APT Main Event Up to 1,926 Entries With With Registration Still Open; USA’s Jacob Ikuma Tops Flight C & South Korea’s Jae Wook Shin Leads Flight D

Ben Wilson / 2 Oct 2024

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APT Main Event Up to 1,926 Entries With With Registration Still Open; USA’s Jacob Ikuma Tops Flight C & South Korea’s Jae Wook Shin Leads Flight D

APT TPC 2024 SCHEDULE| OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS | PLAYER LISTS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, October 1, 2024 – The last of the four APT Main Event TWD 65,000,000 GTD starting flights is in the books, with Flight C drawing 368 (298) entries, and Flight D attracting a further 260 (202 unique) runners, with the action playing out at the tournament tables of the Chinese Texas Hold'em Poker Club (CTP) Asia Poker Arena.

The action in both played out over ten levels–six 30-minute levels and four 40-minute levels-with 195 Flight C survivors making it through to Day 2A/C, and 131 Flight D survivors making it through to Day 2 B/D.

Combined with the 462 Flight A entries, the 439 Flight B entries, and the 397 online entries from tour sponsor Natural8 that brings the total field up to 1,925 entries so far, with registration remaining open until the start of Day 2 A/C, which gets underway at 11am local time on Wednesday, October 2.

While it's too early to talk potential prizes, the guarantee was reached and breached mid-way through Flight C, and the eventual winner will be walking away with an eight-figure TWD (six-figures in USD) top prize.

One of the players returning in the best of positions to claim that is Flight C frontrunner Jacob Ikuma, following up his deep run in the Event #10 Mystery Bounty Hunter with a great start to his Main Event, concluding play with a stack of 261,000.

Vietnam's Ngoc Minh Le bagged the second largest Flight C stack, with Taiwan's Chao-Yu Lu (189,800) rounding out the top three.

Australia's Daniel Neilson also bagged a top ten stack of 163,800, jumping straight into the action after finishing heads-up in the TWD 800,000 Superstar Challenge, which you can read about in more detail below.

Neilson's fellow finalist Steven Song also followed up his third-place finish with a place in Day 2, though the US player will have his work cut out for him chipping up on Day 2, concluding the action with 27,800.

MAIN EVENT FLIGHT C TOP TEN STACKS

  1. Jacob Ikuma (United States) – 261,000
  2. Ngoc Minh Le (Vietnam) – 221,900
  3. Chao-Yu Lu (Taiwan) – 189,800
  4. Yi-Jhen Ke (Taiwan) – 188,700
  5. Chumpon Naisanthat (Thailand) – 177,700
  6. Ching En Chen (Taiwan) – 167,400
  7. Kelvin Lee (Singapore) – 164,000
  8. Daniel Neilson (Australia) – 163,800
  9. Martin Carnero (Perù) – 152,300
  10. Naoto Takeya (Japan) – 149,800

Other notables to make the cut included: New Zealand’s Tae Hoon Han (149,000), Taiwan's Li Ta "Leon" Hsu (98,200), Hong Kong's Alan Lau (93,500), Singapore's Dhanesh Chainani (56,700), Sunday Super Stack champion Ravn Teo (48,500), the USA's Kyle Diep (37,600), and Taiwan's Chen An Lin (35,900).

For Main Event Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE

01 Flight D chip leader Jae Wook Shin.JPG South Korea’s Jae Wook Shin topped Flight D

Flight D saw South Korea's Jae Wook Shin top the 260-strong field, bagging up 264,000 in chips, with Thailand's Pakwarin Teerawatpattana (242,400), and Japan's Yoshikazu Endo (190,800) rounding out the top three stacks, with other notables to make it through including Singapore's Jacky Wang (127,400), Hong Kong's Jeffrey Lo (102,000), the USA's Joseph Cheong (88,900), and the Philippines Florencio Campomanes (82,400) to name but a few.

