APT TPC 2024 SCHEDULE| OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS | PLAYER LISTS
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, October 3, 2024 – The largest international poker tournament ever to play out in Taiwan has reached the business end, with the 1,991 entry TWD 50,000 APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event field reduced down to the final 47 players.
Playing out at the tournament tables of the of the Chinese Texas Hold'em Poker Club (CTP) Asia Poker Arena, the Day 3 action got underway at 11am local time and saw the 301 survivors from the two Day 2 flights combine and fight it out at the felt for a share of the TWD 86,011,200 (~USD 2.7M) prize pool.
A total of 66 players hit the rail in the first two levels played, with the departure of the unfortunate Kelvin Lee at the hands of Thailand's Manapat Chuchaisri bursting the money bubble and guaranteeing the remaining field a TWD 77,000 (~USD 2,425) payday.
Play was then paused for a 60-minute break for the 56 Natural8 Onlive Day 3 players to unbag their chips, with notables such as computational wizard Dominik Nitsche, former APT Main Event champion and Natural8 Ambassador Punnat Punsri, Superstar Challenge champion Chih Wei Fan, and Natural8 Ambassador Kannapong "Tent" Thanarattrakul all entering the tournament arena.
Play then recommenced 10-minutes into Level 17 with players jockeying for position and attempting to spin up a stack to carry forwards into Day 4 for a shot at the title and TWD 14,413,200 (~USD 453,960) top prize.
It took a further eight 60-minute levels of tantalising tournament poker to bring the field down to the final 47, with the departure of Former APT Main Event champion Shixiang Khoo concluding the Day 3 action. In addition to closing the day, it also put paid to the Singaporean's dreams of a second Main Event title, at least for this series, and Khoo had to settle for a TWD 230,000 (~USD 7,240) payday for his deep run.
However, things went swimmingly for another Singaporean in the field, with Abraham Ceesvin clawing his way to the top of the counts and bagging up a chip leading 4,570,000 stack.
Natural8 Ambassador Eric "Six Poker" Tsai also enjoyed a great day at the felt bagging the second-largest stack of 3,765,000, and the Taiwanese poker professional is the only remaining player in the field with the potential to bag a second award-winning APT Lion Trophy.
Japan's Kosuke Miyoshi (3,425,000) bagged up the third largest stack, with compatriot and Flight A frontrunner Keigo Kubo (3,295,000) sitting just behind in the pecking order. Germany's Konstantin Held also finished amongst the top ten:
MAIN EVENT DAY 3 TOP TEN STACKS
| Position | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abraham Ceesvin | Singapore | 4,570,000 |
| 2 | Eric "Six Poker" Tsai | Taiwan | 3,765,000 |
| 3 | Kosuke Miyoshi | Japan | 3,425,000 |
| 4 | Keigo Kubo | Japan | 3,295,000 |
| 5 | Chi Ho Yeung | Hong Kong | 3,190,000 |
| 6 | Ting Hao Wu | Taiwan | 2,965,000 |
| 7 | Nguyen Trung Quan | Vietnam | 2,780,000 |
| 8 | Konstantin Held | Germany | 2,715,000 |
| 9 | Hoi Ting Lee | Hong Kong | 2,300,000 |
| 10 | Kazumasa Higuma | Japan | 2,100,000 |
Other notables to keep their title hopes alive include Superstar Challenge champion Chih Wei Fan (2,010,000), start-of-day chip leader Andrew Ong (1,955,000), Singapore's Dhanesh Chainani (1,910,000), Flight D frontrunner Jae Wook Shin (1,855,000), computer whizz Dominik Nitsche (1,540,000), Australia's Dylan Foster (550,000), Hong Kong's Tsz Him Chan (525,000), and Australia's Daniel Neilson 410,000.
In addition to Khoo, notables to make the money but not the Day 4 cut included former APT High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor (69th for TWD 182,000), Natural8 Ambassador Punnat Punsri (70th for TWD 182,000), former Superstar Challenge champion Josh McCully (92nd for TWD 154,000), two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc (133rd for TWD 112,000), the USA's Joseph Cheong (152nd for TWD 100,000), Hong Kong's Sparrow Cheung (153rd for TWD 100,000), Thai TV host and former Main Event final tablist Napat Chokejindachai (187th for TWD 90,000).
