Nataz Butsrita

Day 1 of the 2025 APT Incheon High Roller has drawn to a close at the grand Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea. The room was brimming with the best and brightest in the poker world, all vying for the series’ largest remaining prize.

Thailand’s Nataz Butsrita leads the field, eyeing the lion’s share of the KRW 1,058,400,000 (~USD 765,293) prize pool, fuelled by a record-breaking 245 entries, the largest Korean-based APT High Roller to date. Relatively new to the professional scene, he has made a strong impact with three final tables this year, including a career-best eighth-place finish for $14,952 at the High Roller Ultra Stack event earlier this week in Incheon. Out of those 245 entries, only 59 hopefuls advance to Day 2, setting the stage for a dramatic conclusion to the series.

Top 10 Chip Counts

In second is Japan’s Jun Obara, Superstar Challenge runner-up. Despite doubling up Aaron Gao earlier in the day, he bounced back strongly to nearly quadruple his stack in the second half of the day. If he replicates his performance from earlier this week, he could be a strong contender for the High Roller title tomorrow.

Rounding out the top three is Canada’s Jason Li. Building his stack steadily and continuing to fire late into the day, Li won a a solid hand with pocket eights and kept pushing forward. Just a few thousand behind Obara, he could snatch second place within the first hand of Day 2.

Jun Obara

An honorable mention goes to Albert Paik, local businessman and friend of the APT who played in today’s event. Although not advancing to Day 2, he played valiantly and certainly made an impact at his table.

Albert Paik

The reigning APT Taipei High Roller champion, Nguyen Trung Quan, will not return tomorrow for a chance to cash in the event. Despite building a commanding stack early in the day, he struggled to maintain momentum and was eliminated shortly after registration closed. Still, Quan’s week was not fruitless, as he cashed in the Single-Day High Roller earlier this week. The winner of that event, Dylan Foster, was also unable to secure a spot for tomorrow, despite winning a dramatic three-way hand and eliminating Andrew Han.

Other notable names bagging up and returning tomorrow include Superstar Challenge winner Calvin Lee (616,000), Dicky Tsang (452,000), and Main Event finalist Thanisorn Saelor (430,000). All will aim to reach the top 31 to secure a payday and end the week on a high. Those who make the final table will be rewarded handsomely:

Final Table Payouts

*includes 1x APTC Main Event seat worth KRW 13,830,000 (USD 10,000) for the winner

The action kicks off at 11:15 AM local time tomorrow and will be available to view on the livestream via the APT YouTube Channel. Players will battle through three 40-minute levels followed by a 15-minute break until a winner is crowned.

Join us tomorrow as the final day of the High Roller unfolds and a new champion is crowned. Catch live updates right here or tune in to the stream at this link.

A full list of survivors can be found here.

A full list of payouts can be found here.

The remaining 59 players have now bagged up for the night and will return tomorrow to play down to a champion.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day and full chip counts.

Joris Michl

Joris Michl moved all-in for his last 140,000 from early position and action folded around to Kazuhiko Tamba in late position who made the call. All other players folded.

Joris Michl: 7 7

Kazuhiko Tamba: J J

No help for Michl on the 3 Q T flop and things were looking dire when the K rolled off on the turn.

The miracle 7 peeled off on the river to give Michl his set and a full double up.

Chengxu Hu

Cutoff Cheng Cheng raised to 20,000 and was three-bet to 70,000 from Chengxu Hu on the button. Yuichi Nakase then four-bet shoved to for approximately 100,000, and Cheng quickly got out of the way.

Hu had Nakase comfortably covered, but still had a major decision to make in the final stages of Day 1. He decided to make the call and groaned as he saw his opponent's hand:

Yuichi Nakase: Q Q

Chengxu Hu: A 6

Hu had some serious work to do to avoid taking what would still be a sizeable chunk out of this stack, however, the 8 3 7 2 K runout offered none of the sort, and doubled Nakase up in the last level of the night.

Dicky Tsang

Dicky Tsang raised from under the gun to 16,000 and action folded around to Ming Chan in the cut-off who three-bet all in for 118,000. Tsang didn't take long and tossed in the call.

Ming Chan: A K

Dicky Tsang: A Q

Not the door card Chan wanted to see on the Q 5 6 flop and when the A came on the turn he was drawing to three outs.

No luck when the 2 bricked out the river and Chan was sent to the rail.

Joris Michl

Joris Michl raised to 16,000 from the button and Eisuke Katsuren defended in the big blind, and they headed to the flop.

The dealer fanned out J J 4 . Katsuren checked his option, but Michl had other ideas and fired off 17,000 into the middle.

Katsuren swiftly returned his cards to the dealer and Michl scooped up the pot.

Siqi Lian

Do Quang Trinh moved all in for his remaining ~57,000 stack from the button, and got called by big blind Siqi Lian, looking to eliminate him:

Do Quang Trinh: K 3

Siqi Lian: A K

Trinh was in trouble from the get-go, and required some much-needed help from the dealer to keep his High Roller dreams alive.

The dealer gave no such help, and the board ran out J Q 7 9 8 , keeping Lian's ace-high ahead and sending Trinh home.

Fabian Schmidt

Fabian Schmidt moved all-in for 56,000 from early position and action folded to Valeriy Pak in middle position who three-bet all in to isolate, the rest of the table folded.

Fabian Schmidt: K Q

Valeriy Pak: A 8

The flop came T 9 8 and when the 7 came on the turn the players thought they were having deja-vu as in the previous hand(as detailed by Jason Li) the board ran out a straight! And yes if by magic the 6 peeled off on the river to make a straight on the board and the pot was chopped.

Atsushi Miyakoshi raised to 16,000 from early position and found calls from Natalia Rozova on the button and Xin Tang in the big blind.

All players checked the flop which came T 4 9 and the 6 on the turn.

When the J rolled off on the river Tang checked and Miyakoshi bet out for 25,000. Rozova called and Tang folded. Miyakoshi tabled K Q for a rivered straight and Rozova instantly mucked her cards.

2025 APT Taipei High Roller Winner Nguyen Trung Quan was among those who departed recently

The registration of the High Roller event has now been closed for a couple of hours, meaning there's no further opportunity for players to get involved. Here's a look at some of the players who won't be returning for Day 2: