Main Event

During Day 2 of the TWD 50,000 APT Main Event, it was confirmed that the event has entered the history books as the biggest and richest international poker tournament in Taiwan! That means for the fourth festival in a row the APT has set a new record for biggest ever for a country

The Main Event drew 1,991 entries, which in-turn generated a record-breaking prize pool of TWD 86,011,200 (~USD 2,709,014), with a top prize of TWD 14,413,200 (~USD 453,959). With this, 295 players are locked up for a guaranteed payday. Thank you for the amazing support.

310 players returned for Day 2 B/D out of which 137 survived the five hours of play today. Including 164 survivors of Day 2 A/C a total of 301 players will be returning tomorrow at 11am to the Asia Poker Arena to continue their quest for the trophy and the record-breaking prize pool. A total of 295 players will make the paying positions, including 56 Natural8 Onlive players who won their way through to Day 3 online.

Singapore’s Andrew Hoon Haw Ong not only came out on top of Day 2 B/D with 582,000 chips, but will also go into Day 3 as the overall chip leader. After accumulating a handful of smaller cashes throughout the last couple of years, he’s in a prime position to achieve a new personal best in this Main Event.

Closely following him with 580,000 chips will be Manwoo Park from South Korea. He accumulated an impressive 490,000 chips today. Bagging 527,000 chips Taiwan’s Ting Yi Tsai completes Day 2 B/D’s podium.

Other notables to make it through the day include; Isaac Phua (236,000), winner of Event #10 Mystery Bounty Hunter, Napat Chokejindachai (213,000), high-roller Joseph Cheong (199,000), Fung Sam Lam, winner of the APT Super High Roller 2023, and Natural8 India ambassador Kunal Patni (84,500).

Here is a list of the top ten chips counts of Day 2 B/D:

A full APT Taipei Main Event Day 2 B/D Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

The seat draw for Day 3 can be found here

Join us tomorrow at 11:00 am local time for all the latest action from Day 3 of this record-breaking Main Event.

And that's it for Day 2 B/D. The remaining players are bagging their chips now. They will be back tomorrow 11am for Day 3. A full recap of today's action will follow shortly.

The lo-jack opened and got action from three callers, including Petur Karlsson on the button, Wan Hung in the small blind, and the big blind.

On a flop of 8♥ Q♥ 9♣ , Karlsson bet 12,000 when checked to, and only Wan called.

The turn brought a harmless 3♦ , prompting Karlsson to shove his remaining 70,000 chips. Wan called with K♠ Q♠ , top pair, but Karlsson was ahead with his 8♠ 9♠ for two pair.

The river 6♠ sealed the deal, giving Karlsson a huge chip up!

The last level of the day is always accompanied by a bit of tension. Nobody wants to lose a chunk of their stack, let alone bust. But some players also take that to their advantage, turning the pressure even up a notch. This might have also happened in the following hand:

The Taiwanese Mao-Lun Yu opened from early-position and got one caller before Yu's countrymen Chih Feng Li squeezed in position. Yu called and they went heads-up to the flop.

On A♥ Q♥ 8♣ both players elected to check. Yu checked again on the 4♥ turn and Li bet out a third of the pot that Yu called. On the river 7♦ Li bet twenty big-blinds and sent Yu deep into the tank. He thought about his decision for multiple minutes. If he would have called and lost he'd have less than ten big-blinds left. Eventually, he folded though, protecting his stack instead of taking the risk.

Another two levels have been played and the smokers can now enjoy 15 minutes in the rain. Only one more 60 minute level will be played today after this break.

Chiat Tay opened on the button and faced a massive three-bet from Oscar Rotholz in the small blind. Unfazed, Tay four-bet jammed for 55,000 with A♥ Q♣ in hand, flipping against Rotholz's J♠ J♣ .

The board ran out 8♦ 9♦ T♥ , leaving Rotholz needing some serious help, but it didn’t come as the 6♥ and 5♥ completed the runout. Tay scooped the pot and doubled up!

What a setup! Hua-Wei Lin got it all in pre-flop against Hogyun Kang's K♥ K♦ and Jin Seong Han's Q♥ Q♠ .

Until the river it looked like Kang would knock out two players, but the "Barry Greenstein" hit the river, keeping Lin's Main Event dreams alive.

With around 20 big-blinds Ren Chen opened from middle-position.

"First time I see you opening" said Ben Gur on the button and proceeded to min-click it back.

"Lets see if you have balls" Gur continued with his speech after the action went back to Chen.

Maybe this provoked him as Chen now put out half his stack in a four-bet. Gur tanked, verbalizing he had Queens, but eventually folded. Chen showed an A♦ .

Po Lam Lun opened from the cut-off and was met with a three-bet jam from Leom Kam on the button. Lun made the call but was in rough shape, seeing Kam’s pocket rockets A♠ A♣ up against his A♦ J♦ .

The flop of Q♥ 8♦ K♥ gave Lun a glimmer of hope with a gutshot and backdoor flush draw, but it wasn’t meant to be. Brick brick on the turn and river, and Kam secured a much-needed double-up.

En Ching Wu shoved his 28,000 stack over Ben Gur’s open from the hi-jack. Gur made the call with A♦ T♠ , and he was sitting pretty against Wu’s A♥ 4♠ . The flop came ten-high, sealing Wu’s fate, and with no miracles in sight, he was knocked out of the tournament.

Chi Ho Yeung, who hasn't had any live cashes before this series, already final-tabled two tournaments so far. And he is trying to continue his hot run in the Main Event. He just doubled-up after calling a three-bet in the cut-off with A♣ J♥ against Chin Chong in the big-blind.

After calling a continuation-bet on A♠ T♠ 6♣ , he raise-jammed the J♣ turn. Chong called and needed to hit one of his six outs with A♦ K♦ . River brought the 4♥ , doubling Yeung up.

Yan Ava opened from early-position and Jui Chen in middle-position and Mao-Lun Yu in the big-blind called. On J♣ 4♣ 4♠ it got checked to Chen who bet out. Mao-Lun check-raised, Ava folded and Chen called.

On the 5♥ turn Mao-Lun continued the aggression with a two-third pot bet. Chen instantly put out a bunch of chips, equaling a bit than 2x his opponent's bet. Yu snap-called, leaving himself just a few chips behind, which he donked out on the 5♠ river. Chen had to call and showed Q♦ Q♠ which was no good against Mao-Lun's Q♥ 4♥ full house.

In the very next hand, Chen opened Q♦ T♦ , the cut-off called and Yan Ava in the big-blind also called. Chen continued with a continuation-bet on Q♣ 9♦ 2♦, got a fold from the cutoff, but jammed on by Ava. He called and was up against Ava's 2♠ 2♣ bottom set. He did not manage to hit a flush and out he went.

Players now have 15 minutes to refresh themselves on their first of two breaks of the day.

Yuya Omoda opened the action and got a call from Chun Kit Lai in the cut-off. The flop of 7♦ T♣ K♥ didn’t spark much excitement, with both players checking.

Things picked up on the 6♦ turn, as Omoda fired out 6,000 and got called. But the real drama hit on the river with the Q♣ , where Omoda jammed his stack, feeling good about his two pair with T♠ Q♦ . Unfortunately for him, Lai snapped him off with the rivered nuts, holding A♥ J♠ . Tough break for Omoda!

It folded around the Chih Weng Chan in the small-blind who started the action with a min-raised. Sitting in the big-blind Bien Mai three-bet and Chan jammed all in, covering his opponent. Mai snapped, no surprise considering he was holding A♥ A♦ . Chan revealed A♣ K♥ and it looked great for Mai to get a full double-up.

However, the flop came out banging: K♠ K♦ 4♠ . Mai was left with one out, which did not appear, busting him in an extremely unlucky way.

Jaruplavath opened in early-position and four players after him called. On the flop T♦ 6♥ 6♣ Hyun Ji Lee in the big-blind as well as the opener checked the action to Toshihide Sawada who bet out small. Two players after him folded, but Lee and Jaruplavath called.

The turn brought the 4♦ it got checked again to Sawada who bet out around half pot. Now Lee jammed all in for around 1.5x more. Jaruplavath folded and it was up the Japanese to make a decision. He tanked for a few minutes, seemingly having a hard time. He was getting great pot odds, but in the end gave Lee enough credit to open-fold Q♥ Q♦ .

Tom Verbruggen found himself in a dream spot, flopping the nuts with Qx Jx after opening from early position and getting a call from Jie Chew on the button.

He confidently bet the flop and turn, with Chew sticking around both times. But by the river, with the board reading A♥ K♠ T♠ A♦ K♥ , that once-beautiful straight wasn't looking so hot anymore. Verbruggen opted to check, and when Chew jammed, he quickly folded, likely wishing the river had been a little kinder!

The action folded around to Leon Tay on the button, and the Singaporean opened things up. Rui Lu in the big blind wasn’t going to let that slide, though—he three-bet and Tay called.

The flop came down Q♦ 6♥ 3♥ , and Lu led out with a bet. Tay called, and the turn brought the T♦ . This time, Lu decided to slow things down and checked. Tay took the opportunity to bet around 25% of the pot, but Lu wasn’t having it—he shoved all in, making it about 4x Tay’s bet.

Tay quickly called, and it turned out he was sitting pretty with a K♥ J♥ flush, leaving Lu, who showed K♠ K♣ with no outs. Tay scooped the pot while Lu had to watch his hopes float away.

Shing Leung opened from early position, and Chia Hui Tu, sitting in the big blind with less than 10 big blinds, made the call. On a dry flop of T♦ 7♥ 7♣ , Leung fired a continuation bet, only for Tu to stick around with a call.

The turn brought the 9♦ , and both players cautiously checked.

On the 5♥ river, Tu decided to go for it, open jamming his last 7,500 chips. Leung wasn't convinced, though, and decided to fold, letting Tu scoop up the pot and stay alive in the tournament.

Ying Chi Tsai opened from the cut-off and Kim Jacobs called on the button. Indian professional Raju Jaruplavath in the big-blind three-bet to 5x. The original opener folded, but Jacobs decided Jaruplavath was squeezing wide enough to profitably jam his A♣ J♥ . Unfortunately, for him, the Indian revealed :A: :Q: and the board ran out clean for Jaruplavath to double up.

Cards are in the air for Day 2 B/D. 5 hours of play are ahead of us.

Good evening from Taipei, Taiwan!

Today sees the survivors from Flight B and D play out Day 2 of TWD 50,000 APT Main Event at 5:30 pm local time with the clock set as 60-minutes throughout the five-level play and starting at 800/1,600 with a big blind ante.

310 combined survivors from Flights B and D will return with their sights set on fighting their way through to Day 3 and the paying positions. players who qualified twice had their shortest stack removed from play.

Follow along our live updates as the evening progresses.