APT Jeju 2026 Day 7: Ma Kaihong Goes Wire-to-Wire to Lead Final 47

After a full week of action on arguably Asia’s most popular poker island, APT Jeju 2026 has moved beyond the halfway point at LES A Casino , with the festival’s flagship tournament now heading toward the final table.

China’s Ma Kaihong followed up his Day 2 chip lead by staying on top throughout Day 3 of the Main Event, bagging 3,185,000 as the 198 returning players were reduced to the final 47.

Elsewhere, the KRW 500 million guaranteed Zodiac Classic drew 373 entries and built a prize pool of almost KRW 1.2 billion, Ryan Plant captured his fifth Asian Poker Tour title in the High Roller, and Stanley Weng won the inaugural Single Day Super High Roller.

Ma Kaihong Goes Wire-to-Wire to Lead APT Jeju Main Event Final 47

Day 3 of the KRW 2.7 million APT Main Event began with 198 players remaining from the original 1,375-entry field, each already guaranteed at least KRW 4,180,000 (~USD 3,120) from the KRW 3,207,600,000 (~USD 2.39 million) prize pool.

Before cards were in the air, Kou Vang of the United States was drawn as the first recipient of one of the tournament’s five USD 10,000 seats to November’s APT Championship Main Event .

A second seat will be awarded by lucky draw ahead of Day 4, while the remaining three will go to the eventual top three finishers.

Start-of-day leader Ma Kaihong maintained his grip on the top spot throughout more than six full 60-minute levels, eventually bagging 3,185,000 to lead for the second consecutive day.

Yi Heng Luo sits closest to Kaihong with 2,730,000, while Weimin Chen rounds out the top three with 2,310,000.

The final hand of the night saw Zixiong Jiang depart in 48th place at the hands of Kim Wah Chiu , bringing Day 3 to a close with 47 players remaining.

Several former APT Main Event champions were among those to fall, with Stephen Pang , Daisuke Ogita , Rene von Reden and Abhinav Iyer all eliminated. Their exits guarantee that a new APT Main Event champion will be crowned in Jeju.

Inaugural APT Championship High Roller winner Toby Joyce remains in the mix with 700,000.

Other notable survivors include Christian Harder (1,420,000), Rishi Mehra (1,335,000), Joris Michl (1,215,000), Sean Ooi (745,000) and Piet Pape (705,000).

Changliang Sun returns with 480,000, while Hiroyuki Noda will begin Day 4 as the short stack with 250,000 in need of a spin-up.

Day 4 begins at 11:15 a.m. KST on Friday, October 2, with play continuing until the official final table is reached.

Tetsuya Tsujisaka Leads 373-Entry Zodiac Classic

Another of the festival’s marquee tournaments drew a bumper field on Thursday as Event #67: Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 attracted 373 entries from 273 unique players.

The KRW 3.7 million buy-in tournament comfortably surpassed its KRW 500 million guarantee, creating a KRW 1,192,406,400 (~USD 889,855) prize pool.

Just 65 players remain heading into the final day, with 55 set to make the money. The eventual champion will collect KRW 228,656,400 (~USD 170,640), the silver lion silhouette trophy and a USD 10,000 APT Championship Main Event seat.

Tetsuya Tsujisaka leads the field after accumulating 806,000, well clear of Chun Kit Kwan on 562,000.

Lee Wee Liew completes the top three with 555,000.

The final day gets underway alongside the Main Event at 11:15 a.m. KST on Friday and will play down to a champion.

Ryan Plant Wins APT Jeju High Roller for Fifth APT Title

Ryan Plant produced the biggest completed-event result of Day 7 after winning the two-day Event #54 High Roller for KRW 179,790,000 (~USD 132,686).

Plant had already come close to a trophy earlier in the festival with a runner-up finish in the Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty, but went one better this time to secure his fifth career APT title and a USD 10,000 APT Championship Main Event seat.

Jingyao Yan finished runner-up for KRW 121,350,000 (~USD 89,557), while Zhili Zhou took third for a career-best KRW 83,530,000 (~USD 61,646).

Lester Edoc added another APT final table to his resume in fourth, while Day 1 chip leader Joseph Cheong ultimately finished ninth.

Stanley Weng Wins Inaugural Single Day Super High Roller

Stanley Weng added another title to his APT collection by winning the festival’s inaugural Event #66: Single Day Super High Roller.

The KRW 15 million event drew 11 entries from nine unique players and generated a KRW 152,047,500 prize pool, with only the top three reaching the money.

Weng defeated Koji Ideta heads-up to secure his second career APT title and KRW 72,977,500 (~USD 53,858).

Ideta received KRW 48,660,000 (~USD 35,911) for second place, while Mehdi Chaoui completed the podium for KRW 30,410,000 (~USD 22,443).

More APT Jeju Day 7 Winners

Yi Yi Chen finally converted a string of deep runs into an APT victory, topping the 165-entry Event #63: NL Hold’em – 1 Re-Entry for KRW 18,987,376 (~USD 14,013) and a maiden tour title.

Japan’s Naruhito Baba also picked up a first APT trophy after winning the 45-entry Event #64: NL Hold’em – Heads Up for KRW 17,156,000 (~USD 12,661), while Xinze Li captured a maiden title in the Masters Fixed Limit Seven Card Stud for KRW 13,064,000 (~USD 9,641).

Qiaochu Zhang won the 10-entry Women’s High Roller for KRW 6,220,000 (~USD 4,590) after previously finishing runner-up in a Women’s Event earlier in the festival.

Liao Cheng collected the second APT title of his career after a five-way ICM deal concluded Event #69: NL Hold’em – Freezeout. Cheng held the chip lead when the deal was agreed and received KRW 16,662,877 (~USD 12,297).

Ying Li secured a maiden APT title in the PL Super Holdem – Hi-Lo 8 or Better, earning KRW 7,370,384 (~USD 5,439).

Mehdi Chaoui bounced back from third place in the Single Day Super High Roller by winning the 69-entry Turbo – Atomic Pineapple for KRW 8,251,104 (~USD 6,089) and a third career APT title. Reigning APT Incheon Main Event champion Stephen Pang finished runner-up, while Suiyuan Chen narrowly missed a third title of the festival in third.

Andrew Kriss won the Hyper Turbo – No Limit Omaha Ultimate Hi-Lo – Double Board – Bomb Pot for KRW 2,650,704 (~USD 1,956), while Ho Man Cheung rounded out the day’s winners by taking down the 109-entry Super Hyper Turbo – NLH for KRW 6,682,092 (~USD 4,931). Both victories represented maiden APT titles.

APT Jeju Day 8 Schedule

Friday, October 2 will see the Main Event move one step closer to crowning its champion, with Day 4 beginning at 11:15 a.m. KST and playing down to the final table.

The Zodiac Classic Final Day also starts at 11:15 a.m., while the KRW 300 million guaranteed Mini Main Event gets underway with Flight A at 11 a.m. Flight B follows at 4 p.m., before the Turbo Flight C begins at 8:30 p.m.

High-stakes action includes the KRW 3 million 9 Game – High Roller at 11:30 a.m. and the KRW 7.5 million High Roller – Baby Superstar at noon. The day’s schedule concludes with the KRW 1.5 million Hyper Turbo – High Roller at 10:15 p.m.

Players can view the complete festival lineup on the APT Jeju 2026 schedule .

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as the APT Jeju Main Event plays down to its official final table and the Zodiac Classic crowns its champion.

All images courtesy of the Asian Poker Tour.

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