The Asian Poker Tour marches forward, following up on a successful Summer Series with an action-packed stop in Incheon, South Korea. From August 25th through September 3rd, the luxurious Paradise City Casino plays host to the 73 event schedule. The action, still underway with over fifty tournaments already played out, now focuses on the Main Event.
The final entry tally from the event stands at 930, a number which includes entries from the initial flights, online entries, and Day 2 registrants. That's good for two record-breakers: the largest ever prize pool ($1,411,975) for a Main Event in South Korea and the number of entries topped 2021's previous record of 540.
Main Event Day 2 concludes
After the four starting flights, Day 2 play saw the field thin down to 134 remaining players, all of whom are in the money. Aaron Lim, of Australia, sits alone in seven-figure territory, atop the chip counts with over 1,083,000 at the close of the action. Lim began the day with only around one-tenth the stack he finished with, climbing the ranks quickly and efficiently. He also did his fair share of the legwork towards getting the field into the money. A turned pair of nines saw Lim's nine-seven outdraw the ace-queen of Gary Moon to burst the money bubble.
Notably, Japan's Masaki Nakamura brought two stacks into the money after qualifying both live and online. The smaller of Nakamura's two stacks earns him a minimum cash out of ~$2,800 and does not carry over into Day 3 action. His larger stack, nearly double the amount of chips, accompanies Nakamura into the fray to play out the tournament.
Hong Kong-based players hold the second and third places in the chip counts with both Cheuk Him Tsang and Hon Cheong Lee amassing large stacks. Towards the end of the day, Lee caught a monster to propel himself up the leaderboards. Lee's flopped set of fives against the top pair of Yosuke Takagi earned him all of the Japanese player's chips.
Notables in the field
Filipino player Lester Edoc finds himself in familiar territory with 658,000 chips in the bag for Day 3. The sixteen-time APT winner and two-time Main Event champion is no stranger to deep runs in APT events. Edoc dealt the knockout blow to reigning APT Incheon Main Event champion Farhad Aghayev and finished the day as confident as ever. Edoc looks to make history as the first ever three-time APT Main Event title winner.
Milos Petakovic, out of Serbia, has a win under his belt already in this stop after taking down the APT Super High Roller earlier in the series. Petakovic bagged up 609,000 chips to put himself in another good spot. A three-way all in, aces vs. kings vs. jacks, with Petakovic holding the aces, skyrocketed his stack to the top of the counts.
Japan's Shinya Maeda took the runner-up prize in the APT Summer Series Da Nang Main Event for a career-best score. Now, Maeda is back in the action with a healthy stack after eliminating poker legend Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier in a cooler situation, his aces vs. Elky's queens.
Along with Edoc, several other APT Main Event winners are still in contention for the victory, including Dicky Tsang, Punnat Punsri, Mike Takayama, and Hung Sheng Lin.
Top Ten Stacks
- Aaron Lim, Australia - 1,083,000
- Cheuk Him Tsang, Hong Kong - 919,000
- Hon Cheong Lee, Hong Kong - 882,000
- Dongying Ling, Singapore - 816,000
- Anthony An, United States - 682,000
- Chao Ting Cheng, Taiwan - 675,000
- Lester Edoc, Phillipines - 658,000
- Darko Svesko, Russia - 634,000
- Milos Petakovic, Serbia - 609,000
- Xiaohua Fu, China - 593,000
Final Table Payouts
- $262,090
- $159,150
- $111,670
- $83,850
- $65,250
- $48,310
- $34,550
- $24,650
- $19,430
Winners through the series
Japan's Reiji Kono claimed victory in Event #44: No Limit Hold'em - Single Re-Entry. The win marks Kono's second APT title and comes after his win back in March in the WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event.
Natural8 ambassador Hua-Wei Lin earned her third APT title, winning Event #47: Women's Event. Lin navigated her way through a field of 56 entries to claim the top prize of $~4,440. Karen Talamayan, of the Phillipines, finished second for ~$3,200 and Japan's Tamao Kobayashi claimed the final podium spot, earning ~$2,070.
Singapore's Jun Hau Wo added a second title win in the series, taking down Event #48 Double Stack - Turbo. The 151 entry field generated a prize pool of ~$49,787, of which ~$11, 975 went to Wo for his efforts. It took twenty-five fast paced levels to decide the winner. Wo defeated Serbia's Bojan Berberovic in heads up play.
In the mixed games streets, Japan's Kenji Kurashina took home his second APT title with a win in Event #43 Limit - Triple (Stud, Razz, Stud Hi-Lo). Kurashina defeated countryman Kota Nakano heads-up to win the top prize of ~$2,000.
Hong Kong's Wai Kin Wong earned his first APT title in Event #46 Omaholic (Omaha High PL Pre/ NL Post). The event attracted 33 entries and came down to a heads-up battle between Wong and China's Yongqiang Song. Wong defeated Song to win the ~$4,030 top prize.
To stay up to date with all the latest results coming out of Incheon, keep an eye on the APT Live Reporting.
The live stream can be viewed on APT's YouTube channel here.
All Images Courtesy of Asian Poker Tour
