APPT National ($1,000)

Flight A of the APPT National concluded at ITM of nine players led by Korea's Sungheon Hong with a stack of 387,000 (77 bb), setting the bar for the next flights. Hong was a dominant presence throughout, climbing to the top early and never once facing elimination. One of his key knockouts came after registration closed, when his AK out-kicked 2023 APPT Cambodia Main Event champion Chao Ting Cheng’s KJ.

The nine survivors now enjoy a day’s break before returning on Wednesday, May 7 for the next stage of the tournament. All are guaranteed a piece of the prize pool, which is on pace to smash its $150,000 guarantee.

Still to come are Flight B and Flight C (Turbo), offering the last opportunities to join the race for the first PokerStars shard trophy of the 2025 APPT season.

Three players saw the flop for 700 apiece, with Erik Rozhynskyi kicking off the action. The flop came T♠ 3♣ 5♣, and it quickly narrowed to heads-up as Igor Vakhnenko called a 1,400 c-bet, while Craig Jones stepped aside.

On the 6♠ turn, Rozhynskyi ramped up the pressure with a 6,500 bet, and Vakhnenko stayed in to see the river. The final card 3♦ arrived, and Rozhynskyi went for the jugular, unloading 23,000 into the pot. The aggression paid off as Vakhnenko gave it up, awarding Rozhynskyi a well-earned pot.

Players start with a deep 30,000 that it's always a surprise to see an early bust but it does happen quite often and happened here just moments ago. On a board showing Q♥ J♦ J♠ 3♠ 6♠ and only 1400 in the pot, big blind Michael Bihari has J♣ 6♦ full house and shoved, Rozhynskyi snap-called. Rozhynskyi flipped open Q♠ Q♦ higher full house to deliver the first bust of the day.