APT Taipei 2025 Main Event Headed For An Earth-Shaker; Wu Chun Yu Bags Day 1A Lead

Players continued to flood into the Asian Poker Tour – APT Taipei 2025 festival, with the Main Event and its NT$ 70,000,000 (~US$ 2.1 Million) guarantee now the centerpiece of all the action. Kicking off on April 27 at the brand new Red Space venue, Day 1A brought in 542 entries (404 uniques), setting a strong early pace for what is expected to be another record-breaker.
According to APT, another 466 qualified via Natural8 OnLive, further boosting the numbers to 1,008 entries. With three more flights still to come, just how high the final turnout will climb remains to be seen.
APT Taipei 2025 – APT Main Event
Through the years, the APT Main Event has been widely regarded as having the best structure in the region. For players that took their chances at Day 1A, the starting stack was 400x the opening blinds with increases at the slowest pace of 60 minutes. This gave players plenty of time to gauge the competition and build up.

By the end of the scheduled ten rounds, 203 players managed to avoid the rail led by Taiwan’s Wu Chun Yu with a stack of 469,200 equivalent to a whopping 335 big blinds. Yu was far ahead of the pack with his closest challenger Hong Kong’s Nicholas Go bagging 338,900 (242 bb). Other notables making the cut were China’s biggest player Biao Ding, past APT Main Event champions Rene Alexander Von Reden, Gyeongbyeong Lee, Lester Edoc, and Zhan Shuo Guo.
Indonesian player Jhon Hendri also found a bag, jumping in right after he finished 8th at the APT Super High Roller. To list a few more were Vietnam’s #1 ranked player Dao Minh Phu, Korea’s Hyun Sup Kim, and side event winners Alfie Poetra, Ryan Plant, Jun Hao Wu, and Zichuan Huang.
Day 1A Live Updates
Day 1A Chip Counts
For those that fell by the wayside or have yet to join the action, the APT Main Event continues with three more entry flights running from April 28-29. And if you still need one more chance, players can sign up just before the start of Day 2. Buy-in is NT$ 55,000 (~US$ 1,700).
APT Taipei 2025 – Day 3 Winners
Despite the APT Main Event at the top of the menu, the side events still saw significant action with big winners crowned. Here are all of the day’s champions.

Nguyen Quang Minh Clinches APT Super High Roller For Career Best
Vietnam's Nguyen Quang Minh celebrated his biggest takedown to date at the APT Super High Roller, after defeating Alexander Lynskey for a payout of NT$ 9,580,920 (~US$ 295,700). In a brief interview with the champ, he shared,
Đây là chiến thắng lớn nhất của tôi cho đến nay. Là một người Việt Nam yêu nước, tôi thực sự hạnh phúc khi chiến thắng này lại đến đúng vào thời điểm đất nước của tôi đang chuẩn bị kỷ niệm 50 năm ngày giải phóng miền Nam và thống nhất đất nước.
[This is my biggest victory to date. Being a patriotic Vietnamese, I am truly happy that this victory comes at the right time when our country is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country.]
The two-day event attracted a record field of 122 entries, each one coughing up the NT$ 330,000 (~US$ 10,100) buy-in. This built a prize pool of NT$ 37,040,420 (~US$ 1,143,225) with the top 18 places paid. The money began with rising young Malaysian player Chun Keat Liu first to collect. When players continued to fall, German pro Dominik Nitsche was bumped out in 10th place to form the final table. Nguyen expressed,
Tôi vào bàn chung kết với 1 tâm lý thoải mái và không có chiến thuật gì cả. Tôi chỉ quyết tâm thi đấu với tất cả niềm đam mê mà tôi đã giành cho bộ môn Poker.
[I entered the final table with a relaxed mindset and no strategy. I was just determined to play with all the passion I had for Poker.]
Nguyen also added that at the final table, his toughest opponent was Jhon Hendri saying,
Đối thủ khó nhằn nhất của tôi là JHON HENDRI bằng 1 cách nào đó tôi luôn thua anh ấy ở tất cả các ván bài, từ ngày thứ nhất cho tới khi anh ấy bị loại.
[My toughest opponent was Jhon Hendri. Somehow I lost every hand against him, even from Day 1, until he was eliminated.]
You can watch the final table action via APT Super High Roller Livestream.

Japan's Taiga Tanida Tops Sunday Superstack's Huge Turnout
Another big field produced at the APT Taipei 2025 with the Sunday Superstack bringing in a roaring 386 entries to easily smash the guarantee. With a NT$ 30,000 (~US$ 925) buy-in, it wasn’t a small investment either however the reward was well worth it for the 55 players that earned a piece of the bloated NT$ 10,005,120 (~US$ 308,800) prize pool.
Among the notables that reached the final table was APT Main Event champion Dicky Tsang, finishing in 7th place. The title was claimed by Japan's Taiga Tanida, turning his buy-in nearly sixty times over for a payout of NT$ 1,943,120 (~US$ 59,975). With no prior live scores on record, this may well be his first ever live title and score.


Kai Cheng Hsu Finally Takes It Down
Often seen running deep at many high roller events but always denied the gold, Taiwan's Kai Cheng Hsu finally nailed one down at the APT Taipei 2025 - Single Day High Roller. Hsu faced some very tough competitors in the 81 entry field that included Thai pro Punnat Punsri, Hong Kong's Hon Cheong Lee, and Malaysia's Sean Ooi.
In the end, the title came between Hsu and Masataka Setoguchi, both players seeking a coveted first high roller win. Hsu emerged victorious to win the lion's share of the NT$ 6,998,400 (~US$ 216,000) prize pool which was a career high score of NT$ 1,923,900 (~US$ 59,380).

Kuan Yu Chen Wins Hyper Turbo Home Games
Another smoking turnout at the Hyper Turbo Home Games - Super Hold'em with 197 lighting up a section of the poker room. The fun game with three hole cards to start with generated a prize pool of NT$ 551,663 (~US$ 17,025) with 27 players locking up cash returns. The biggest winner was CTP regular Kuan Yu Chen to clinch his first ever APT win and a payout of NT$ 121,663 (~US$ 3,755).






