Two Victory Laps, Eight Records and One Huge APT Incheon

APT Incheon 2026 began with more than 100 trophies waiting for owners. Ten days later, the trophies were gone, the guarantees had been smashed, and the Asian Poker Tour had completed the largest and richest festival it has ever held in mainland South Korea.

Held at Paradise City Incheon from August 7-16, the festival attracted 2,329 unique players from 45 countries and regions. They produced 14,059 entries and competed for almost KRW 16 billion (~USD 11.4 million).

It was the eighth consecutive APT stop to establish a new festival benchmark of some kind, although the numbers only tell part of the story. One champion celebrated winning the Main Event before discovering that his opponent was still alive, Punnat Punsri finally claimed the highest buy-in title on the schedule, and the Mini Main Event somehow became larger than the Main Event itself.

Incheon was not short of material.

Two Victory Laps for the Main Event Champion

Stephen Pang’s first victory lap came too early. His second one made him the champion of the record-breaking APT Incheon Main Event .

The Hong Kong player appeared to have finished the tournament when his king-jack of clubs made a flush against Shoumin Zhang’s pocket fours. Pang immediately left the table and ran over to celebrate with his friends, believing the 24K gold Lion Trophy was finally his.

The dealer had not finished counting.

Zhang still had slightly more than one big blind, forcing Pang to return to the table and pause a victory party that had already started. What looked like a minor delay then threatened to become a complete disaster.

Zhang doubled once. He doubled again, then completed four consecutive double-ups to turn a seemingly finished tournament into a genuine heads-up contest. He nearly found another when his king-jack dominated Pang’s king-eight, but Broadway on the board forced a chop and stopped the comeback from gathering even more force.

Pang steadied himself, rebuilt a lead of more than five-to-one and finally ended Zhang’s revival when his pocket nines held against king-ten. This time, the dealer finished counting before anyone began celebrating .

The result earned Pang KRW 411,180,000 (~USD 293,700) following a three-handed deal. Zhang collected KRW 366,500,000 (~USD 261,785) as runner-up, while Yifu He received KRW 257,000,000 (~USD 183,570) for third.

All received USD 10,000 seats to the season-ending APT Championship Main Event in Taipei.

Pang had spent more than a year preparing for the tournament, mostly by playing online. He began the final table with the chip lead and initially allowed the shorter stacks to fight among themselves before becoming more aggressive with five players remaining.

Pocket queens played an important role in his run, cracking pocket aces on Day 4 before holding against Tempei Kotani’s ace-king at the final table. Pang gave the hand a suitable nickname.

“Pocket queens were my lucky hand all tournament,” Pang said. “‘Lady Gaga’ was always there for me!”

The 1,393-entry field created a KRW 3,008,540,000 (~USD 2.15 million) prize pool, effectively doubling the original KRW 1.5 billion guarantee. It became the largest and richest international tournament ever held in mainland South Korea, with only the Main Events at APT Jeju Classic 2026 and APT Jeju 2025 attracting larger fields anywhere in the country.

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Recap

Stephen Pang Wins Record APT Incheon Main Event for KRW 411M

Stephen Pang survives a wild heads-up battle to win the record 1,393-entry APT Incheon Main Event and KRW 411.18 million after an ICM deal.

2026.08.15

The Black Lion Finds a New Home

While Pang required two celebrations to secure his Lion, Punnat Punsri claimed the highest buy-in trophy of the festival in the KRW 35 million Superstar Challenge .

The tournament drew 29 entries from 25 unique players and generated a KRW 961,350,000 (~USD 686,680) prize pool. Only five players were paid, which made surviving the bubble an expensive business.

Punsri defeated Vietnam’s Khoa Anh Ngo heads-up to collect KRW 360,000,000 (~USD 257,140), the Black Stealth Lion Trophy and another APT Championship Main Event seat. Defending champion Calvin Sungwon Lee finished third.

The result gave Punsri his seventh APT title and took his earnings during the APT New Era beyond USD 1.4 million. Despite all those victories, this was his first Superstar Challenge title.

“This one means a lot to me because it’s the biggest buy-in of an APT series,” Punsri said. “To win the highest buy-in event feels great, especially after so many of my friends have won it already.”

Punsri may have arrived with six APT titles already behind him, but there was still an obvious gap in the trophy cabinet. The Black Lion can fill it.

The Superstar Challenge was one of several major tournaments decided during a packed penultimate day, with the APT Incheon Day 9 recap covering the two special Lion winners and the record Mini Main Event.

The Mini Main Event Was Not Particularly Mini

Calling a tournament with 1,427 entries “mini” feels slightly dishonest, especially when it becomes the largest tournament of the festival.

The APT Incheon Mini Main Event attracted 34 more entries than the Main Event and generated a KRW 1,078,812,000 (~USD 770,580) prize pool, more than double its KRW 400 million guarantee.

Japan’s Toru Sakiyama outlasted the enormous field to win his first APT title, KRW 189,982,000 (~USD 135,800) and a USD 10,000 APT Championship Main Event seat.

