APT High Roller - Day 1 - KRW 650,000,000 GTD

Jie Xu

Jie Xu leads the remaining 35 players in the KRW 7,000,000 ($5,095) APT Jeju High Roller. A total of 191 entries (122 unique) were recorded, creating a prize pool of KRW 1,204,255,000 ($886,500), the largest ever for an APT High Roller in Korea. There are 27 places paid, with a minimum cash prize of KRW 12,040,000 ($8,860). The winner will receive a top prize of KRW 266,735,000 ($196,255) and the prestigious bronze lion trophy.

Xu was the only player who managed to surpass the two-million chip mark as he bagged a gigantic stack of 2,101,000 after sixteen 40-minute levels of play. Xu has over $600,000 in live tournaments so far, with his biggest cash of $137,426 coming back in 2021. However, he has yet to claim any APT silverware, but he did make one final table here in Jeju in a short deck event where he finished 3rd. He will be looking to use his huge chip stack to his advantage as he makes a surge for the final table tomorrow.

Second place on the leaderboard goes to Jingjun Xia with 1,309,000, while the final spot on the podium is occupied by 'Dicky Tsang with 1,010,000. Tsang is one of the most decorated players left in the field, boasting five APT titles to his name. One of these victories was from the 2019 APT Incheon Main Event where he outlasted a field of 236 to claim the top prize. Tsang also secured second place in the 2024 APT Taipei High Roller just a few months ago, earning a career-best score of $108,951.

Dicky Tsang

Hong Kong's Hon Cheong Lee secured the fifth spot in the end-of-day chip counts with 813,000 chips. Lee is a familiar face on the APT circuit, having made multiple final table appearances, though an APT victory has eluded him so far. With over $2,000,000 in live tournament earnings and occupying the #11 spot on Hong Kong’s All-time Money List, Lee will be gunning for a podium finish in this event.

Another high-stakes crusher who made it through the day was Natural8 Ambassador Eric Tsai with 519,000 chips. Taiwan's Tsai found himself all in three-way during level 12 with pocket sixes against the ace-king of Aubakirova Svetlana and the sevens of Hao Zhang. Despite being on the verge of elimination, Tsai managed to hit a six on the river to triple up. Tsai boasts $2,453,089 in live tournament earnings, with his largest cash ever being $951,252. With two APT titles already under his belt, Tsai will undoubtedly be hunting for another trophy for his mantlepiece tomorrow.

Other notables that made it to Day 2 are Taiwan's Chi Jen Chu (594,000), Natural8 Ambassadors Phachara Wongwichit (343,000), and Yu Chung Chan (199,000), and Japan's Kazuo Yamamoto (177,000).

APT Jeju High Roller Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 2 of the APT Jeju High Roller will continue at 11:15 am local time. The final table will be live-streamed and can be seen through all social media channels of the Asian Poker Tour.

Youtube

Twitch

A full survivors list can be found by clicking HERE

A full day's write up will follow shortly.

Hsien-Lee Chu

Yong Zhao limped for 12,000 from under-the-gun and Hsien-Lee Chu shoved all in for his short stack of around 100,000 from the hijack. Weiran Pu made the call from the button. Yong said, "All in!" loudly and put all his green stacks in the middle. Pu made the call.

Yong A♥ K♠

Chu Q♥ Q♣

Pu A♠ J♦

The board of 5♠ T♦ T♣ 5♦ 8♣ came out, Chu tripled up with top two pair, Yong and Pu split the rest of pot.

Shaoming Li moved all in for 102,000 from the hijack and got looked up by Feng Qian from the small blind.

Qian Q♣ T♣

Li A♥ 2♣

As the flop revealed a favorable Q♠ 4♣ 6♣ for Qian, a wave of disappointment washed over Li's face. He seemed to have lost hope, realizing that a miracle turn or river was unlikely. His intuition was right, as the 9♣ turn sealed his fate, leaving him drawing dead. The river was an inconsequential 6♥, and it was Qian who dragged in the pot.

The complete action was missed when we got to the table. We saw Longxiang Xu and Kazuo Yamamoto got all the chips in the middle with Xu at risk.

Xu A♥ 8♣

Yamamoto 9♦ 9♠

The board ran Q♣ 5♥ K♥ 2♣ 9♦ did not save Xu and he will be eliminated.

Dicky Tsang

Yin Lan had dwindled to one of the shortest stacks in the room with just 85,000 remaining. He decided to move all of his chips across the line in this hand when it folded to him in the cutoff. He got called by Dicky Tsang in the small blind.

Tsang K♠ K♣

Lan 9♦ 4♦

The J♥ 2♦ 2♠ flop left Lan needing running cards if he was to have any hope of making Day 2. But the 5♥ turn cemented his elimination from the event, as an irrelevant5♦ hit the river. Tsang has now moved passed the 1,000,000 chip mark.

Players have just entered the final level of the day. Another 40-minutes of play before the remaining players will bag up their chips and coming back tomorrow for Day 2.

Kim Wah Chiu

Jieming Xu open shoved from under-ther gun for 132,000 and was called by Singapore's Kim Wah Chiu out of the big blind.

Chiu K♠ Q♣

Xu A♥ K♠

The ace-king held up for Xu as the board came 3♠ 8♣ 7♠ 3♦ T♥, and Chiu had to send around a third of his chips to his neighbor Xu.

When we got to the table Di Wu was all in and at risk for his last 123,000 with A♦ 9♦. The player trying to send him home was Mongolia's Tsolmin-Erdene Oredene-Ochir with K♠ 5♠.

The 3♥ 6♦ T♠ flop didn't change anything, but the K♣ on the turn propelled Oredene-Ochir into the lead. A J♦ river meant the end of Wu in the APT High Roller. Oredene-Ochir other hand, has close to 500,000 chips.

Dicky Tsang

The action folded around to Dicky Tsang, who raised 25,000 in the button and got jammed by Hiroshi Yamamura for 204,000. Tsang made the call to put him at risk.

Tsang A♦ K♣

Yamamura A♣ 9♣

The flop came 9♥ 5♣ 4♦, Yamamura out-floped Tsang, while Yamamura held his lead on the 6♠ turn.

The 2♠ river will hold for Yamamura and get full double up from Tsang.