APT Taipei 2024: Li Wei Sun leads Main Event Day 4 action; Daniel Smiljkovic and Ka Chun Tsui lift trophies; Giuseppe Murabito reigns as first APT Heads Up champion
Thrilling action seems unending at the Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League with the country’s richest prize pool on its way to crowning a winner. The APT Taipei 2024 Main Event attracted a total of 1,182 entries across its qualifying rounds and saw the tour’s largest guarantee in history smashed on the schedule’s last flight. The field drew down to its final 40 players with Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun stacking atop with a 115 big blind chip count. Play resumes for Day 4, playing down to the final table.
Claiming success over at the side events were Austria’s Daniel Smiljkovic, Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui, and Italy’s Giuseppe Murabito, who all snagged APT titles with a few days left on the series’ schedule. Check out these highlights down below.
Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun tops Main Event Final 40
Day 3 action welcomed 175 runners back to the felt, each guaranteed a share of the massive NTD 72,232,020 (~USD 2,287,160) prize pool. The battle for the coveted 24K Gold Lion APT Trophy continued on with the field eventually drawing down to its final 40 players after roughly six hours on the felt. Among those who fell out of contention were WSOPE Main Event winner Max Neugebauer (80th), Flight D frontrunner Thomas Ward (75th), APT champion Renniel Galvez (49th), and Hong Kong’s Chun Nam Fung as the day’s bubble. Chun flicked in his 4.5 BB stack on his big blind with 
but was unable to beat Lester Edoc’s 
to wrap up the day.
By the final chip counts, Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun found himself stacking the largest with 3,465,000 (115 BB) to lead the 40-player pack. Li rose to the lead after a set over set confrontation with Hayato Obana propelled him to the top ranks by the fourth level. Stacking high alongside Li is France’s Safwane Bahri (105 BB), two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc (72 BB), and APT largest Bounty Hunter winner Jereld Sam (70 BB). Day 3 frontrunners Brandon Lee and Jun Obara were also able to preserve their big stacks, bagging 3rd and 8th across the overall order respectively. Other notables remaining in the running for the NTD 12,944,020 (~USD 409,730) top prize are bracelet winners Quang Thai Ha (57 BB), Mike Takayama (36 BB), and Anson Tsang (22 BB).
Date: March 3 to 9, 2024
Buy in: NTD 70,000 (~USD 2,200)
Guarantee: NTD 65,000,000 (~USD 2,050,000)
Prize pool: NTD 72,232,020 (~USD 2,287,160)
Entries: 1,182 (737 unique)
ITM: 175 players
Flight A: 265 entries / 95 advanced
Flight B: 260 entries / 118 advanced
Flight C: 280 entries / 144 advanced
Flight D: 166 entries / 86 advanced
Natural8 OnLive: 154 players
Top Chip Counts
| Position | Name | Flag | Chips | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Li Wei Sun | Taiwan | 3,465,000 | 115 |
| 2 | Safwane Bahri | France | 3,175,000 | 105 |
| 3 | Brandon Lee | Singapore | 2,510,000 | 83 |
| 4 | Lester Edoc | Philippines | 2,160,000 | 72 |
| 5 | Jereld Sam | Singapore | 2,105,000 | 70 |
| 6 | Pitipong Posri | Thailand | 2,105,000 | 70 |
| 7 | Quang Thai Ha | Vietnam | 1,730,000 | 57 |
| 8 | Jun Obara | Japan | 1,675,000 | 55 |
| 9 | Xi Guo Zhang | Taiwan | 1,630,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Junzhong Loo | Malaysia | 1,510,000 | 50 |
Full Day 4 Chip Counts and Seat Draw
Daniel Smiljkovic ships Event #74: Single Day High Roller
With the High Roller events being a hit across the schedule, another 92 entries were recorded in the single day event, generating a NTD 6,425,280 (~USD 203,770) prize pool to fight for. Bracelet winner Daniel Smiljkovic bested the field and claimed the biggest share of the lot after beating Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung in heads up play. The Austrian locked in the NTD 1,684,280 (~USD 53,620) top prize and added the fan favorite lion trophy to his already impressive collection of accolades.
Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 80,000 (~USD 2,540)
Entries: 92
Prize pool: NTD 6,425,280 (~USD 203,770)
ITM: 13 places
Event #74: Single Day High Roller Full Payouts
| Place | Name | Flag | Prize |
| 1st | Daniel Smiljkovic | Austria | NTD 1,684,280 |
| 2nd | Sparrow Cheung | Hong Kong | NTD 1,182,000 |
| 3rd | Shung Er Sua | Malaysia | NTD 781,000 |
| 4th | Frank Lillis | Ireland | NTD 614,000 |
| 5th | Jack Salter | United Kingdom | NTD 495,000 |
| 6th | Younghee Park | South Korea | NTD 386,000 |
| 7th | Takamitsu Namiki | Japan | NTD 305,000 |
| 8th | Quang Thai Ha | Vietnam | NTD 238,000 |
| 9th | Tsz Him Chan | Hong Kong | NTD 180,000 |
| 10th | Kuan-Han Chen | Taiwan | NTD 148,000 |
| 11th | Adam Martinsson | Sweden | NTD 148,000 |
| 12th | Albert Nguyen | Canada | NTD 132,000 |
| 13th | Daniel Shiang An Yang | Taiwan | NTD 132,000 |
Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui wins Event #114: NLH – Freezeout
An added trophy event on schedule saw Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui claim his second APT victory in Event #114: NLH – Freezeout. Ka outlasted the 201-entry field and maneuvered his way to the top spot after defeating Thailand’s Noppon Taengruen for the title. It took nearly eleven hours of play before Ka emerged victorious, earning him his career best cash to date at NTD 973,825 (~USD 30,850).
Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 25,000 (~USD 790)
Entries: 201
Prize pool: NTD 4,386,825 (~USD 139,125)
ITM: 27 places
Event #114: NLH – Freezeout Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Flag | Prize |
| 1st | Ka Chun Tsui | Hong Kong | NTD 973,825 |
| 2nd | Noppon Taengruen | Thailand | NTD 656,000 |
| 3rd | Cheung Yu Chuang | Hong Kong | NTD 451,000 |
| 4th | Vikaash Shah | India | NTD 368,000 |
| 5th | Guan Hao Tan | Singapore | NTD 293,000 |
| 6th | Hung-Ling Wu | Taiwan | NTD 225,000 |
| 7th | Sakan Dhangwatnotai | Thailand | NTD 164,000 |
| 8th | Ta Wei Tou | Taiwan | NTD 119,000 |
| 9th | Tse Jui Tsai | Taiwan | NTD 98,000 |
Giuseppe Murabito reigns as first APT Heads Up champion
The inaugural APT Heads Up event drew in a total of 32 entries with only four players locking up a piece of the NTD 558,720 (~USD 17,735) prize pool. The final round saw Japan’s Mayuko Morita in search of her second series title but fell one spot short of the win after Italy’s Giuseppe Murabito crushed the final best of three. For his victory, Murabito claimed his maiden APT title for NTD 234,720 (~USD 7,470), reigning as the tour’s first Heads Up champion.
Date: March 7, 2024
Buy in: NTD 20,000 (~USD 635)
Entries: 32
Prize pool: NTD 558,720 (~USD 17,735)
ITM: 4 places
Event #81: NL Hold’em Heads Up Full Payouts
| Place | Name | Flag | Prize |
| 1st | Giuseppe Murabito | Italy | NTD 234,720 |
| 2nd | Mayuko Morita | Japan | NTD 156,000 |
| 3rd | Shoichiro Tamaki | Japan | NTD 84,000 |
| 4th | Alecz Chan | Singapore | NTD 84,000 |
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