Main Event

Boasting a juicy TWD 65,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, the TWD 50,000 APT Taipei Main Event kicked off today, with Japan’s Keigo Kubo ending Flight A at the top of the leaderboard with 420,600 chips.

Flight A attracted 462 entrants (341 unique) who all battled it out over ten 60-minute levels, with only 157 players managing to bag up their chips and make it through to Day 2. Kubo will be looking for his first-ever live cash. There is no better place for that than here at the APT Taipei Classic 2024 Main Event.

Here is a list of the top ten chips counts to end the day.

Other notables to make it through include; Wongyu Kang (288,500), Ka Chun Tsui (274,300), Henry Kilbane (164,200), and 2023 APT Taipei Superstar Challenge Winner John Tech.

You can view a full list of the Main Event Flight A survivors HERE

Join us for Flight B tomorrow which will have slightly faster 45-minute levels and gets underway at 11 am local time.

Day 1A of the Main Event has ended and the survivors are currently bagging up their chips. A full recap of Flight A's action will follow shortly.

Frank Cucchiara opened from the cutoff for 2,800 and faced a raise to 7,500 from Hsiang Chia Ko on the button. Frank called, and the flop came down 7♦ 5♦ 2♣ . A check from Frank led to a 5,500 bet from Ko, which was called.

On the 5♣ turn, Frank checked again, and Ko fired 9,000. This time, Cucchiara check-raised all-in for 20,000, and Ko quickly called. The river brought the 8♦ , and Ko's K♥ K♠ held up against Frankie's A♣ J♣ , sending Cucchiara to the rail.

Nutthapath Saisilp jammed his big blind for 18,000 over Yita Choong's open and got a call. It was a classic showdown with Saislip’s K♣ K♦ up against Choong’s A♥ Q♦ . The runout stayed clean for Saislip, giving him a full double up.

We are on the last break for Day 1A in the Main Event. The players get a 15 minute breather before playing for two more hours today.

The lo-jack opened, only to be three-bet by Tatsuya Shirai on the button, followed by a four-bet from Yeung Leung in the big blind. Shirai made the call, bringing a flop of K♠ 3♦ 4♦ , which both players checked.

The turn brought the Q♥ and action checked through again. On the river T♥ , Leung bet the minimum, got called, and scooped the pot with ace-king!

Ryutaro Oizumi opens the cut-off to 1,600, Anouk Welgama shoves all in for 20,000.

Oizumi calls and we are off to the races. Oizumi's A♠ J♥ falls by the wayside as he doesn't hit a pair, sending him back to the buy-in counter.

An early position raise saw two callers—Lan Yun Wei in the hi-jack and Manabu Akiyama in the cut-off. The flop of 4♥ A♥ K♣ checked around.

On the 4♦ turn, Akiyama fired 4,500, and only Wei stuck around.

The river 7♦ saw Akiyama bet 12,000, but Wei quickly called, showing K♠ T♠ to take down the pot against Akiyama's queen high.

The dinner break is over, and the APT Taipei Main Event is back in action!

The remaining 228 players are taking their seats as the quest for the title continues. Expect some intense play as we head deeper into the tournament—stay tuned for all the updates!

It’s dinner break here at the APT Taipei Main Event! Players will enjoy a 75-minute rest before returning to the action. Out of the 342 entries, 228 remain in the hunt for the title. Stay tuned for more updates when play resumes!

Chenan Carnero open-jammed from the button with K♣ Q♦ for his last 9,000 chips and found a caller in Jeremy Tiu, who woke up with Q♣ J♣ in the small blind. The board ran out K♥ 9♠ 2♣ 5♣ 3♣ , giving Tiu a flush on the river and sending Carnero packing.

Tomoki Terashima opened from the hi-jack and quickly faced a three-bet from Karan Gupta in the cut-off to 3,800. Not backing down, Terashima four-bet to 8,500, but the pressure mounted when Gupta shoved all-in. Terashima didn’t take long to snap-fold, giving Gupta the pot without seeing a flop.

Yuya Arito four-bets the small blind from the cut-off. Collin Ho in the small blind calls.

A small bet on a 3♦ 4♦ 3♠ flop gets called.

on the 5♠ turn, when checked to he goes all-in for 40,000 (150% pot) covering Ho's stack slightly. Ho sigh calls for his tournament life, but finds himself in the dream spot with his T♣ T♠ up against Arito's 9♥ 9♦

The river is K♦ , Ho scoopes a huge one.

German pro Martin Sedlak opened from early position and quickly called a three-bet from Yasuhiro Watanabe. The flop came 8♣ 5♣ 3♠ , and both players decided to check it through. On the turn, the Q♥ hit, and after another check from Sedlak, Watanabe tossed out a small bet that was called by his opponent. The river brought the T♦ , and Sedlak checked again. Watanabe thought it over but ultimately opted to check back, a decision that turned out to be a savvy move. Sedlak revealed Q♠ T♠ for a sneaky runner-runner top two pair, which could have led to some serious trouble for Watanabe if he had decided to bet!

Kotaro Arakawa opened from early position and found a call from Yasuhiro Watanabe in the big blind.

On a K♣ 9♠ 4♣ flop, Arakawa fired a 600 continuation bet, which was quickly called. The turn brought the 7♥ , and Arakawa upped the pressure with a 3,000 bet, getting another call from Watanabe.

