Germany's Martin Sedlak Claims Career Best Score in APT High Roller Winning TWD 5.2M (~USD 164K)

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN, October 6, 2024 – The second-largest APT High Roller ever to play out has crowned a champion, with Germany's Martin Sedlak seeing off challenges from a TWD 110,000 buy-in, 275 entry (192 unique) field to tame the coveted bronze lion APT High Roller trophy and claim a TWD 5,244,000 (~USD 164,850) top prize – the largest of his professional career.

Just 61 players returned for the Final Day to battle for a share of the TWD 26,136,000 (~USD 820,080) prize pool, although only 39 of them would earn a share.

It was Niko Koop leading the charge, coming in hot from his prior victory in the TWD 150,000 Event #79 Baby Superstar Challenge, which saw the German player claim his maiden APT title and bank TWD 3.1 million (~USD 99K).

However, despite making the final table there was no back-to-back title win on the cards, with Koop forced to settle for a TWD 2,057,000 (~USD 64,665) payout after falling in fourth place to eventual runner-up Rishi Mehra, his ace-three unable to overcome the Indian player's pocket jacks.

It took sixteen 40-minute levels to crown a champion with the money bubble bursting mid-way through the second level played, the unfortunate Yuhang Chen of China the last player to depart empty-handed after running ace-king into the pocket aces of Malaysia's Jason Lau to guarantee the remaining players a TWD 180,000 (~USD 5,660) payday.

This opened the floodgates, with a slew of players hitting the rail in quick succession, although it took a six more levels to reach the final table with former Main Event champion Punnat Punsri bringing in the chip lead and looking to make history as the first APT double lion winner.

While the Natural8 Ambassador gave it his best shot, the Thai player ultimately came up short, hitting the rail in fifth place for a TWD 1,613,000 (~USD 50,710) payday.

Sedlak, who is already having the best year of his poker career to date, claimed the crown after riding a roller coaster of a tournament.

The German came into the final table in the middle of the pecking order before dropping down the counts and then climbing all the way back to the top, coming into the level long heads-up battle against Mehra with a 7-to-1 chip lead.

While Mehra was able to even up the stacks he was unable to go further, running ace-seven into Sedlaks's pocket nines to exit in second for a career-best TWD 3,484,000 (~USD 109,525) and leaving the German player to claim a second APT title and bring his life time tournament winnings up to over USD 430,000.

"This was definitely a very big roller coaster," Sedlak stated in his post-match interview immediately after his victory.

"I started Day 1 very good, and then, like 30-minutes before Day 2 I had 60K, which was half a starting stack, and then from Day 2 onwards I just kept going up. I free rolled ace-king versus ace-king suited, and then just couldn't stop. I ran very well, that obviously helps to win a tournament," stated an ebullient Sedlak.

"This is a very, very nice trophy, I really look forward to finding a nice place for it. I was here in Taipei already earlier this year, and I really wanted to come back because honestly, it's one of my favourite cities now, and I'm really glad I did."

HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For APT High Roller Results please CLICK HERE

You can read about all the APT High Roller Final Day action on the APT Blog, with a live stream coverage available on the official APT YouTube channel. All tournament information can be found on the APT High Roller Final Day tournament page.

The Netherland’s Tom “Mr Nice” Verbruggen Scores Second Series Title in Largest & Richest Mini Main Event

Tom Verbruggen claimed a second series title and career-best score in the largest-ever Mini Main Event

It was not just the Main Event setting APT field size and prize pool records this series, with the TWD 22,000 Mini Main Event – TWD 6,000,000 GTD attracting a sizable 741 entries (466 unique) in total over its two starting flights, generating a chunky TWD 14,084,930 (~USD 441,950) prize pool — making it the largest and richest Mini Main Event in tour history.

A combined total of 104 survivors survived the opening carnage to bag up chips and return for the second and final day — 62 players making it through from Flight A and a further 42 from Flight B — with Hong Kong’s Ka Shing Leung returning in pole position after topping the counts of the second flight.

All returning players were already guaranteed a TWD 36,000 (~USD 1,130) payday, but it was the TWD 2,710,930 (~USD 85,060) top prize and the silver lion silhouette trophy that was in their sights, with the action playing out over eight action-packed 20-minute levels.

It was the Netherland’s Tom Verbruggen entering the APT record books, following up his Event #44: Mystery Bounty Hunter - Powered by ByBit win with a second series title for the largest cash of his tournament career to date, bringing his total live tournament winnings up to over USD 235,000. Taiwan has been good to Verbruggen, with the Dutchman claiming close to USD 145,000 (~61 percent) of his winnings in the region.

