Yusuke Sugai

The fourth and final live starting day for the Asian Poker Tour Incheon 2026 Main Event has concluded with a solid turnout of 205 entries to boost the overall attendance so far to 1,177 entries. That puts the flagship event of the thrilling live poker festival at the five-star Paradise Casino complex within reach to beat last year's 1,281 entries, as late registration remains open for one more level on Day 2.

After ten levels of play, only 104 hopefuls advanced and Japan's Yusuke Sugai topped the leaderboard with 219,800 in chips. That appears rather modest compared to the largest stacks in the previous two flights but still represents a very solid six and a half starting stacks.

Second in chips for Flight D is fellow countryman Tomoya Kojima with 169,900, with the top four all hailing from Japan with Ryusuke Matsuo (158,900) and Hiroyuki Hirano (155,400) completing the sweep.

Top 10 Chip Counts for Flight D:

Among the very familiar faces in the top ten tonight is none other than former WSOP Main Event finalist and five-time APT champion Joseph Cheong, who advanced with a very healthy 145,200 in chips. Cheong has two Superstar Challenge titles under his belt, with another former Superstar Challange champion Josh McCully of Australia more than doubling his starting stack to bag up 81,100.

Joseph Cheong

The final live flight wasn't short of notable players of which Ryan Park (113,900), Yan Li (97,100), Jun Li (79,800), Haoran Li (58,900), and Jiaze Li (36,300) all advanced. They were joined among the survivors by the 2025 APTC High Roller Championship winner Toby Joyce (60,400) and APT Manila Classic 2025 Main Event champion Ivan Govorov (37,800).

Japan's Hiroyuki Noda was among the well-known casualties despite nearly doubling his stack with ten-deuce suited soon after entering the field. Likewise, Gleb Ershov, Christopher Park, Dragoljub Martinovic, Kazuyuki Tanemura and Dong Chen all bowed out, as did Maxim Lykov who was the first casualty of the day.

Across the four live Day 1s, a total of 419 players have advanced and will return to their seats at 11 a.m. local time for the race towards the money bubble. The blind levels will revert to 60 minutes each and the registration remains open for the first level and following break with opening blinds of 700-1,400 and a big blind ante of 1,400.

The OnLive flights on Natural8 previously attracted 282 entries of which 39 players already qualified for Day 3 in the money with the newly crowned APT Super High Roller champion Jeremy Chan, APT Taipei 2023 High Roller champion Phachara Wongwichit and APT Taipei 2023 Main Event champion Punnat Punsri all having secured the min-cash already.

You can view the Main Event Day 2 seat draw HERE.

As of Day 2, the action will also be broadcasted on the APT YouTube channel with cards-up coverage and commentary airing on a 30-minute delay. Tune back in then to find out right here on the APT website to follow the action from South Korea.

Several players busted very late on Flight D and that reduced the 205-entry strong field to an unofficial 105 contenders, who all bagged up their chips and will join the survivors of the previous three live Day 1 for tomorrow's race to the money bubble.

Stay tuned for a recap of today's action.

Down to only 10,500 in chips, Buhui Zhi moved all-in and Ryota Okano flat-called.

Buhui Zhi: Q J

Ryota Okano: 6 6

The pocket pair remained ahead on the A 4 2 2 4 runout to send Zhi out just before bagging.

Kyung Min Lee

During the final hands of the night, Kyung Min Lee was all-in against Hao Wu and was primed for a very late double on Day 1d.

Kyung Min Lee: K K

Hao Wu: A T

The suited ace of Wu didn't catch an ace or clubs, but the J 8 4 9 Q runout brought a runner-runner straight instead.

The clock has now been paused and five more hands will be dealt for the night.

The remaining players will then bag up their chips to return for Day 2 tomorrow, August 12.

Evgenii Chzhen

Heads-up to the 3 8 T flop with 10,000 sat in the middle.

Nong Anh Le checked from the small blind to Evgenii Chzhen on the button who fired out for 1,400. Le made the call.

The dealer flipped over the 6 as the turn and Le checked once again to Chzhen who moved all in for 11,300. Le thought for a while and tossed in the call.

Evgenii Chzhen: A A

Nong Anh Le: K T

The river bricked out with the 5 and Chzhen's bullets held strong for a double-up.

Yunpeng Bai

Heads-up to the A 4 2 T turn, Yunpeng Bai bet 18,000 out of the big blind and Akichika Kawai called in late position.

That brought them to the 7 river to complete a potential flush. Bai made it 70,000 to go, which covered Kawai's stack. The player from Japan used one time bank and then folded the A Q face-up.

Heads-up to the 7 4 3 flop, Yoshitsugu Kaneko check-called for 2,500 in the big blind when facing a bet by Yuta Taniguchi.

Both checked the K on the turn and Kaneko led the 5 river for 8,000.

Taneguchi called and mucked when his opponent tabled the T 6 for a straight.

The final level of the night has commenced with a total of 200 entries and some 121 players remaining. Several players have been knocked out recently including Jason Lim, Felipe Pulido, Chuang Lin Cheng, Masatoshi Akasaka, Dajia Chen, Yuxuan Liu, Hironobu Fujiwara, Dong Chen and Jinwoo Kim.

Ivan Govorov also busted but re-entered to compete in the last level of Day 1d which features new blinds of 700-1,400 and a big blind ante of 1,400.