APT Korea Incheon final highlights: Graeme Siow ships the Championships Event; Li-Ta Hsu tops Player of the Series

Twelve days of nonstop action took place in Korea with the Asian Poker Tour hosting its seventh festival of the calendar year. This was another successful run for the brand in the country with attendance and prize pools way up from their previous visits. APT Korea Incheon 2019 kicked off on August 2 at Paradise City Casino and concluded on August 13. 62 nations were represented with Japan showing great support bringing in a very large contingent. We’ve got the final highlights and results recapped for you below.

Graeme Siow captures the APT Championships Event

The APT Championships Event was the second main feature of the series and like the Main Event it extended a KR₩ 2M guarantee. Because the cost to enter is always higher than the main, it is never a surprise to see a tighter field packed with star studded players. True enough, this was the case in Incheon with 219 signing up just slightly less than the main of 236 entries. However with the buy-in at KR₩ 1,980,000 (~US$ 1,700), the prize pool was one to boast of as it rose to KR₩ 382,374,000 (~USD 314,700). It generated the largest pot ever delivered by the brand for this event nearly doubling up the advertised guarantee.

After five days of pushing and collecting chips from August 9 to 13, Singapore’s Graeme Siow Wei Lk shipped it to capture his first-ever major live tournament title. Siow pocketed a very cool KR₩ 84,951,000 (~US$ 70,000) making this his single largest live tournament payout. Impressively, he also finished 6th at the Main Event. For his achievements, he took second in the APT Player of the Series race.

For a brief rundown of the action. Siow entered the final day as chip leader. The 8-men roundup was a mixed bag of newcomers and seasoned pros. When the fight was down to the last two players, Siow found himself up against Japanese player Go Saito. Saito was the only player in the final 8 lineup with an APT major title under his belt having won the APT Main Event in Seoul (Korea) two months prior. Siow held on to deny the Japanese pro a back to back major win in Korea.

Final 8 payouts
Prize pool: KR₩ 382,374,000 – Buyin: KR₩ 1,980,000 – Entries: 219 – ITM: 22 places

1st Graeme Siow Wei Lik – Singapore – KR₩ 84,951,000 (deal made)
2nd Go Saito – Japan – KR₩ 73,519,000 (deal made)
3rd Li-ta Hsu – Chinese Taipei – KR₩ 44,067,000
4th Louis Bilodeau – Canada – KR₩ 31,828,000
5th Vincent Kwun Ngai Li – Hong Kong SAR – KR₩ 23,803,000
6th Chi Chung Ho – Hong Kong SAR – KR₩ 18,371,000
7th Kiichi Ogura – Japan – KR₩ 14,588,000
8th Chi Wai Law – Hong Kong SAR – KR₩ 11,885,000

Other notable players reaching the money were Day 3 chip leader Tae Hoon Han (16th place), APT Taiwan Championships Event winner Chen Dong (17th place), and recently crowned APT Main Event champion Tsang Dicky Siu Hang (21st place).

Li-Ta Hsu wins the APT Player of the Series

Apart from event trophies, the APT also awards for the Player of the Series. From start to finish of a single festival, players earn points for every cash (except at the Super High Rollers event). The top three at the end win special prizes. For the APT Korea Incheon 2019 series, owning the charts was Taiwan’s Li-Ta Hsu with 965.98 points. This was over 200 points ahead of the closest challenger.

Hsu cashed in a total of five events, four of which were near victories. He finished 3rd at the Short Deck, 2nd place in both the Pot Limit Omaha Hi #1 and No Limit Hold’em #1, and closed it out with his most impressive finish – 3rd place at the Championships Event where he earned KR₩ 44,067,000 (~US$ 36,477) just US$200 shy of breaching his largest live score. His other cash was 9th place at the No Limit Hold’em Single Day #2.

For winning the APT POS, Hsu was awarded the POS 1st place trophy, APT POS ring, an exclusive watch, and US$ 800.

Awarded for POS 2nd place was Graeme Siow (Championships Event winner) and POS 3rd place Tsang Dicky Siu Hang (Main Event winner). Both players received respective trophies and US$ 100 each.

Other events

Event 18: KR₩ 3,200,000 High Rollers – Jie Xu

There were two events that book-ended the series, the High Rollers and the Monster Stack. For the former, 43 participated at KR₩ 3,200,000 (~US$ 2,700) each to bring about a much healthier field than its earlier installment and a much bigger pot worth KR₩ 29,979,000 (~US$ 24,700). Expectedly, among the players heating things up were well known Asian pros however only China’s Guo Dong found his way to the final table dominated by Chinese players. Dong went deeper, reaching the three-handed round where a deal was struck. He eventually took second place while fellow countryman Jie Bu claimed the bigger share for his victory. This was Xu’s first-ever APT title and cash, pocketing KR₩ 29,979,000 (~US$ 24,700).

