Korea National Cup (850,000 KRW)

Guangrui Meng open-shoved for around 200,000 on hijack and got an all-in reply from the player immediately to his left, Yirui Zhang. Action folded around taking the two players to showdown.

Guangrui Meng: A♣ 4♣

Yirui Zhang: A♠ K♦

Zhang had Meng's hand dominated when the flop dropped 7♥ T♣ 9♠ flop. The turn 7♣ gave a bit of hope for Meng to double up with a flush. But no club came on the river and, instead, an A♥ came cementing Zhang's victory and sending Meng to the rails.

With only 126,000 left behind, Rene von Reden open-shoved under the gun and got a 420,000 all-in reply from Michael Wang taking both players to showdown.

Rene von Reden: K♠ T♣

Michael Wang: A♠ K♥

The dealer flopped 5♦ 3♥ 8♠ keeping Wang's lead with ace-high. The runout 3♦ 7♥ didn't help von Reden at all. Von Reden pushed his chips towards Wang's direction and left the table soon after.

Rene von Reden opened to 32,000 in middle position and received an all-in shove from Chuangqi Yu in late position. Big blind Changliang Sun called and von Reden followed suit creating a side pot of about 12,000.

The dealer fanned out 5♦ 7♠ 9♦. Sun checked to von Reden who kept the heat up with a 25,000 bet. Sun called to see the next street.

The turn dropped a 2♠ which Sun checked once again. Von Reden continued the aggression with 55,000. Once again, Sun called.

On the river 6♦ Sun shoved all-in for around 350,000 which was enough to make von Reden surrender his hand and the side pot.

Sun showed T♦ 3♦ for a rivered flush disappointing Yu who tabled K♦ 8♠ as he stood to leave the table.

Cards are in the air. The final day and the hunt for the APT trophy has begun.

Day1 of the very first event of APT Jeju 2025, the APT National Cup, came to a close yesterday after three intense, fast-paced flights, all held on the tournament’s opening day. A total of 760 entries, came to the Landing Casino, Jeju Shinhwa World in South Korea, to play the turbo-structured event for a chance to take a piece of the total pize pool of KRW 536,000,000 (~USD 382,990), more than double the guaranteed prize pool.

At the end of the day, 108 players were able to qualify for the final day, all guaranteed a cash prize of KRW 1,351,000 (~USD 965). Sitting atop the chip pile was Dingxin Zhou, who had the largest stack in Day1A, bagging a 750,000 chips. Following him closely was Day1C chip leader Jie Zhu with 715,000 chips and coming in third was Yirui Zhang, Day1B chip leader with 686,000.

Although these three hold an advantage, with the top prize of KRW 102,032,336 (~USD 72,880) at stake, the competition remains wide open.

Former APT Champions Xiaohui Wang (296,000), Rene von Reden (238,000) and Pak Ho Ma (160,000) are still in the running, each aiming to add another golden lion on their mantelpiece.

Other notables still in contention are David “Spade” Erquiaga (450,000), Yunkyu Song (435,000), Michael Wang (350,000), and Guo Liang (327,000)

The Final Day will be kicking off today, September 27th at 11:15am local time. Stick around for live updates straight from the floor.