The payout was more than 43 times Sakiyama’s previous largest recorded live cash and over 16 times his prior career earnings. Runner-up Shingo Matsushima arrived at the final table without a recorded live tournament cash and left with KRW 108,770,000.

Third-place finisher Andrew Geonwoong Choi had only one previous recorded cash worth USD 2,939. He earned KRW 76,600,000 in Incheon.

For a tournament designed to provide a more accessible route to a major festival score, the final three made a convincing sales pitch.

A Five-Final Curse Comes to an End

The APT Super High Roller had become a rather frustrating tournament for Jeremy Je Min Chan .

The Malaysian player had reached five previous Super High Roller final tables on the tour and lost heads-up during three of them, including at APT Incheon in 2025. He returned one year later and finally finished the job.

Chan defeated Michel Molenaar heads-up to win the APT Super High Roller, earning KRW 236 million and the Pewter Lion Trophy.

After five final tables and three runner-up finishes, Chan did not need another close call. He needed a Lion.

The victory also placed him at the top of SMP’s festival prize rankings, with more than USD 182,000 recorded across two cashes.

One More Flight, One Rose Gold Lion

Chang Hwan “Jack” Lee does not have much time to study poker. Running four companies and travelling frequently tends to interfere with long evenings spent looking at solvers, so he often turns long flights into study sessions.

It appears to be working.

After finishing third in the APT High Roller at Jeju earlier this year, Lee returned in Incheon and went two places better. He defeated a 222-entry field in the APT High Roller to win KRW 199,870,000 (~USD 142,765), a Rose Gold Lion and a USD 10,000 APT Championship Main Event seat.

Lee overcame the United Kingdom’s Jun Li heads-up, while APT Taipei Main Event champion Chun Shing “Walter” Lau finished third.

It was Lee’s first APT title after several close calls, including second and third-place finishes at APT Jeju Classic earlier in the year. There are worse things to bring home from a business trip.

The APT Incheon High Roller winner story explains how Lee converted the Day 1 chip lead into his long-awaited Lion.

More Records Fall Around Paradise City

The Main Event and Mini Main Event supplied the largest record-breaking fields, but they were not alone. A total of eight tournament records fell during the festival.

Japan’s Tomoya Tsubouchi started the festival by winning the Korea National Cup , which attracted a record 709 entries. The victory earned Tsubouchi his first overseas live title and KRW 78,109,411.

The Zodiac Classic set new Incheon marks for its field and prize pool, with Masatoshi Minowa collecting KRW 155 million and an APT Championship Main Event seat.

The High Roller Ultra Stack established new tour-stop records for entries, prize money and its top prize. China’s Kunlei Xie won the tournament for KRW 179.6 million and secured his own APT Championship seat.

Taiwan’s Cheng Yu Chung also won the largest heads-up tournament in APT history after defeating a 61-entry field. The Women’s Event recorded its largest field at an Incheon stop, while the Sunday Super Stack set new South Korean APT marks for entries and unique players.

At this point, an APT record appears to have roughly the same life expectancy as a short stack near the end of registration. The records are genuine, but writing them in permanent ink is becoming increasingly optimistic.

Japan Finishes Well Clear in the Country Rankings

Japanese players won several of the festival’s largest tournaments and were comfortably ahead of every other nation in the APT Incheon 2026 festival statistics .

Japan collected more than USD 1.7 million across 536 cashes. China ranked second with over USD 754,000, while players representing Thailand earned more than USD 409,000.

The separate SMP Poker Index rewarded consistency rather than raw prize money. Thailand’s Pakorn Duangtrakan topped the standings after cashing five times, including victory over an 868-entry field in the Mystery Bounty Hunter.

More than 1,000 players recorded a cash during the series, with 37 countries represented in the SMP database. No Limit Hold’em naturally supplied most of the traffic, but the schedule also included 13 Omaha tournaments and seven mixed-game events.

Players who wanted four cards, split pots or games that required a brief explanation before the first hand were well looked after.

Incheon Leaves Jeju With Plenty to Live Up To

The tables at Paradise City have now been cleared, but the APT will not be away from South Korea for long.

The tour heads to Jeju Island next for APT Jeju 2026 , running from September 25 to October 7 at LES A Casino inside Jeju Shinhwa World.

Jeju is the only place in South Korea where an APT Main Event has produced a larger field than Incheon, and it has managed that during both of the tour’s previous visits to the island. APT Jeju 2025 attracted 1,693 entries before the APT Jeju Classic raised the national record to 1,718 earlier this year.

The APT Jeju 2026 schedule is larger again, featuring 136 trophy events across 13 days and more than KRW 5.2 billion in guaranteed prize pools. Its KRW 2.7 million Main Event carries a KRW 2.2 billion guarantee, while 12 APT Championship Main Event seats will be awarded during the festival.

Incheon has set the standard for mainland Korea and handed Jeju a difficult act to follow.

Considering the APT’s habit of breaking its own records, Jeju will probably be quite happy to try.

All images courtesy of Asian Poker Tour.