Payouts

1st Jie Xu – China – KR₩ 29,979,000 (deal made)
2nd Guo Dong – China – KR₩ 24,340,000 (deal made)
3rd Zhu Jing Xuan – China – KR₩29,320,000 (deal made)
4th Wang Wuyi – China – KR₩ 13,144,000
5th Sakurai Kongo – Japan – KR₩ 9,829,000
6th Tian Hao – China – KR₩ 7,586,000
7th Isang Gu Kim – Korea – KR₩ 6,024,000
8th Iori Yogo – Japan – KR₩ 4,908,000

Event 19: KR₩ 660,000 Monster Stack #2 – Seina Asagiri

As the series progressed from the first half to the second half, the numbers progressively increased. The second book-ender was the Monster Stack seeing 152 runners pour in the tournament floor. Due to this, the evening side event – Deep Stack Turbo – had to be cancelled to accommodate the rush. This was the largest side event attendance of the series. At KR₩ 660,000 (~US$ 550) each, the prize pool was also one to be hungry for as it grew to KR₩ 88,464,000 (~US$ 73,000).

Japan nearly swept the final table with 7 out of the final 8 finishers representing the flag. Closing it out was Japan’s Seina Asagiri, one of numerous first time APT champions at the festival. This is one moment Asagiri will likely treasure for many years to come. Not only was it her first live win, she also received a payday worth KR₩ 20,613,000 (~US$ 17,000). With no prior stats in The Hendon Mob, this may well be here first live cash. Asagiri was the third female to ship an event at the series and was one of the eight series winners from Japan.

Final 8 payouts
1st Seina Asagiri – Japan – KR₩ 20,613,000
2nd Murata Yosuke – Japan – KR₩ 13,744,000
3rd Shindo Yusuke – Japan – KR₩ 9,554,000
4th Kijima Yosuke – Japan – KR₩ 6,901,000
5th Nakatsuka Yuki – Japan – KR₩ 5,161,000
6th Hung Sheng Lin – Chinese Taipei – KR₩ 3,983,000
7th Kudo Koki – Japan – KR₩ 3,163,000
8th Nobuhito Ogo – Japan –KR₩ 2,577,000

Event 12: KR₩ 440,000 NLH Single Day #2
Entries: 107
Prize pool: KR₩ 41,516,000 (~US$ 34,200)
ITM: 18 places
Winner: Qian Song (China) – KR₩ 10,581,000 (~US$ 8,700)

Event 13: KR₩ 330,000 WeLoveSport Super Deep Stack Turbo
Entries: 120
Prize pool: KR₩ 34,920,000 (~US$ 28,800)
ITM: 20 places
Winner: Yuya Kaneko (Japan) – KR₩ 8,681,000 (~US$ 7,200)

Event 14: KR₩ 220,000 Deep Stack Hyper Turbo #1
Entries: 92
Prize pool: KR₩ 17,848,000 (~US$ 14,700)
ITM: 16 places
Winner: Ka Wai Wong (Hong Kong SAR) – KR₩ 4,694,000 (~US$ 3,800)

Event 15: KR₩ 550,000 No Limit Hold’em #2
Entries: 118
Prize pool: KR₩ 57,230,000 (~US$ 46,800)
ITM: 20 places
Winner: Li Yong Feng (China) – KR₩ 14,222,000 (~US$ 11,600)

Event 16: KR₩ 2,150,000 High Rollers Single Day #2
Entries: 29
Prize pool: KR₩ 56,260,000 (~US$ 46,300)
ITM: 5 places
Winner: Jun Ogasahara (Japan) – KR₩ 24,036,000 (~US$ 19,800)

Event 17: KR₩ 330,000 Deep Stack Turbo #1
Entries: 69
Prize pool: KR₩ 20,079,000 (~US$ 16,500)
ITM: 12 places
Winner: Nobuhito Ogo (Japan) – KR₩ 5,676,000 (~US$ 4,600)

Event 21: KR₩ 220,000 Deep Stack Hyper Turbo #2
Entries: 102
Prize pool: KR₩ 19,788,000 (~US$ 16,200)
ITM: 17 places
Winner: Chih Ying Liang (Chinese Taipei) – KR₩ 5,121,000 (~US$ 4,200)

Event 22: KR₩ 2,150,000 High Rollers Single Day #3
Entries: 52
Prize pool: KR₩ 100,880,000 (~US$ 83,200)
ITM: 9 places
Winner: Hirotaka Nakanishi (Japan) – KR₩ 26,089,000 (~US$ 21,500)