The APT Championship is drawing to a close with the penultimate day bringing in the last few opportunities to bring home an APT trophy. One of the more coveted trophies that players had their eyes on all series is the fresh design of the APT lion trophies that weigh around 15 kilos and comes with a special traveling case.

One of those few remaining trophies will be awarded tomorrow as the final day of the Mini High Roller Championship plays down to a champion.

A total of 184 entries pushed the prize pool to an astounding TWD 38,687,693 (~USD 1,239,990) with the top 27 places earning a place in the payout circle.

Today saw the return of 60 survivors from the 97 entries on the opening day. They were joined by 87 more late registrants, hoping to take home the lion's share of TWD 8,569,093 (~USD 274,650) and to be part of APT history.

Trong Hieu Ngo

Entering the day as the chip leader was Vietnam's Trong Hieu Ngo, who came in with 502,000 chips. Joining him in the top three were Russia's Nikolai Mamut in second with 480,500 and Malaysia's Win Meng Tan with a third-ranked stack of 418,500.

There were some big names in the hunt among the Day 1 survivors like Joseph Cheong, Michael Wang, Poseidon Ho, Stephen O'Dwyer, Joshua McCully and Seungmook Jung.

There were also notable Day 2 late entries that included the likes of Natural8 Ambassadors Kitty Kuo, Sparrow Cheung and Charlie Chiu, Daniel Neilson, Justin Chu, James Mendoza ,Rob Hollink and Anton Lu.

Stephen O'Dwyer

As the day wore on, only a few of these notables made it to the money.

Stephen O'Dwyer almost made it but ended up busting out on the soft bubble when he top-paired his queen on the flop and shoved only to find that Anthony Hu also paired the queen with a better kicker.

The bubble burst a few hands after on Axel Hallay when his pocket eights were outdrawn by the ace-queen of Tobias Schwecht.

The eliminations then came in quick succession with action slowing down when it reached two tables as the players tightened their play with the final table drawing closer.

Some of those who made the money, but fell short of the final table include the likes of Charlie Chiu (25th), Michael Wang (20th), Roman Hrabec (15th) and Yohwan Lim (13th).

You can view the complete payouts HERE.

The final table bubble burst on Hon Cheong Lee when his ace-jack diamonds couldn't find a way past the pocket kings of Paulius Plausinaitis

Michael Egan

When play concluded, following Lee's final table bubble elimination, it was Australia's Michael Egan who held the chip lead with a stack of 3,510,000. Lithuania's Paulius Plausinaitis was able to make it close after he busted Lee with 3,315,000.

Rounding up the podium was Hong Kong's Wayne Lam with 2,910,000. Lam had quite a roller coaster of emotions. He was one of the shorter stacks during the bubble time and managed to squeak by. Lam then spun his short stack around with some well-timed flips. His stack literally took flight when his pocket rockets earned a huge double from start-of-day chip leader Trong Hieu Ngo of Vietnam.

Seated L to R: Paulius Plausinaitis, Dumitru Pora, Michael Egan, Wai Kiat Lee

Standing L to R: Daisuke Ogita, Wayne Lam, Anthony Hu, Trong Hieu Ngo, John Schultz-Pedersen

These were the final table chip counts and seat draw for tomorrow's final day.

The final table action resumes in less than 12 hours at 11:15 AM TST.

The final table will also be shown at the Official APT YouTube Channel via a delayed 30-minute livestream.

Also stay glued here for all the live updates and reports, including hand-for-hand coverage of the final table.

Wait for it - a champion will be crowned.

Seated L to R: Paulius Plausinaitis, Dumitru Pora, Michael Egan, Wai Kiat Lee

Standing L to R: Daisuke Ogita, Wayne Lam, Anthony Hu, Trong Hieu Ngo, John Schultz-Pedersen

Play has concluded for the night with the elimination of Hon Cheong Lee as the final table bubble.

The final 9 players of the Mini High Roller Championship will resume play tomorrow on 11:15 AM TST in a featured final table that will be shown in the Official APT YouTube Channel via livestream.

These are the following players with their seat draw and chip counts:

Stay tuned for a complete Day recap to follow.

Hon Cheong Lee

Paulius Plausinaitis opened for 120,000 and Hon Cheong Lee shoved his last 780,000 all-in and was snap called by Plausinaitis.

Hon Cheong Lee: A J

Paulius Plausinaitis: K K

Board ran J 2 T 3 T

Lee paired his jack on the flop to give him more outs, but none of them materialized on teh turn and river, ending his Mini Main High Roller journey in 10th place just shy of the final table.

Wayne Lam

Wayne Lam opened for 120,000 from under the gun. Action fell to Trong Hieu Ngo, who shoved all-in, covering the stacks to follow.

The blinds got out of the way and Lam made the snap call.

Trong Hieu Ngo: A Q

Wayne Lam: A A

Board completed 8 6 9 2 7

After the dealer counted the chips, Ngo was asked to pay Lam 1,335,000.

Lam's rockets boosted his stack to be among the top chip leaders while Ngo was left with a sub-average stack.

The remaining players will go on their final 15-minute break.

Daisuke Ogita

During the very last hand of Level 23 at Table #80 of the APT Mini Main Championship, Daisuke Ogita risked his tournament life, and potentially a seat at the final table.

He shoved all his chips from the small blind, and sitting in the big blind, Michael Egan called the Japanese player’s all-in. Both players then tabled their hands.

Daisuke Ogita: A Q

Michael Egan: A 9

The dealer revealed a board that ran out: 7 2 K 7 J

Egan briefly saw a chance to chop the pot, but that hope disappeared on the river.

Ogita therefore doubled his stack and remained in contention for the Final Day, scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, November 30th, at 11:15 AM.

With 10 players remaining, the tournament director has announced that play will be hand for hand with the final table bubble about to burst.

The remaining nine players will return tomorrow to determine a champion.

Asish Ghosh

Asish Ghosh was forced all-in on his big blind. Dumitru Pora called on the button and Trong Hieu Ngo also called the small blind.

The flop came T 6 9

Ngo checked and Pora fired a 100,000 bet.

Ngo exclaimed, "Are you serious?"

Supposedly, Ngo expected that they would both check it down to ensure the elimination of Ghosh.

In any case, Ngo folded.

Ghosh flipped over his K 3

Pora showed T 9 for two-pair

The run out of J 8 ensured the elimination of Ghosh, who managed to squeak by to an 11th place finish just after Mamut's elimination despite being the ultimate shortest stack on their table.

Nikolai Mamut

Nikolai Mamut had been surviving thus far by shoving all-in and scooping some blinds. This time around, Mamut shoved his last 475,000 and found a caller from Dumitiru Pora.

Nikolai Mamut : J 6

Dumitru Pora: K 9

Board ran 9 9 3 8 Q

The trips on the flop had Mamut gathering his bag and leaving his seat. The dealer didn't even finish the runout and "GGs" were being given to Mamut, who ended his run as a 12th place finisher.

Asish Ghosh and Paulius Plausinaitis went on a raise-re-raise tug-of-war until Plausinaitis shoved all-in and Ghosh made the call. Both had similar stacks and the count would come after.

Asish Ghosh: K K

Paulius Plausinaitis: A A

When both cards went on their backs, the table gave a well-timed "Ooohhh"

The dealer gave a board of T J 5 2 6

After the counts, it was determined Plausinaitis had the shorter stack of 1,060,000.

Ghosh was left with crumbs, less than a big blind.