Verbruggen confided that he felt confident of a deep run in the early levels of Flight A where he had already accumulated a 300,000-chip stack, which was over eight times the average at the time.

“Early on I was sitting with a stack of a little over 300K with blinds at 2,500/5,000 when another player, a lady, was moved to my table with a similar sized stack of ~60 big blinds” Verbruggen confided immediately after posing for his second winner’s photo of the festival.

“There was a bit of table chat about how a lot of players really hated ace-queen, when I looked down from under-the-gun to find myself holding that very hand. I decided to open the action to two big blinds, only to see a player in the cut off jam for 8.5K and the lady with the 300K stack re-jam from the blinds.”

“I wasn’t planning on calling, so rolled over my hand to joke about the fact I hated ace-queen, but hadn’t yet folded it, when the other big stack showed me her ace-ten…”

With both hands being tabled before Verbruggen had declared his action, the floor was called and it was ruled that all his options were still available.

“I folded,” Verbruggen said, “I didn’t want to win like that, despite the fact it was such a massive pot, and felt totally fine making that decision as I thought it was the fairest way to play the hand given the action. I thought at the time ‘this could be the tournament…’ so feel vindicated with making the play I thought was most sporting.”

It looks like nice guys don’t always finish last, with Verbruggen continuing to tear it up to enter heads-up play against start-of-day chip leader Leung, who had to settle for the TWD 1,650,000 (~USD 51,770) on offer for second place — the second largest result of his playing career.

Japan’s Ryuta Nagata rounded out the last of the podium positions, banking a career-best TWD 1,170,000 (~USD 36,710) for his third-place finish, with the Netherland’s Thijs Hilberts (5th for TWD 700,000) also making a final table appearance, with the top nine places paying out as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Other notables to run deep included Mystery Bounty Hunter champion Isaac Phua (15th for TWD 135,000), Taiwan’s Chi Jen Chen (22nd for TWD 92,000), the USA’s Robert Kiss (49th for TWD 52,000), and Kyle Diep (73rd for TWD 39,000), Main Event finalist Dhanesh Chainani (83rd for 39,000),and Hong Kong’s Justin Chan (96th for TWD 36,000).

For Mini Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICKHERE

For Mini Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICKHERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Results please CLICK HERE

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

Percy Chao Leads Record-Breaking Micro Main Event

Percy Chao is chip leaded the APT’s largest-ever Micro Main Event

Everything with the words Main Event in this festival, barring satellites, has set a record and the TWD 11,000 Event #97: Micro Main Event - TWD 3,000,000 GTD was no exception, smashing the previous record of 393 entries set back during March's APT Taipei 2024, drawing an impressive 635 entries (393 unique).

In addition to attracting a record field, the tournament also generated a record prize pool almost doubling the guarantee with a sizeable TWD 5,967,984 (~USD 187,260) in the purse.

It is the Percy Chao returning in the best of positions to claim the TWD 1,154,984 (~USD 36,240) top prize – also the largest this tournament has ever awarded – although the UK player must first fight his way through the 90 remaining players to hoist the baby lion trophy and claim the title.

Taiwan's Mao-Lun Yu will be returning second in the pecking order after bagging up the second-largest Flight A stack of 840,000, and while compatriot Wai Hang Wong (662,000) bagged the third-largest Flight A stack he will be returning fifth in the overall chip counts, with 51 Flight A making the cut.

It is Flight B frontrunner, Natural8 Ambassador Kunal Patni, who will be returning with the third-largest stack after topping the 272-strong (226 unique) field with 811,000 in chips, and is the only other player returning with over 800K.

Taiwan's Tzu-De Lin (689,000) concluded Flight B with the second largest stack and will be returning fourth in the overall counts, with a total of 39 players joining the survivors for the Final Day, all guaranteed a payday of TWD 18,000 (~USD 565) with the top ten stacks coming into the Final Day as follows:

MICRO MAIN EVENT TOP TEN FINAL DAY STACKS

For Micro Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Micro Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Micro Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Micro Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Micro Main Event Day 2 Draw please CLICK HERE

The survivors will return for the Final Day, with play recommencing at 11:15am on Monday, October 6, with full coverage on the APT Blog. All tournament information can be found on the Micro Main Event Flight A and Micro Main Event Flight B tournament pages.