Hsiang Wang Bo Beats His Boss To Take Down APTC Gaming Industry Championship Event

Callum Jury, one of Somuchpoker’s newest Live Reporters, hails from the Lake District in the UK and joined the live poker reporting scene in 2025. Before moving into poker journalism, Callum built a career in business, drawing on his strong analytical skills. His passion for storytelling first developed during higher education, where he studied media and photography, sharpening his ability to capture moments with precision and creativity. Since joining Somuchpoker, Callum has covered major international poker events in Asia in 2025, bringing a mix of media expertise and keen attention to detail to the team’s live reporting.

Updated: 2025.11.17

The 2025 Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) opened its doors in Taipei this week, setting the stage for two full weeks of action at the Red Space Venue. While the festival officially began on Friday, Nov 14, the spotlight landed early on ahttps://somuchpoker.com/events-calendar/apt/2025/apt-championship-taipei-2025n event designed for the industry itself. The Asia Gaming Industry Championship brought together professionals who are usually working behind the scenes, giving them a rare chance to sit down at the felt, play against their peers, and compete for the lion trophy.

A total of 76 players joined the TWD 13,000 freezeout, and it was Hsiang Wang Bo who ended the night on top, good for TWD 225,109 (~USD 7,285). His victory came with an extra layer of satisfaction after defeating his own boss at the Chinese Texas Holdem Poker Club, David Tai, in a friendly heads-up match that closed out the opening event.

Plenty of familiar industry faces were in the mix, with Kevin Mathers, Victor Chong, Andy Wong, and Stephen Lai all taking their seats in pursuit of the newly designed trophies. The action stayed surprisingly steady for much of the early going, with the entire field surviving eight full levels before the first eliminations finally arrived. When the streak broke, it did so with a twist, as Yu Hsiang Huang and Sheung Chau Chan fell in the same hand to mark the day’s first departures.

APTC Industry Event Final Table — Fina Table Asia Gaming Industry Championship

Asia Gaming Industry Championship Freezeout Final Table Result


Place	Player	Country/Region	Prize (TWD)	Prize (~USD)
1	Hsiang Wang Bo	Taiwan	225,109	7,285
2	David Tai	Taiwan	159,000	5,145
3	Victor Chong	Malaysia	104,000	3,365
4	Sasha Guerin	United States	80,000	2,590
5	Hua-Wei Lin	Taiwan	64,000	2,070
6	Seunguk Hwang	South Korea	50,000	1,620
7	Miles Huang	Taiwan	39,000	1,260
8	Jing Yu Huang	Taiwan	31,000	1,000
9	Li Ta Hsu	Taiwan	23,000	745

Champion’s Reflections

Bo was all smiles after the win, introducing himself modestly through a translator.

“Honestly, I cannot quite find the words to describe how I feel right now, but I am really happy,” he said. Facing his own boss in the final added both humour and pressure, and he joked, “Brother Yong David, sorry… I hope all the bosses can forgive me and let me keep this job.”

As a full-time dealer at CTP, the result carried real weight.

“This is my first APT trophy, and I am both happy and excited,” he said, noting it was also his biggest achievement in poker so far. He added that he has always respected the tour and hopes to keep improving through events like this.

APTC National Cup Championship

The APTC National Cup Championship drew huge crowds from the very start, with five opening flights running across different formats and structures. Each flight brought its own rhythm, and by the end of the week, thousands of players had taken their shot at one of the festival’s headline side events.

Flight A opened the series with 30-minute levels and delivered a strong turnout of 461 entries. Teeraphat Rangkatekarn finished on top of the 65 survivors, sealing the day with a leading stack of 1,092,000.

Flight B shifted the pace with a 15-minute turbo structure and drew 263 entries. Hong Yu Chen navigated the faster format the best, bagging up 1,056,000 to close the flight as chip leader among the 37 players who made Day 2.

Flight C returned to a more balanced 25-minute level format and produced the biggest field of the week with 684 entries. Japan’s Daito Yamashita led the 96 survivors, ending play with 892,000.

Flight D followed with 20-minute levels and a tighter field of 91 entries. Wing Fai Kwan made the most of it, topping the bags with 1,112,700.

Flight E wrapped up the action with another 15-minute turbo run, drawing 343 entries. Kevin Tang finished strongly, leading the 47 qualifiers with a flight-best 1,233,000.

Those final bags also confirmed a moment of genuine APT history. The five flights combined for 2,398 entries (1,157 unique), making the APTC National Cup Championship the largest side event ever held on the tour. The prize pool climbed to TWD 29,855,675, smashing the TWD 12,000,000 guarantee and placing the tournament among the three richest non-High Roller events in APT history.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, the festival is only beginning to warm up. Just a couple of days are in the books, yet the schedule still stretches out with close to 200 events on offer and plenty of lion trophies waiting to be claimed. The centrepiece is the TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000) APT Championship Main Event Freezeout, backed by a record-setting TWD 156 million (USD 5 million) guarantee, the largest ever put forward in Asian poker.

In total, players can expect 20 Championship Events, more than 180 side events and satellites, and over TWD 288 million (~USD 8.7 million) in guarantees across the series. With so much still to come, the early action has been only a small preview of what lies ahead at APTC Taipei.