Real Estate Agent Closes the Deal, Wins APT Championship Main Event Seat in Tour’s Second-Largest Main Event of All Time

APT TAIPEI 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, May 2, 2026 – Run in partnership with with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP) across two venues—the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and the Asia Poker Arena APA—the penultimate day of the APT Taipei 2026 saw the festival crown the tour’s latest Main Event champion.

It was Hong Kong’s Chun Shing ‘Walter’ Lau who brought down the house, taming the the award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and claiming the lion’s share of the massive TWD 111,862,080 (~USD 3,585,320) prize pool – the second-richest ever generated in an APT Main Event.

The 31-year-old real estate agent outlasted a monster field of 2,354 entries and overcame a shark-infested final table featuring the current Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 Tony Ren Lin, Thailand’s #6 ranked tournament player Pakinai Lisawad, and former Superstar Challenge champion & Natural8 qualifer Joshua McCully.

Tour regular Joshua McCully and Chun Shing Lau prepare to battle heads-up for the trophy

Lau defeated the latter heads-up after coming into the match with an insurmountable 4-to-1 chip lead to claim a career-best mammoth top prize of TWD 16,640,100 (~USD 533,340) – the second-largest ever awarded in an APT Main Event.

“I don't feel like I'm anything special just because I won—a lot of it is luck, as anyone who plays tournaments knows—but this is an opportunity for me to pursue things in life that I wanted to do but couldn't before. I’m thankful to God for this chance, which opens up more possibilities to explore different goals,” Lau stated candidly in Cantonese in his post match interview.

While Lau only started playing tournament poker back in 2023, he has been playing cash games with friends back in Hong Kong since 2018.

“I’ve played several APT events since then; although I hadn't seen results in the Main Events, I’ve done quite well in the side events. I didn't actually plan this trip specifically; it was an impulsive decision to come because many of my friends were here. I just wanted to hang out and play, so I feel very lucky to have made it this far.”

However, Lau is not planning to get carried away with his win just yet and remained grounded in victory, despite the emotional highs of the occasion.

“While I want to learn and play well, I want to maintain the mindset of a recreational player. I see too many professional poker friends around me working far too hard. I’ve never wanted to be a full-time pro. Life needs balance and different hobbies. Poker is one of those interests—one that can earn some money—but I think I’m much happier staying recreational than going professional.”

Lau, who had a modest USD 75,000 in live tournament winnings before the start of this series, has now proved himself against the best of the best, on the Asian Poker Tour’s biggest stage.

With the top six players receiving a ticket to the APT Championship 2026 (APTC) Main Event—the USD 5M guaranteed season-ending showpiece taking place from November 13–29, 2026 in Taipei—Lau now has a chance to take his game to the next level.

Chun Shing Lau was one of six final tablists to claim an APT Championship Main Event seat

“I hadn't originally planned to play the APT Championships because a $10,000 USD buy-in is too expensive given my current situation. But now that I have this ticket, I want to give it a try,” said Lau.

“Between now and November, I need to study more and increase my knowledge because the field will be full of experts. Since it’s a freezeout with no rebuys, I have to stay calm and handle things better to give myself a chance. I’m approaching it with a balanced mindset.”

In addition to Lau, runner-up finisher McCully, Taiwan’s Ching En Chen, Belgium’s Kristof Segers, and Japan’s Kazuma Ishihara & Miki Shiraishi all locked up an APTC seat, with the final table paying out as follows:

MAIN EVENT RESULTS

For Main Event Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Results please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Final Table Player Profiles please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Final Day tournament page.

You can read about all the thrilling Final Day action on the APT Blog, or watch it as it happened via the APT Main Event Final Day live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.

APT Taipei 2026 Main Event by the Numbers

For Main Event Breakdown by Country/Region please CLICK HERE with a graphic available HERE.

The APT’s second-largest Main Event in the tour’s 20-year history drew a sizable 2,354 entries comprised of 1,300 unique players from 42 different countries and regions from across the globe.

Taiwan made up the highest proportion of the field with 578 entries representing almost a quarter (24.6%) of the total field.

Only three other countries & regions boasted over ten percent representation, with South Korea the second-highest represented with 274 entries comprising over eleven percent (11.6%) of the total field.

Hong Kong (10.9%), and Japan (10.8%) were a close third and fourth, providing 256 and 255 unique entries respectively.

All other country and region participation was below ten percent, with Thailand rounding out the top five with 195 entries making up just over eight percent (8.3%) of the total Main Event field.

Singapore was the only other country to provide a three-figure entry number with 134 entries making up close to six percent (6.7%) of the field.

The Philippines (3.7%), Malaysia (3.3%), and Vietnam (3.1%) were the only other countries making up over three percent of the field apiece, with 87, 77, and 74 entries respectively.

Australia rounded out the top ten with 51 entries making up just over two percent (2.2%) of the field.

Outside of the Asia-Pacific, the USA was the best represented country with 50 entries comprising two percent (2.1%) of the total field.

India was close behind in 12th with 49 entries making up a similar portion of the field.

China (1.4%), and the United Kingdom (1.3%) were the only other two countries making up over one percent of the field with 32 and 31 entries respectively.

The other 27 countries provided a combined total representation of the remaining eight percent (7.9%) of the field, which you can view in more detail by clicking on the Main Event breakdown link above.

APT Taipei New Era Main Event Growth by Year

For APT Taipei Main Event Growth by Year Graphic please CLICK HERE

The APT Taipei 2026 Main Event is the third largest poker tournament the tour has ever run, and the second-largest APT Main Event of all-time.

Outside of the Asia Poker Tour Championship (APTC) it is the second richest poker tournament the tour has ever operated in the country, almost sixty-five percent (64.1%) larger and over seventy-five percent (75.6%) richer than the APT Taipei 2023 edition of the tournament, which marked the launch of the APT New Era.