Kok Wei Teoh
Kok Wei Teoh became the latest person to make history at the 2025 Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) after taking down the TWD 100,000 buy-in APT PLO Championship — the richest PLO event ever held at the APT to date. Battling through a stacked field of 88 entries (66 unique) at the Red Space, Taipei, Teoh secured his first Pewter Lion APT Championship Trophy along with TWD 1,995,700 (~USD 64,380), the top award from a prize pool that swelled to TWD 7,603,200 (~USD 245,265).
Teoh's victory comes as redemption after a number of podium finishes in various APT events, and was especially impressive considering the star-studdded field had hardly a soft spot to be found. Teoh outlasted them all, however, as the likes of pros such as Erik Seidel, Michael Wang, Joseph Cheong, and Christian Harder (to name a few) all fell by the wayside. Teoh even found himself with a significant chip deficit against eventual runner-up Fabian Rolli, but Teoh rose to the occasion and secured the title in what is surely the highlight of his poker career thus far.
APT PLO Championship Final Table Results
Winner's Reaction
Fresh off winning the richest-ever APT Pot-Limit Omaha event, the soft-spoken champion was still processing the moment when asked how it felt to come out on top. “OK,” he said with a laugh, admitting he was still a little overwhelmed at winning.
Teoh entered the day as the chip leader, but the road to victory was far from straightforward. “I went down quite short near the money,” he recalled. “I had like ten to fifteen big blinds right after the bubble.” Despite the setback, he managed to recover well before navigating his way to the final table.
When asked who the toughest opponent was, he hesitated before smiling. “On the final table, I think everyone was,” he said, trying not to single anyone out. It was clear he respected the competition around him.
There was also a question about whether he considers himself a PLO specialist, but he kept it simple. “No, no, no. I just enjoy tournaments,” he replied.
As for whether he will jump into the APTC Main Event next, he remained uncertain. “Not sure,” he said with another smile, still taking in the magnitude of winning the 17kg APT Lion Trophy.
Kok Wei Teoh Victory Celebration
Day 2 Action
Just 25 players returned for Day 2, and no one made the swings of PLO more apparent than Jon Peter Rounce-Sue. The Kiwi poker veteran got off to a hot start after scooping a massive multi-way pot to jump into an early lead. However, Rounce-Sue found himself as one of the short stacks within the next couple of levels after doubling up both Jheng-Gang Li and Akihide Shimizu. It turned out to be only a minor hiccup though, as Rounce-Sue became the first player to breach the million-chip mark after a string of pots went his way.
By the time the first break arrived, seven players had hit rail, including Danny Tang, David Evans, and Michael Wang after getting his kings cracked by Teoh.
Following Harder’s elimination on the soft bubble, it only took a few rounds of hand-for-hand play before Toby Joyce, who had been nursing a short stack through much of the day, to take a stand. Joyce committed preflop with ace-king-ten-trey against Chudapal Siarhei, who held a slight lead with ace-six-four-four. The runout left Siarhei with a straight, which meant everyone remaining was guaranteed a spot in the money.
Toby Joyce
The pace of eliminations picked up, expectedly, as the short-stacked players became more willing to commit their chips in hopes of a double up. Most collisions ended in eliminations, however, and it took less than an hour following the bubble to reach the final table, with Shimizu, Niste Mihai, Owen Chong, and Vamerdino Magsakay all finding themselves on the rail in short order.
The Final Table
The unassuming Teoh entered the final table as one of the big stacks and he immediately made his presence known by grabbing the chip lead. Teoh claimed the first two knockouts of the final table after cracking aces twice, first against Ta Chih Geeng after making a full house and then against Jheng-Gang Li after flopping a set to send them out in ninth and eighth place respectively.
Not to be outdone, Rounce-Sue reclaimed the chip lead after forcing a fold from Teoh in a heads-up collision. Rounce-Sue was poised to run away with the lead after getting Siarhei all in and hitting trip eights, but Siarhei drilled a straight on the river to keep his run alive.
Chudapal Siarhei
A less-fortunate Kai Yang was sent out in seventh after getting all in with overcards against Rolli's pair and bricking out. Following him closely out the door in sixth place was Wei Lun Lee, who also fell to Rolli after getting his wheel cracked by Rolli’s full house.
There was no lull in the action following the dinner break, and the tides of fortune continued to shift massively in Rolli's favor. Just a few hands after play resumed, Rolli claimed another pair of eliminations. The first came at Tobias Schwecht's expense after Rolli put a beat on him by turning a wheel to send him out in fifth. The other saw Siarhei go out in fourth in another come-from-behind hand, wherein Rolli turned a higher two pair against him.
Fabian Rolli
Despite Rounce-Sue's best efforts, he found himself on the wrong end of a brutal cooler in arguably the sickest hand of the tournament. In the hand, Rounce-Sue called a raise from Teoh in a blind-versus-blind encounter and then turned a full house against the flopped quads of Teoh. All the money went in on the river and a stunned Rounce-Sue was forced to settle for a third-place finish.
Jon Peter Rounce-Sue
Rolli held a slight lead against Teoh entering their heads-up battle and it quickly looked to be his match to win. Rolli started off hot after getting paid off with the nuts and then forcing a fold from Teoh to pull out to a nearly 3:1 chip advantage.
Teoh wasn't done, however, and showed signs of life by getting three streets of value after flopping a flush against Rolli. Just a couple of hands later, Teoh wagered his entire stack after flopping a flush draw against Rolli's pair of sevens. Teoh drilled his flush on the turn and was awarded a massive double up to leave Rolli short.
Heads-up Between Kok Wei Teoh and Fabian Rolli
In what would be the final hand of the tournament, Rolli got his money in preflop with the best of it and ended up flopping a dominating ace against Teoh. It was just Teoh's day to win, however, as the turn gave him an unlikely wheel to leave Rolli drawing dead and put an end to the tournament.
That concludes APT's coverage of PLO Championship, but stay tuned for continuing updates throughout the rest of the series!
Kok Wei Teoh
Fabian Rolli
Kok Wei Teoh
Fabian Rolli