MAIN EVENT FLIGHT D TOP TEN STACKS

  1. Jae Wook Shin (South Korea) - 264,000
  2. Pakwarin Teerawatpattana (Thailand) - 242,400
  3. Yoshikazu Endo (Japan) - 190,800
  4. Yoshitaka Yagi (Japan) - 188,000
  5. Shinya Maeda (Japan) - 183,700
  6. Yu Xin Liu (Canada) - 182,000
  7. Anton Widjaya (Indonesia) - 180,300
  8. Ta Hsien Lim (Malaysia) - 170,300
  9. N-Rak Lertphokhanon (Thailand) - 169,600
  10. Gary Thompson (Ireland) - 164,000

There were 6 double qualifiers in total over the four starting flights, with their shortest stacks removed from play, with 352 combined survivors from returning for Flight 2 A/C at 11am on Wednesday, October 2, and 310 combined survivors for Flight 2 B/D at 5:30pm local time, with registration remaining open until 11am at the start of the first of the Day 2 flights.

You can read how all the APT Main Event Flight C action and Flight D action played out via the APT Blog.

All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Flight C, and APT Main Event Flight D tournament pages.

Taiwan's Chi Wei Fan Battles Back From Short Stack to Superstar to Claim TWD 8.5M (~USD 272K) Top Prize

Event #31 Superstar Challenge champion Chih Wei Fan.jpg Chi Wei Fan cemented his star status by claiming the exclusive black lion APT Superstar Challenge trophy

In a stunning short-stack to superstar fairytale bordering on the fan-tastic, Taiwan's Chi Wei Fan has achieved star status by taking down the TWD 800,000 Superstar Challenge for a sizeable TWD 8,590,525 (~USD 272,110) payday.

Fan came into the Final Day of the tournament fourth out of four players from an initial field of 27 entries (23 unique), spinning his 28 big blind stack up into the chip lead after an epic hand against start-of-day chip leader Daniel Neilson.

In a spectacular hand that eclipsed his exit from the APT Taipei 2023 Main Event where the Taiwanese player ran into the pocket aces of eventual champion Punnat Punsri, Fan saw off his APT final table hoodoo and cracked Neilson's pocket rockets after flopping two pair holding queen six offsuit, with all the chips going in on the turn.

After that, there was no looking back with the Aussie reduced to 11 big blinds and unable to stage a comeback, falling at the final hurdle a level later after a bluff gone bad.

Fan claimed the exclusive black lion APT Superstar Challenge trophy and a second career APT High Roller title for his victory, in addition to earning the largest cash of his playing career. This brings his total live winnings up to over USD 900,000, moving him up six spots to #15 on the Taiwan All-Time Money List.

Fan's vocal Taiwanese fan-base went wild, chanting his name with adulation as the local legend posed for his obligatory winner's photo, before saying a few words:

"Last year, I lost to Punat’s AA with A5 at this table, and this year I finally lost with 9J to AK in Jeju Island. Now that I’ve achieved this, it feels incredibly significant to me. I believe I’ve grown a lot over these 14 to 15 months, and I’m especially grateful to every opponent who has given me advice or defeated me along the way; they’ve all contributed to my growth," confided Fan via the aid of a translator in his post-match interview.

While Neilson will be disappointed to have been unable to convert his chip lead into a career-first APT title, the TWD 5,727,000 (~USD 181,410) runner-up prize represents his best result of the year to date, so that should take the edge off.

Stephen Song was another of the four finalists gunning for his maiden APT title, coming in hot from his recent tournament triumph in Barcelona. However, Fan put paid to Song's title hopes, sending the US player to the rail in third place for a TWD 3,682,000 (~USD 116,630) payday.

France's Charles Waymel rounded out the last of the paying positions, exiting on the first level played at the hands of Neilson, collecting the largest cash of his tournament poker career.

SUPERSTAR CHALLENGE FINAL TABLE RESULTS 1st: Chih Wei Fan (Taiwan) – TWD 8,590,525 (~USD 272,110) 2nd: Daniel Neilson (Australia) – TWD 5,727,000 (~USD 181,410) 3rd: Stephen Song (United States) – TWD 3,682,000 (~USD 116,630) 4th: Charles Waymel (France) – TWD 2,455,000 (~USD 77,760)

For Superstar Challenge Player List please CLICK HERE

You can read all about how the Final Day’s action played out on the APT Blog or watch a play-by-play account via the live stream on the APT's official YouTube channel.

All tournament information can be found on the Super Challenge Day Final Day tournament page.

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