Japanese Former Croupier and Poker Dealer Crowned First Female APT Championship Winner

• Mystery Bounty Championship Generates TWD 20M (~USD 665K) Prize Pool; Hong Kong’s Ryan Yau Leads

APT CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | LIVE REPORTING | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 16, 2025 – Playing out at the tournament tables of the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 venue and run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), Day 3 of the tour’s largest-ever festival saw 336 players out of a record field of 2,398 entries return for the Final Day of the TWD 15,000 (~USD 495) buy-in [Event 1] National Cup Championship.

All returning players were already guaranteed a TWD 20,200 (~USD 730) payout but all were playing for the exclusive APT Pewter Lion National Cup Championship Trophy and the lion’s share of the TWD 29,855,675 (~USD 985,335) prize pool.

It was Japan’s Ruiko Mamiya who overcame the largest-ever APT non-Main Event tournament field to make tour history – in more ways than one.

In addition to claiming the accolades in the inaugural National Cup Championship, Mamiya became the first Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) female champion.

Mamiya banked a TWD 3,087,700 (~USD 101,905) top prize and a TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000) APT Championship Main Event seat after cutting a three-way deal with opponents Wei Chun Kuo of Taiwan and Wilfred Yiu of Hong Kong.

Kuo, who eventually finished second, locked up TWD 3,025,000 (~USD 99,835), while eventual third-place finisher Yiu locked up TWD 3,036,000 (~USD 100,200), with the trio then playing it out for the title, trophy and ticket.

It was not all plain sailing for Mamiya on her cruise to victory; despite coming to the final table third in the counts she had to navigate some choppy waters after losing a huge coin flip early on against runner-up Kuo.

“I had a really long period of slowly grinding and building up little by little,” she reflected. “Honestly, I was really lucky and the flow was good.”

After the deal was struck, Mamiya battled back from the shortest of the three stacks, dispatching Yiu in third when the Hong Kong native made an ill-timed move with ace-six and ran into Mamiya’s suited ace king.

Ruiko Mamiya and Wei Chun Kuo prepare to battle heads-up

While Kuo came into the heads-up match with a slight lead, the tables soon turned; Mamiya had her opponent on the ropes after a huge hand played out between the two where both flopped top pair. Unfortunately for Kuo, Mamiya had the superior kicker and he was left with crumbs.

Despite Kuo managing a double up shortly afterwards, Mamiya’s monster lead proved to be unassailable, with the match wrapped up after Kuo raise-called a Mamiya shove, his jack nine trailing to her ace five with an ace-high runout sealing the deal.

Excluding the tour’s non-marquee side events and women’s events, there have been only two female champions in APT marquee events and Mamiya joins an exclusive club that include APT Main Event winners Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo and Vietnam’s Dang Thi Hue.

What makes Mamiya’s milestone victory all the more impressive is the size and quality of the field she overcame on the way to her the biggest score of her poker career, which moved her into the top 50 on the Japan All-Time Money List.

Several notables such as Natural8 Ambassador Thai Ha, Hong Kong’s Alan Lau, Australia’s John Perry, and decorated Filipino poker professional Florencio Campomanes all made deep runs, with the latter also making a final table appearance, eventually finishing in fifth place.

“For tournaments in this buy-in range, I had the impression that it was mostly amateurs, but today there were pros whose faces I recognized sitting in the field. It really made me realize firsthand how popular and highly regarded this tournament is,” said Mamiya in her post-match winner’s interview.

“People from all kinds of countries come here, so you see all sorts of players—people who just learned poker, people who play as a hobby, people who come while working, and professional players. There are really all kinds of people.”

While Mamiya may be small in stature, she proved to be a colossus at the tables; her background as a former poker dealer who picked up the game in Las Vegas back in 2017 at dealer school making her incredibly comfortable in a game environment – which showed in her controlled composure at the table.

“I usually have a loud voice in the pit,” joked Mamiya immediately after banking the largest score of her eight-year playing career, which includes two World Series final tables and multiple cashes, although she has only been playing professionally since the end of the COVID pandemic.

Despite four out of her five largest career cashes coming in No Limit, Mamiya can usually be found playing mixed games, and she claimed her maiden APT title in the Event #37 Limit Dealer’s Choice – 7 Card Stud at the recent APT Jeju in September.