But when the 4♦ river hit, Watanabe suddenly jammed, covering Arakawa’s 12,000 stack. Arakawa, visibly frustrated, tanked for a while before open-folding his pocket rockets, A♦ A♥ .

Cheuk Ka Koo opened from the hi-jack, but Taiwanese player Shawn Yu Lin wasn’t having it—he three-bet from the small blind. The flop came Q♥ 6♦ 4♦ , and Lin continued with a half pot bet that Koo called. The turn brought the 2♦ , completing the flush, and Lin fired another half pot bet. Koo took his time, tanking for a couple of minutes before making the call.

The 6♥ appeared on the river and Lin snap-checked. Koo took a few minutes before he decided there was no value in betting his king-high flush. Indeed, he would not have gotten any more chips from Lin, as he showed J♥ 9♣ for complete air. Koo had K♦ 7♦ .

The lo-jack opened to 1,000, but things heated up when Tasuku Okuchi in the hi-jack three-bet to 2,500. Wei Kuo wasn’t backing down, putting in a four-bet to 6,000, and both players called.

The flop of 3♦ 4♥ 4♠ saw two checks before Kuo fired 5,000, with only the hi-jack calling. Both players hit the brakes on the A♠ turn.

When the 6♣ river arrived, Okuchi bet 8,500, but Kuo wasn’t done, shoving all in for 15,000. After some thought, Okuchi folded, giving Kuo the pot.

Aled O'Brien double-barreled the turn on a T♣ 8♦ 4♠ 3♣ board for 3,000, and Kunal Patni, in the big blind, made the call.

The river brought the 6♥ , and Kunal wasted no time check-calling O'Brien's 10,000 bet. When the cards were flipped, Kunal's rivered set of sixes trumped O'Brien's pocket rockets with A♣ A♥ . Tough break for Aled!

Kiyoung Kim opened from middle-position and the Dutch destroyer called in the small-blind. The 8♦ 3♠ 2♠ flop went without action. On the 4♣ turn Hilberts led with a smallish bet. Kim meant to call, however, put in too many chips which converted his call into a min-raise. Hilberts called. River brought the spicy 5♦ . The Dutchmen checked and Kim bet out a two-third pot bet. Hilberts responded with a check-raise to around 4x the initial bet. Kim made a quick call and showed A♥ K♣ . Hilberts also had an Ace in his hand ( A♦ 9♥ ) and the players chopped it up. “Should have put him in!” Hilberts said.

After two levels being played players are now on the first break. So far 180 players have registered to Flight A of the Main Event.

Thijs Hilberts in the small blind went for a cheeky check-raise on a 3♠ 2♦ 2♥ flop, bumping Kiyoung Kim's 500 up to 1,500. Kim, in the hi-jack, wasn’t backing down and made the call.

On the 7♦ turn, Hilberts kept the pressure on with a 2,300 bet, but Kim called again.

The river brought the A♦ , and Hilberts fired a third bullet, 3,400 this time. Kim had other plans though, raising it up to 9,000, forcing Hilberts into the tank. After some thought, Hilberts folded with a frustrated sigh.

We entered the hand on the turn, where Israels Shahams from Latvia bet 7,500 into a pot of around 20,000 from the small-blind into two opponents. The board read T♠ 8♦ 4♣ 5♠ . Hidemoto Wada in middle-position called and Rishi Mehra jammed for 21,600. After thinking about it for a couple minutes, Shahams flicked in a call and Wada folded. “You got lucky?” Shahams asked his opponents, already predicting his fate. Mehra tabled 5♦ 4♦ for a turned two pair against Shahams Q♥ Q♠ . No help for the Latvian arrived on the river and he is left with shambles, while Mehra won a nice sized pot.

Huang Hao-Shan raises a 1,600 chip river bet from Chenan Carnero on a board of Q♣ 2♣ 2♦ 7♣ 3♠ , up to 5,000 which gets called.

Huang flips over A♠ 2♠ for trips, to Carnero's dismay.

In an interesting hand, Japanese player Kotaro Arakawa kicked things off with an early-position raise. American pro Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss fired back with a three-bet from middle position, prompting Arakawa to escalate things with a four-bet. The flop revealed A♠ T♠ 9♥ , and Arakawa tossed out a small continuation bet that got called quickly. The turn brought the 4♥ , and our early aggressor kept the pressure on with a hefty two-thirds pot bet. Nemeskeri-Kiss called again without breaking a sweat. Then came the river: a 2♦ that brought no help for Arakawa. After a couple of minutes of deep thought, he opted to check. He must have decided to give his hand, because when Nemeskeri-Kiss bet less than half the pot, Arakawa folded quicker than a cheetah on caffeine.

The APT Main Event is officially underway—cards are in the air, and the players are ready to battle it out for poker glory! With stacks deep and energy high, it’s going to be an exciting day of action. Stay tuned!

Good morning everyone from Taipei. Today is the start of the APT Taipei Main Event. We expect a jam-packed Asia Poker Arena for the 60-minute Flight A. Just a reminder, this Main Event comes with a buy-in of TWD 50,000 ($1,580) and a guaranteed prize pool of TWD 65,000,000 (~$2,055,000). Registration for the Main Event is open till the start of Day 2.

We recommend arriving early to avoid standing in long lines at the registration desk. Today we start the hunt for a new Main Event champion, or could it be that last time's winner Daisuke Ogita goes the distance again? Stay tuned.