Hong Kong's Wayne Lam Leads final nine players in the APT Taipei 2025 Main Event

• Hong Kong’s Kwan Chun Kit Wins Record-Breaking Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 for TWD 8.2M (~USD 253K)

• Mini Main Event Destroys Tour Record; Singapore’s Yeow Chung Chong Leads Tours’ Largest & Richest Mini Main Field

APT TAIPEI 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, May 2, 2025 – Action at the APT Taipei 2025 is coming to the boil, with the largest Main Event in tour history reaching the nine-handed final table.

The record-breaking action was not exclusive to the Main Event, with the tour’s largest-ever Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 also playing down to a thrilling conclusion.

And if that wasn’t enough broken vinyl for one day, the opening three flights of the Mini Main Event also entered the annals of tour history with the tournament attracting its largest-ever field who will be competing for the event’s richest-ever prize pool.

There was plenty of high rolling action, with the TWD 165,000 (~USD 5,090) Baby Superstar Challenge also setting a new tour record for entries and prize pool – you can read all about that in the side event action in the news section.

Playing out at the tournament tables of the brand-new Red Space 多元商務空間 and run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), Day 8 of the ten-day festival was the busiest so far with over 2,930 entries competing across 16 tournaments.

Main Event Day 4 Action

Just 48 players out of a record field of 2,547 entries returned for the penultimate day of the APT Taipei 2025 Main Event all guaranteed a pay out of TWD 307,500 (~USD 9,490) from the tour’s richest-ever Main Event prize pool of TWD 121,033,440 (~USD 3,735,600).

All had but one goal in mind, securing a spot on the nine-handed final table for a chance at claiming the largest first place prize ever awarded in a Taiwanese poker tournament – a massive TWD 19,009,440 (~USD 586,710).

In addition to the life-changing TWD eight-figure (USD six figure) top prize, the top three finishes will also claim a seat worth TWD 350,000 (~USD 10,700) to the APT’s largest-ever guaranteed tournament – the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event, running November 24-28 right here in Taipei.

It was Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo returning with the start-of-day chip lead, with the blinds recommencing with four minutes remaining on level 26 with blinds of 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante.

Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo

Kuo was one of two former (both female) APT Main Event champions remaining in the field at the start of the day, the other being Vietnam’s Dang Thi Hue.

Of the two, only Hue was able to make it through to the Final Day, with Kuo falling victim to eventual finalist Rintaro Kagawa of Japan and hitting the rail in 21st place for TWD 635,500 (~USD 19,615).

It took close to eight 60-minute levels to thin the field down to the last nine players and set up the final table, with the elimination of Thailand’s Anusorn Asiralertsiri at the hands of Hong Kong’s Wayne Lam concluding the Day 4 action.

While Asiralertsiri headed to the payout desk to collect a career-best score of TWD 1,252,500 (~USD 38,660), effectively doubling his lifetime live winnings, Lam edged into the tournament top spot and will be bringing in a chip leading stack of 17,925,000 (60 big blinds) into the Final Day.

Japan’s Rintaro Kagawa sits just one big blind behind Lam in the counts and will be returning with a stack of 17,825,000 (59 big blinds) with which to make his Main Event title run. Lam and Kagawa were the only two players to crack the 17-million-chip milestone with Malaysia’s Owen Chong rounding out the top three, returning with a stack of 15,375,000 (51 big blinds).

In addition to Hue, who will be returning with the shortest stack, the other notable former APT title winner to lock up a final table spot is APT Taipei 2023 Mystery Bounty Hunter champion Kiwanont Sukhum of Thailand who will be returning with the second shortest stack:

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE STACKS

Back Row (l-r): Owen Chong, Rintaro Kagawa, Dang Thi Hue, Iat Man Leong, Nishant Kumar. Front Row (L-r): Akira Takasugi, Wayne Lam, Kano Shinichiro, Kiwanont Sukhum

For APT Taipei 2025 Main Event Player Profiles please CLICK HERE.

For Main Event Day 4 Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Main Event Results so far, please CLICK HERE.

In addition to Kuo, other notables to make Day 4 but come up short of a spot in the final nine included APT Taipei Poker Classic 2025 Main Event runner-up Abraham Ceesvin (11th for TWD 1,252,500), Hong Kong’s Yuen Shan “Hazel” Chui (17th for TWD 874,500), Hong Kong’s Nicholas Go (32nd for TWD 374,500), and the USA’s Peter Kiem and Robert Kiss (41st & 42nd respectively for TWD 307,500).

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time (GMT+8) on Saturday, May 3, where the nine remaining players will battle it out for the award-winning 24K Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and title. The action will be live streamed via the official APT YouTube channel.

You can read about all the Main Event Day 4 action via the APT Blog, or watch the action as it played out via the Main Event Day 4 live stream.

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Day 4 tournament page.

Hong Kong’s Kwan Chun Kit Wins Record-Breaking Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 for TWD 8.2M (~USD 253K)

Hong Kong’s Kwan Chun Kit claimed his maiden APT title in the tour's largest-ever Zodiac Classic

Just 192 players out of a record-breaking field of 626 entries (436 unique) returned for the Final Day of the TWD 80,000 (~USD 2,470) Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8, all looking to fight their way through to a place into the 87 paying positions and beyond.

