The money matters. Nobody enters a poker tournament hoping to collect only something shiny for the shelf.

Yet long after the buy-ins and payouts have blurred together, trophies have a habit of sticking around. For many players, they become a physical record of where they played and what they achieved along the way.

That is particularly true at APT Incheon 2026, where the Asian Poker Tour’s Lion Trophies have once again been lifted, photographed and carefully carried away by the festival’s champions.

Japan’s Tomoya Tsubouchi began the series by winning the Korea National Cup on only his second international poker trip. After overcoming a record field of 709 entries, he made it clear that the Lion meant even more than the KRW 78,109,411 top prize.

“More than the money, winning and taking home the trophy is what really means the most to me,” Tsubouchi said.

Two days later, Jeremy Chan finally broke a run of five consecutive heads-up defeats by winning the APT Super High Roller.

Chan collected KRW 236,325,000, but the relief on his face when he lifted the Pewter Lion suggested the trophy carried considerable weight of its own.

Those victories raised a simple question: how much do poker trophies really matter once the prize money has been spent?

James Cheung Wants More Lions

Qibang “James” Cheung arrived at APT Incheon with poker’s most famous piece of jewellery already added to his collection.

At the 2026 World Series of Poker, Cheung defeated 359 entries to win the USD 1,500 Seven Card Stud, earning USD 103,185 and his first WSOP bracelet.

“Thanks so much. It feels like a high that will never come down,” Cheung said when asked about the victory.

Around a week later, he nearly won another. Cheung finished runner-up in the USD 10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, collecting a career-best USD 201,308.

Seven Card Stud may have delivered his bracelet and largest tournament cash, but Cheung does not limit himself to one format. His APT schedule is usually determined by whichever mixed game happens to be running that day.

James Cheung

“At APT, I have no favourites. It depends on what’s on each day,” he explained. “I’ll try to put some time and preparation into whatever event is on that day and mentally prepare for it.”

Cheung’s first poker trophy came long before the bracelet or his collection of APT Lions. In June 2019, he won a GBP 220 No Limit Hold’em tournament at Genting Casino in his home city of Edinburgh.

The event attracted around 250 players, with Cheung collecting approximately GBP 12,000 after winning his first live tournament title.

No Limit Hold’em may now seem an unusual starting point for a player who has become so closely associated with mixed games.

“It was, no surprise, No Limit Hold’em,” Cheung joked while recalling the result.

Seven years later, his trophy collection looks considerably different.

Cheung has won eight APT titles since April 2025 across several mixed-game formats. His first three arrived within four days at APT Taipei 2025, where he won the Pot Limit Omaha 5 Card – Big O, the Dealer’s Choice Masters, and the Seven Card Stud Masters.

Two more victories followed at APT Incheon 2025 before Cheung won twice at the APT Championship in Taipei. His eighth APT title came at the APT Jeju Classic 2026, where he took down the Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 5 Card.

James Cheung

Cheung believes tournament organizers across Asia generally place more attention on making their trophies distinctive than those in the United Kingdom.

British trophies, he explained, are predominantly made from glass. While many still look good, Asian tours tend to offer more variety in their designs and materials.

“A trophy is a symbol of achievement. It should be nice and it should be desirable,” Cheung said.

In his opinion, APT has succeeded on both counts.

“I think the APT trophies are the best. I think the Small Lion is a great design. They are very intricate in detail,” he said.

“Because there are so many events, they are somewhat obtainable. For the different buy-in levels, I think they are a good milestone for aspiring poker players to try to get one. Then people can aim for the bigger ones.”

After recently moving apartment in Hong Kong, Cheung needed to find a new home for his growing collection.

“I have shifted all of my trophies to the Hong Kong Poker Players Association, including my bracelet, which is proudly on display,” he said.

APT Incheon 2026 has already given him four opportunities to add another Lion, but the final step has remained stubbornly out of reach.

Cheung finished second in the Turbo No Limit Omaha Ultimate Hi-Lo – Cry Me A River and the Masters Omaha on August 8. He then placed runner-up in the Pot Limit Omaha High Roller the following day.

On August 10, he finished second again, this time in the Fixed Limit Dealer’s Choice – Seven Card Stud.

Four runner-up finishes in three days is an impressive run. For a perfectionist accustomed to winning, it is also unfinished business.

James Cheung

“I enter every tournament with the desire to win it,” Cheung said. “Of course, it’s not possible to win every tournament. The most important thing for me is to play as well as I can and make the best decision that I can in the moment. Then the cards fall where they may.

“To come second, you have to run good and you have to be lucky to get to that point. But I’m a perfectionist, so it’s annoying for me not to cross the line and get that win.”

Cheung already owns five Silver Lions, but he is now looking towards the larger trophies available in APT’s high roller events.

“I have five Silver Lions, the silhouettes, so I’m looking for my first gold one,” he said. “I might play the APT High Roller to try to get one of the three big Lions. If I am able to get that, it would be the cherry on top.

The WSOP bracelet represents the biggest victory of Cheung’s career so far. Another Lion would tell a different story, particularly after four near misses during the opening days in Incheon.

Considering how regularly the Scotsman has reached heads-up this week, he may not have to wait long for another chance.

Martijn Gerrits Eyes the Mega Lion

Martijn Gerrits

Martijn Gerrits has accumulated trophies during a poker career that has taken him around the world. Today, he keeps his collection at his home in Dubai.

Despite already having plenty to display, there remains one obvious gap he would like to fill.

“Of course, the big Lion. Everybody wants to win that one,” Gerrits said. “If you could choose the best one, obviously it would be the Main Event.”

APT’s Lion Trophies have become some of the most recognizable prizes in Asian poker. Different versions are awarded across the tour’s events, with the largest reserved for its most prestigious champions.

For Gerrits, the attention placed on their design is important.

“I think the Asian Poker Tour is doing it the right way. They have one of the most incredible trophies,” he said.

“I see more and more tournament organizers following. I hope that other poker tours will also step up their trophy game because some of them are a bit boring and generic.”

A trophy can represent much more than the tournament it came from. For Gerrits, looking back at old results can revive memories from an entire poker trip and the people he shared it with.

Martijn Gerrits

“Memories. That’s the best thing about trophies,” Gerrits explained. “Sometimes I look at results on Hendon from ten years ago and it brings back a lot of memories.

“When you see the results, you remember more parts of the trip. It’s also really nice to follow people’s journeys. You might meet some new poker friends at the table, and then a couple of years later you see how they travelled around the world and enjoyed some nice success.

“It’s a nice way to remember the people you met.”

Tournament databases preserve the date and prize money. A trophy provides something physical to go alongside those details.

Gerrits can look at his collection in Dubai and remember far more than a row of final results.

There is still space for that Main Event Lion, of course.

Daniel Neilson Takes a Different Approach

Not every champion maintains a carefully arranged trophy cabinet.

Australia’s Daniel Neilson has won major tournaments around the world, but his trophies have not always received the gentlest treatment.

“To be honest, I don’t have any of my trophies anymore,” Neilson admitted.

Several years ago, Neilson left his collection at his mother’s home in Australia after moving to Mexico. A later house move produced the sort of bad beat that no tournament director could correct.

“Someone dropped the box and broke half of them,” he said with a smile.

The surviving trophies were placed in storage, where they have remained while Neilson continued travelling.

Daniel Neilson

That collection includes his APT Mega Lion, which is currently stored somewhere in Mexico City while Neilson lives in Playa del Carmen.

Neilson expects he will retrieve everything eventually, although there appears to be no immediate rush. His story offers a rather different answer to the question of how players display their biggest achievements.

Some champions build a dedicated cabinet. Neilson has a Mega Lion waiting in a storage unit several thousand kilometres away.

At least lions are known for being patient.

More Than Something for the Winner’s Photo

There is no single way for players to value their trophies.

Cheung displays his collection and continues hunting for something larger. Gerrits sees trophies as reminders of the people he met while travelling the poker circuit. Neilson’s collection has survived a broken box and an international move, even if some of it remains out of sight.

For Tsubouchi, his first Lion transformed a poker holiday with friends into the biggest victory of his career. For Chan, the Pewter Lion represented the end of a frustrating sequence of heads-up defeats.

The prize money will always be the most useful part of winning a tournament. It pays bills and funds future buy-ins.

The trophy does something different. It preserves the victory after the money has moved elsewhere.

That is why players continue chasing the Lion. It may not be the most practical thing they take home from an APT festival, but it could be the part they remember longest.