Higor Seibel

Day 1 of the APT High Roller has concluded at LES A Casino in Jeju, South Korea, and after a long day of play, just 65 players have bagged chips and will return for the final day tomorrow.

A total of 295 entries came in at KRW 5,000,000 apiece, comfortably smashing the KRW 700,000,000 guarantee. The final prize pool stands at KRW 1,274,400,000 (~USD 958,195) – making this the richest Korean-based APT High Roller in tour history, and third richest of all-time

Only 39 of the returning field are guaranteed a min-cash of KRW 8,700,000 (~USD 6,540), with KRW 252,850,000 (~USD 190,110) reserved up top for tomorrow's Champion—the second richest awarded by the tour in South Korea—as well as the APT Championship seat worth USD 10,000 for use in Taipei next month.

Leading the way is Brazil's Higor Seibel, sitting comfortably out in front. The Brazilian finished on 1,500,000, almost half a million clear of the rest of the field. China's Mou Yue sits second with 1,025,000, while India's Kunal Patni is just behind in third with 989,000, bouncing back in style after falling short of the money in the Main Event.

APT High Roller Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

For the full list of Day 1 survivors, click here.

The Day's Action

Not a lot was recorded with regards to how Seibel surged up the counts, although he spent much of the late stages sitting on more than seven-figures. While Calvin Lau got the better of him with a turn shove, it was a barely noticeable loss from his stack.

Kunal Patni

Patni was on strong form throughout the day, rivering an ace to bust Xin Xin's pocket jacks late on and picking off a river bluff from Tom Verbruggen with pocket nines on his way to 989,000.

Tom Verbruggen

Verbruggen made one of the bigger calls of the day. Facing a 165,000 overbet on the river from Aaron Gao, the Dutch player used two time banks before calling with ace-five, and his pair of aces was good against Gao's ten-high bluff. Verbruggen went on to bag 663,000.

Stefan Bittger was involved in plenty of action before eventually hitting the rail. He out-kicked Toby Joyce with ace-king in a three-way pot, and then snap-called Changjie Zhang's river shove with pocket tens for a straight, lightyears ahead of Zhang's queen-high bluff.

Dicky Tsang

Former APT Main Event champion Dicky Tsang had a whirlwind finish to the day. Short on chips, he three-bet jammed with pocket eights and flopped a set to double through Vinay Boob, before sending Fabian Gumz to the rail when his pocket queens held against the German pro's pocket threes. Tsang finished with 278,000.

Joseph Cheong couldn't find a bag

Joseph Cheong was another big name to depart. He four-bet jammed with ace-queen and ran into the Big Slick of Quang Trinh Do, with no help coming on the runout. Do went on to bag a hefty stack of 700,000.

Elsewhere, Natural8 ambassador Chih Wei Fan called Rudy Edenata's river bluff to take a nice pot, and finished the day on 192,000.

Notables Through to Day 2

Daniel Neilson

Four former APT Big Three champions found a bag: Germany's Rene von Reden (757,000), Australia's Daniel Neilson (556,000), Germany's Martin Sedlak (543,000) and Singapore's Abraham Ceesvin (421,000), who won the 2025 APT Jeju Main Event.

Scott Margereson (733,000), Wouter Beltz (575,000), Dillon Najor (536,000), Jiapeng Zhou (504,000) and Francis Anderson (500,000) all return with healthy stacks. Bracelet winners Abhinav Iyer (481,000) and Georgios Skarparis (342,000) are still in the hunt, as is Calvin Lau (346,000).

The final day gets kicks off at 11:15 AM local time tomorrow, with the remaining 65 players playing down to a winner. The action will be livestreamed on the APT YouTube channel. For the Day 2 Seat Draw, click here.

The APT High Roller Day 1 has ended with 65 players advancing to the final day tomorrow.

Lock it in as a full recap of the day will follow shortly.

Kunal Patni

Action was picked up with a three-way pot of 125,000 and a completed board of T Q 7 3 5 . After two checks from the blinds, Tom Verbruggen under the gun fired 40,000.

