 players made it through to the high stakes maelstrom to punch their ticket to the Final Day, but only 17 of them will make the hallowed money spots.
It is APT All Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong who will be returning in the box seat with a stack of 3,325,000 for a 31 big blind chip lead over next closest rival Alexander Lynskey, who bagged up 2,380,000 in chips at the conclusion of the sixteen 40-minute levels played.
Cheong boasts a stellar poker CV and has already become the first player in tour history to claim the exclusive black lion Superstar Challenge trophy. The one thing missing from his stack poker resume is one of the tour’s signature lion trophies so it’s a fair bet the US poker phenom will be looking to rectify this.
However, Lynskey is no slouch, and Natural8 Ambassador Yu Chung "Nevan" Chang also bagged a top ten stack with which to aid his first signature trophy run.
Thailand’s Thanisorn Saelor and the USA’s Stanley Weng are the only two players remaining in the field who can become the first players to claim a second signature trophy having both won the Rose Gold APT High Roller trophy.
Local legend Chih Wei Fan is also looking to claim his maiden giant lion, as is Germany’s Manig Loeser, with the top ten stacks coming into the Final Day as follows:
APT HIGH ROLLER DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS
For APT High Roller Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE.
For APT High Roller Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE.
All tournament information can be found on the APT Super High Roller Day 1 tournament page.
You can read about all the tournament action via the APT Blog.
The Final Day action gets underway at 11:15am (GMT+8) on Sunday, April 27 with the tournament playing down to a champion.
Full coverage will be available via the APT Blog, and you can also watch all the action via the live stream on the official APT YouTube channel on a 30-minute delay, with the coverage getting underway at 11:45am local time.
Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 Smashes Tour Record
Two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc is returning as one of the larger stacks after topping Flight C
All the record-breaking action was not exclusive to the APT National Cup, with the TWD 17,000 (~USD 525) Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 smashing the tour record for both field size and prize pool.
A total of 1,724 entries comprised of 930 unique players competed over the three starting flights making this the largest Mystery Bounty Hunter field in tour history in terms of both entries and unique players.
The tournament is close to 30 percent (29.8%) larger than the previous record of 1,328 (850 unique) set during the October 2024 APT Taipei Poker Classic.
Of course, a record field means a record prize pool, with a massive TWD 24,325,778 (~USD 750,795) in the purse—an impressive 32 percent increase on the TPC tournament, easily surpassing the TWD 15 million guarantee—split between the TWD 15,705,778 (~USD 484,746) main prize pool and the TWD 8,620,000 (~USD 266,050) bounty pool.
The top 14 percent of the three starting flights made it through to the Final Day and the paying positions, with a total of 242 players returning to duke it out when the mystery bounties kick in.
With the eventual winner walking away with a TWD 2,742,778 (~USD 84,654) top prize, and a TWD 350,000 ticket to the APTC Main Event up for grabs as one of the top bounties, there is all to play for when the tournament resumes for the Final Day at 11:15am on Sunday, April 27.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE.
It is South Korea’s Choi Youngchang who is returning in pole position after topping the 716-strong opening Flight A, concluding the twenty-one 25-minute levels played with a stack of 820,000.
Youngchang was the only player from the three opening flights to crack the 800K chip milestone, with Taiwan’s Lung Tang his next closest competitor after finishing Flight A with a stack of 715,000.
Compatriots Guan Lun Chen (585,000), and Ching En Chen (571,000), and Hong Kong’s Kwok Wing Ko (521,000) rounded out the top five Flight A stacks, with 101 players surviving the opening flight to make the Final Day.
All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A tournament page.
Hong Kong's Wan Hung topped Flight B
Flight B saw 673 players in action fighting it out at the felt over twenty-one 20-minute levels, with Hong Kong’s Wan Hung topping the chip counts with a stack of 689,000.
South Korea’s Myunghwan Han (632,000) was the only other Flight B player to bag over 600K.
Taiwan’s Chih Hao Li (522,000), Hao Shen (520,000), and Cheng Lin Yu (500,000) rounded out the top five, with 94 players making the cut for the Final Day.
All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight B tournament page.
The third and final Flight C drew a further 335 runners with two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc of the Philippines bagging biggest after the twenty-two 15-minute levels played to bring in a stack of 735,000 to the Final Day, putting him second in the overall chip counts.
Hong Kong’s Wing Fai Kwan (573,000), and Tsun Yin Chiu (563,000), and Japan’s Sho Furutani (490,000), and Oshiro Kazuma (482,000) rounded out the top five Flight C stacks, with a total of 47 players making it through to the Final Day.
All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight C tournament page.
MYSTERY BOUNTY HUNTER TOP TEN STACKS
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE.
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE.
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time on Sunday, April 27 with the 242 survivors returning to play down to a champion.