Natural8 Ambassadors Hua-Wei Lin (165th for TWD 100,000), Kannapong "Tent" Thanarattrakul (192nd for TWD 90,000), Kitty Kuo (243rd for TWD 83,000), and Kunal Patni (264th for TWD 77,000) also managed to make the paying positions.
For APT Main Event Day 3 Player List please CLICK HERE
For APT Main Event Day 3 Survivors please CLICK HERE
You can read about all the Main Event Day 3 action on the APT Blog, or alternatively you can catch highlights from the Day 3 live streamed feature tables via the official APT You Tube channel.
The Day 4 action gets underway at 11am local time where the remaining 47 players will attempt to fight their way through to the Final Table.
All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Day 3 tournament page.
Zodiac Classic Draws 354 Entries With TWD 4.76M (~USD 151K) Up Top; Hong Kong's Yiu Yeung Leung Tops Counts
Hong Kong's Yiu Yeung Leung is hunting his maiden APT title in the Zodiac Classic
While it was the record-breaking Main Event that garnered the most attention, the TWD 80,000 Zodiac Classic - Sponsored by Natural8 also drew a decent-sized field with quite a few of the Main Event casualties jumping into the action, with the tournament attracting 354 entries (273 unique) and generating a TWD 24,468,480 (~USD 775,055) prize pool by the close of registration at 9:25pm local time.
With a TWD 4,767,480 (~USD 151,010) top prize for the eventual winner, the was a great deal of cutthroat poker played as players attempted to fight their way through to the Final Day, with 124 survivors left in contention at the conclusion of the thirteen 40-minute levels played.
It is Yiu Yeung Leung who is leading the charge, bagging up 343,000 in chips, with the Hong Kong native the only player to reach and breach the 300K chip barrier.
Former APT Main Event champion and bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer put in another solid performance, bagging up the second largest stack of 292,500, and the Indian player will be looking to improve on his runner-up finish in the Event #32: High Roller - Double Stack which has seen him collect TWD 1,411,000 (~USD 44,690) already this series. Vietnam's Quang Huy Nguyen (272,000) rounds out the top three Day 1 stacks, with the top ten as follows:
ZODIAC CLASSIC DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS
| Position | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yiu Yeung Leung | Hong Kong | 343,000 |
| 2 | Abhinav Iyer | India | 292,500 |
| 3 | Quang Huy Nguyen | Vietnam | 272,000 |
| 4 | Naoto Takeya | Japan | 262,000 |
| 5 | Yuya Arito | Japan | 259,000 |
| 6 | Christopher Trang | United States | 239,500 |
| 7 | Yuen Shan Chui | China | 231,500 |
| 8 | Pi-Ying Hsu | Taiwan | 228,000 |
| 9 | Boonchai Jirapongtrakul | Thailand | 205,000 |
| 10 | Xin Ann Lim | Malaysia | 201,500 |
Other notables who will be returning with chips include New Zealand's Tae Hoon Han (200,500), the UK's Asa Smith (200,500), Mystery Bounty champion Isaac Phua (158,500), Natural8 Ambassador Phachara Wongwichit (156,500), the USA's Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss (141,500), APT High Roller champion Stanley Weng (137,500), the USA's Frank Cucchiara (133,000), Australia's John "Bert" Perry (114,000), Hong Kong's Hon Cheong "Ivan" Lee (105,000), former APT Super High Roller champion Sam Lam (81,500) and many more.
With a total of 47 places paid, and 124 players remaining there will be plenty who will be departing empty-handed when play resumes for the Final Day, which gets underway at 11:15am local time at the Asia Poker Arena on Friday, October 4.
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Day 2 Draw please CLICK HERE
The 124 survivors will return for the Final Day to duke it out for the title and trophy, with the tournament restarting at 11:15am on Friday, October 4. All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic - Day 1 tournament page.