With the richest-ever Zodiac Classic prize pool of TWD 42,919,120 (~USD 1,324,664) up for grabs, and the eventual champion walking away with a TWD 8,222,620 (~USD 253,785) top prize—the largest ever awarded in this event—the Final Day action played out over a gruelling nineteen 40-minute levels, with the money bubble bursting right at the close of level 19.

It was Taiwan’s Meng Ting Hsieh who departed in the most unenviable position in poker, his pocket queens cracked by the king-seven of compatriot Hsuan-Yu Lai to guarantee all remaining players a TWD 133,000 (~USD 4,105) payday.

This opened the floodgates for a slew of rapid eliminations, although it still took a further ten levels to set up the nine-handed final table.

It was two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc coming in with the chip lead, although start-of-day chip leader Gab Yong Kim was also able to pilot his big stack through to a place in the final nine.

With stacks shrinking in comparison to the rising blinds, it took close to four more 40-minute levels to crown a champion, with Hong Kong’s Kwan Chun Kit denying Edoc a 21st APT title to claim his fourth live tournament title, and maiden APT title, in addition to a career-best TWD 8,222,620 (~USD 253,785) score – the largest this event has ever awarded.

Edoc collected the second-largest score of his lengthy professional career, banking a hefty TWD 5,116,000 (~USD 157,900) for his runner-up finish, with the USA’s Grant Wang rounding out the top three, taking bronze and TWD 3,661,000 (~USD 112,990) for third place – also a career best.

Kim was able to convert his start-of-day chip lead into a fifth-place finish, which was good for TWD 2,232,000 (~USD 68,890), with the final table paying out as follows:

ZODIAC CLASSIC FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For Zodiac Classic Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Zodiac Classic Results please CLICK HERE.

Other notables to make the money included Natural8 India Ambassador Kunal Patni (11th for TWD 575,000), APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event champion Rene von Reden (14th for TWD 420,500), Ireland’s Gary Thompson (28th for TWD 219,000), former APT Incheon 2023 High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor (31st for TWD 219,000), Australia’s Alexander Lynskey (36th for TWD 193,000), former Zodiac Classic champion Jun Li (48th for TWD 167,500), APT Taipei Poker Classic High Roller champion Martin Sedlak (53rd for TWD 167,500), British bracelet winner Alex Lindop (59th for TWD 150,000), Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung (64th for TWD 150,000), Taiwan’s I-Chun “Charlie” Chiu (74th for TWD 133,000), and APT Manila 2024 High Roller champion Daniel Neilson (81st for TWD 133,000).

All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic - Final Day tournament page.

Mini Main Event Destroys Tour Record; Singapore’s Yeow Chung Chong Leads Tours’ Largest & Richest Mini Main Field

Proving to be the most popular draw of the day, the TWD 25,000 (~USD 770) Main Main Event absolutely destroyed the previous tour record for the tournament, becoming the second-largest side event in Asian Poker Tour history.

It was evident something momentous was underway when the opening Flight A attracted an impressive 722 entries (588 unique) – just 19 less than the previous record field for the tournament.

Flight B saw a further 658 entries (575 unique), with the third and final Flight C attracting an additional 380 entries (325 unique).

By the time registration closed for the three opening flights, a staggering 1,760 entries (1,004 unique) had entered the tournament arena and battled at the baize.

In addition to obliterating the TWD 15 million (USD 462,000) guarantee, the tournament generated an astounding TWD 37,666,000 (~USD 1,162,530) prize pool!

With the top 14 percent of each of the three flights making the Final Day and the paying positions, a total of 248 players will be returning to battle it out for a share of the second-largest prize pool of the festival so far outside of the Main Event (just behind the Zodiac Classic).

With a gigantic TWD 6,515,000 (~USD 201,080) top prize for the eventual champion, plus an APTC Main Event seat worth TWD 350,000 (~USD 10,700), the winner will take home the fourth-largest first place prize of the series to-date—although the APT High Roller has yet to play out so this fact might change.

For Mini Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

All returning players are guaranteed a TWD 39,500 (~USD 1,220) payday when the action resumes at 11:15am on Saturday, May 3 for the Final Day.

It is Yeow Chung Chong returning in the box seat after topping the chip counts of Flight B, and the Singaporean player will be returning with a sizable stack of 1,649,000 – close to 600,000 more than next closest rival and compatriot Chris Feng (1,059,000) who topped the opening Flight A.

Chong and Feng were the only two players to conclude the action with a seven-figure stack, with Taiwan’s Chia Hsiang Ko (860,000) rounding out the top three after concluding Flight A behind Feng. Singapore’s He Ling topped the third and final Flight C and will be returning sixth in the overall pecking order after bagging up 798,000.

MINI MAIN EVENT TOP TEN STACKS

Other notables still in the running include APT Manila Classic Main Event champion Daniel Lee (569,000), multiple APT title winner Ngoc Anh Cao of Vietnam (425,000), Singapore’s Dhanesh Chainani (337,000), New Zealand’s Tae Hoon Han (318,000), APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event champion Rene von Reden (292,000), Hong Kong’s Robert Glasspool (230,000), Malaysia’s Isaac Phua (187,000), former Main Event champion Farhad Aghayev (143,000), and former Starcraft professional Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (143,000).

For Mini Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Mini Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE.

For Mini Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE.

For Mini Main Event Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE.

For Mini Main Event Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE.

For Mini Main Event Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE.

All tournament information can be found on the Mini Main Event tournament page.

Action for the Final Day gets underway at 11:15am on Saturday, May 3 with the tournament playing down to a champion.