APT Main Event - Day 3 - TWD 65,000,000 GTD

Li Wei Sun

Day 3 of the record-breaking TWD 70,000 APT Taipei Main Event closed its books with 40 players making it through the day from the 175 that started. Taiwan's own Li Wei Sun sits at the summit of the leaderboard with a stack of 3,465,000 chips and was one of only two players to break the three-million chip milestone along with France's Safwane Bahri who bagged 3,175,000.

A total of 1,182 entries were recorded in the Main Event and the prize pool of TWD 72,232,020 (~$2,286,275) is the richest ever generated for a poker tournament in Taiwan. The winner will also pocket the second-largest Main Event first prize offered in the tour's history with the eventual champion taking home TWD 12,944,020 (~$409,730).

The original plan was to play down to the last 48 players but a last-minute decision was made by the tournament directors to play down until 40 remain instead. Those remaining will play out Day 4 tomorrow, March 7, and play down to a final table.

Sun started the day with 243,000 chips but ended the day with over fourteen times that amount, mostly down to a huge pot he played with Japan's Hayato Obana. The Japanese player had flopped a set of nines but Sun turned a set of aces which skyrocketed his stack to the top of the leaderboard where he remained throughout the rest of the day.

Mike Takayama

Three former Main Event champions remain in contention to win the award-winning 24K Gold Lion trophy including Lester Edoc (2,160,000), and Mike Takayama (1,095,000) who have both won the event twice before and have the chance to become the first-ever person to win three Main Event titles. Hong Kong's Dicky Tsang (565,0000) is the only other player remaining in the field to have won a Main Event after he took down the event at APT Incheon in 2019.

Bracelet winner Quang Thai Ha bagged up 1,730,000 chips and is the only player representing Vietnam remaining. Ha sits second on Vietnam's All-Time Money List with over $2,800,000 in live tournament earnings and will be a huge threat going into Day 4. Several other bracelet winners remain in contention with the likes of Malaysia's Junzhong Loo (1,510,000), Hong Kong's Wing Po Liu (1,075,000) & Yan Shing "Anson" Tsang (680,000), and South Korea's Jin-Hoon Lee (355,000).

Of the 40 players remaining, eleven are representing Taiwan with Hong Kong and the Philippines both having six competitors still in the running. Japan (4), Singapore (3), Thailand (2), and South Korea (2) all have more than one player left in the field whilst a single entry remains for Australia, France, Macau, Malaysia, the UK, and Vietnam.

Other notables to make it through were Jereld Sam (2,105,000), Jun Obara (1,675,000), David Erquiaga (1,295,000), Chi-Jen Chu (1,080,000), John "Bert" Perry (830,000), Jeffrey Lo (665,000), Asa Smith (400,000), and Steve Ng (395,000).

The top ten stacks can be found below.

A full APT Main Event Day 3 Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

A full APT Main Event Day 4 Seat Draw can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Join us tomorrow for Day 4 of the Main Event from 11:15am tomorrow, March 8, where we will play down to a final table.

Day 3 of the APT Taipei Main Event has come to an end with 40 players remaining.

A write-up of the day's action will follow shortly.

Chun Nam Fung

Chun Nam Fung has been eliminated and brings the day's action to a close as 40 players remain in the APT Main Event.

Lester Edoc raised the button to 60,000 and Fung shoved all in for his last 140,000. Edoc was priced in and had no choice but to make the call and put Fung at risk.

Fung K♣ 8♥

Edoc T♥ 4♣

Despite being in the lead, Fung couldn't stay alive as the 4♠ 9♣ 9♦ A♦ 7♦ runout paired the four of Edoc to earn the Filipino player the pot.

Dexter Santos raised from under-the-gun to 60,000 and Takeshi Odawara made a small 3-bet to 140,000. When the action got back to Santos, he made the call.

On the 2♦ K♥ 5♣ flop, we saw the stacks of both players find their way into the middle of the table with Santos in a great position.

Santos A♣ A♦

Odawara K♣ Q♦

Santos had laid the trap and Odawara had fallen right into it. The Japanese player still had some outs but never managed to find any of them after the runout of 4♥ 2♣ kept the pocket aces of Santos in the lead.

Lester Timonera

Dexter Santos raised to 75,000 and Kevin Choi 3-bet to 210,000. Lester Timonera then shoved all in for 45,000 and Santos made the call to create a side pot.

The flop fell Q♠ Q♥ 5♥ and both Choi and Santos checked to see a 4♠ hit the turn. Santos then lead-jammed and Choi folded.

Santos 6♠ 6♦

Timonera A♥ T♠

Santos' pocket sixes held up as the J♥ landed on the river which meant Timonera was eliminated in 42nd.

David Erquiaga

David Erquiaga opened from middle position to 75,000 and found one call from Wai Wa Chan in the small blind.

The flop came 9♦ 3♥ 9♣ . After Chan checked, Erquiaga fired out a continuation bet of 35,000. Chan stuck around to see the turn.

The turn came the A♥. Chan checked and faced a bet of 100,000 from Erquiaga. Chan wasn't folding just yet as he called to see the river.

When the river came the J♥, Chan checked for a final time and faced a third barrel of 300,000 from Erquiaga. Chan used a time bank chip before throwing in the call. Erquiaga turned over 3♦ 3♠ for a flopped boat to take down the pot.

Xi Guo Zhang opened to 60,000 from early position and got 3-bet shoved on by Jovan Nikolic of Serbia for 330,000. When it got back to Zhang, he called to put Nikolic at risk.

Nikolic A♥ J♣

Zhang K♥ K♠

The board ran out T♠ 6♠ 6♥ K♣ 5♣ giving Zhang a full house, as he sent Nikolic to the rail in 43rd place.

Players are on their third 15-minute break of the day.

Vlada Stojanovic shoved all in for his last 245,000 chips and Kuan Yu Lin made the call.

Stojanovic K♣ Q♥

Lin T♥ T♣

The Serbian player had lost a significant portion of his chips over the last few orbits and now was flipping for his tournament life.

It was Lin that had the pot shipped in his direction after his pocket tens held up on the 5♦ 7♦ J♣ 8♥ 3♥ runout, which eliminated Stojanovic.

Naoto Takeya opened from early position to 60,000 and faced an all-in of 150,000 chips by Yu-Jung Lo on the button. Once the blinds folded, Takeya made the call to put Lo at risk.

Lo J♠ J♦

Takeya A♥ T♥

The flop came 6♦ 3♦ J♥, giving Lo a set and a stranglehold on the hand. The K♦ turn gave Takeya a gutshot straight draw, but the J♣ on the river upgraded Lo's set to quads as he scooped in a crucial pot to stay alive.