“I almost never enter No-Limit Hold’em tournaments where you can win a trophy,” she admitted afterward. “I never expected that I would actually win one myself. I’m really happy,” gushed an ecstatic Mamiya.

You can read in more detail about how Mamiya played her way to victory in the National Cup Championship APT Blog coverage.

(Top L-R) Kevin Tang, Wing Fai Kwan, Tsz Him Chan, Wilfred Yu, Florencio Campomanes. (Bottom L-R) Wei Chun Kuo, I Hsuan Wu, Ruiko Mamiya, Shiuan Cen Chang

NATIONAL CUP CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For National Cup Championship Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the National Cup Championship Final Day tournament page.

Mystery Bounty Championship Generates TWD 20M (~USD 665K) Prize Pool; Hong Kong’s Ryan Yau Leads

Flight A frontrunner Ryan Yau returns in the driving seat for the Final Day

Sporting a buy-in over 100 percent (105%) larger than its standard APT festival counterpart, the TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,155) buy-in [Event 2] Mystery Bounty Championship represents the pinnacle of the tour’s bounty tournaments.

With a guaranteed TWD 15 million (~USD 495,000) prize pool on the line, in addition to one of the coveted APT Championship Lion Trophies this event promises to be one of the more exciting on the schedule – especially when the mystery bounties kick in on the Final Day!

The third of the APTC’s 20 Championship Events drew a sizable 667-entry (466 unique) field over the two starting flights.

This generated a TWD 20,170,300 (~USD 665,685) prize pool, split between a TWD 12,166,300 (~USD 401,530) tournament prize pool, and a TWD 8,004,000 (~USD 264,160) bounty pool.

In addition to claiming a TWD 2,268,380 (~UDS 74,870) top prize, trophy, and title, the eventual champion will also receive a TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000 APTC Main Event ticket.

Then there are the bounties to consider, with the top three worth TWD 1,500,000 (~USD 49,505), TWD 1,000,000 (~USD 33,000, and TWD 718,000 (~USD 23,700) respectively.

For Mystery Bounty Championship Prize Pool, Payouts & Bounties please CLICK HERE

Flight A

Flight A kicked off the proceedings at 11:15am local time (TST), drawing a 396-entry field with the action played out over twenty 25-minute levels.

The elimination of Hong Kong’s Kwong Ching Wong with ten minutes remaining on level 20 concluding play for the evening and guaranteed all remaining 56 survivors a minimum TWD 35,100 (~USD 1,160) pay day.

It was Ryan Yau topping the flight and the tournament, and the Hong Kong native will be returning in the driving seat for the Final Day after bagging up a chip leading stack of 857,000.

Compatriots Justin Tsui (825,000), and Sheung Chau Chan (810,000) rounded out the top three, and the trio were the only players from either flight to bag over 800K.

Other notables to make it through from the initial flight included Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo (320,000), Kristof Segers (234,000), Ori Kossonogi (186,000), and poker YouTuber Frankie Cucchiara (144,000).

All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Championship Flight A tournament page and you can read about all the highs and lows of the day in the Flight A APT Blog coverage.

Flight B

Singapore’s Bao Qiang Ho topped Flight B

The second and final Flight B saw 271-entries enter the fray and duke it out over twenty-one 20-minute levels with the unfortunate Dong Jae Lee exiting on the bubble, leaving the 38 survivors to bag up their chips for the Final Day.

While Bao Qiang Ho topped the flight with a stack of 732,000, the Singaporean will be returning fourth in the overall counts.

Japan’s Sho Fujiki (589,000), and South Korea’s Wooseok Kim (575,000 ) rounded out the top three, and will be returning in eighth and ninth place respectively in the Final Day’s pecking order.

Other notables to make the cut included the Philippines' Christopher Mateo (368,000), Natural8 Ambassador Phachara Wongwichit (250,000), and Australia’s Dylan Foster (156,000).

All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Championship Flight B tournament page and you can read about all the highs and lows of the day in the Flight B APT Blog coverage.

MYSTERY BOUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL DAY TOP TEN STACKS

For Mystery Bounty Championship Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mystery Bounty Championship Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mystery Bounty Championship Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mystery Bounty Championship Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

The remaining 94 players will return for the Final Day, which gets underway at 11:15am local time (TST) on Monday, November 17, with the tournament playing down to a champion.