Action was on Kunal Patni in the small blind. He went into the tank looking down at his chips and the board, visibly in deep thought. He burned through two time cards before flat-calling. Saifah Chanpanya in the big blind folded leaving the two players to head to showdown.

Verbruggen tabled his A 3 for bottom pair. As Patni showed 9 9 , Verbruggen said, "I can never bluff you."

Calvin Lau

Small blind Higor Seibel limped in and big blind Calvin Lau checked his option.

The dealer fanned the 7 T Q flop, and Seibel led for 10,000 before calling Lau's raise to 32,000.

The 9 hit the turn and Seibel check-folded when Lau jammed for 70,000.

"I had it this time," Lau said to Seibel.

A few hands later, Sebastian Henao raised from early position and big blind Seibel defended.

Both players checked the entire 6 4 5 7 2 runout, and Seibel produced A Q to take down the pot.

Martin Sedlak

Action folded to Hon Cheong Lee on the button who open-jammed all-in for his last 100,000. Martin Sedlak, in the small blind, made the call and had Lee covered, the big blind folded.

Hon Cheong Lee: Q T

Martin Sedlak: A A

A massive flop came of 9 A 8 , and even though Sedlak flopped top set, Lee had a plethora of outs to catch to stay alive with a straight and flush draw.

The K turn didn't change affairs, and when the K came on the river, although it gave Lee his flush, it filled Sedlak up, and Lee was sent to the rail.

Tanjupat Punjarojanakul

Wengang Wang shoved all-in for 136,000 from under the gun and after action folded to the big blind, Tanjupat Punjarojanakul called, putting Wang's tournament life on the line.

Wengang Wang: K J

Tanjupat Punjarojanakul: Q Q

It was a quick end for Wang when the flop dropped J Q 2 . He had to smile at the situation when Punjarojanakul caught a full house on the 2 turn, rubbing his loss in.

The 7 river was inconsequential. He left the table as Punjarojanakul happily scooped the pot nearing the end of the day.

The clock has now been paused and the floor has announced that six more hands will be dealt for the night.

At the conclusion of the six hands, all surviving players will bag up their chips to return tomorrow, October 4, to battle it out on the felt until an APT Jeju 2026 High Roller champion is crowned.

Tom Verbruggen opened to 20,000 from under the gun and was joined on the flop by the blinds, Kunal Patni and Aaron Gao.

Patni check-folded and Gao check-called when Verbruggen continued for 30,000 on the 9 7 A flop.

Both checked the 6 turn to the 4 river, where Gao led for a hefty 165,000, sending the Dutch player into the tank.

After using two time banks, Verbruggen eventually stuck in the call. Gao turned over T 2 for not much of anything, and the pot went to Verbruggen, who tabled A 5 .

Mou Yue

Three-way to the flop of T 6 4 , and it was checked around for the players to see the J peel off on the turn.

Mou Yue checked from the small blind, as did Congya Zhang in the big blind, and it came around to Scott Margereson in the cutoff, who bet out for 38,000.

Yue then put in a check-raise to 85,000. Zhang folded faster than a cheetah on caffeine, and after a short tank, Margereson made the call.

The river brought the J and both players checked. Yue tabled T 7 for a rivered flush, and a disgusted Margereson mucked his cards, sending her the pot.

Kunal Patni

Kunal Patni opened to 16,000 in early position and got Xin Xin to his left to call. Not to be left behind Hon Cheong Lee in the big blind joined to see the flop.

The dealer fanned out 8 3 6 . After a check, Xin fired pushing Lee out of the pot. Patni, however had other things in mind and raised to 75,000 sending Xin to the tank. Before his time ran out, Xin announced all-in for around 340,000 and Patni didn't hesitate to call, putting Xin's tournament life at risk.

Xin Xin: J J

Kunal Patni: A 9

Xin was ahead with pocket jacks but Patni had an overcard and a flush draw that can turn things around. The 7 turn was a brick but the A fell on the river eliminating Xin on the penultimate level of the day.