William Li
When the final card was dealt at the largest poker tournament ever held in South Korea, it was Canada's William Li who remained, having outlasted everything the APT Jeju Classic Main Event could throw at him.
Across a final table defined by pressure, momentum swings, and little margin for error, Li stayed composed through the biggest moments, eventually turning back the fearless challenge of Japan's Shintaro Sato in heads-up play to secure the KRW 579,649,600 (~USD 402,535) top prize and the APT Gold Lion trophy.
The win came at the end of a Main Event that steadily built toward history. A total of 1,718 entries took their shot at the KRW 2,300,000 (~USD 1,600) buy-in, pushing past the previous Korean attendance record of 1,693 set during the Asian Poker Tour’s last visit to Jeju just four months earlier. Once again, APT returned to the island and managed to surpass its own benchmark.
It was the latest in a growing list of records set by the tour, and further evidence that Jeju has become one of APT’s most dependable destinations. From field sizes to prize pools, the numbers continue to climb each time the tour returns, reinforcing Jeju’s place as a stop where expectations are not just met, but routinely exceeded.
By the time the dust settled, the record turnout had created a KRW 3,414,009,600 (~USD 2,370,840) prize pool, with added significance for those who reached the podium. Alongside their payouts, Li, Sato, and Romania's Christian Tabac each locked up a seat to the APT Championship Main Event in November, valued at around USD 10,000, closing a Main Event that delivered both historic numbers and a fittingly hard-fought finish.
APT Main Event Final Table Results
Li Reflects on Victory
For Li, the APT Jeju Classic Main Event victory felt less like a sudden breakthrough and more like the closing of a long chapter.
“I think this trophy represents a lot to me,” Li said. “Over the past two years, I’ve played many tournaments. There were happy moments and frustrating ones, ups and downs along the way.” In the end, he described the win as “a milestone — something worth commemorating,” adding that for one of his hobbies, it finally felt like it had “given something back.”
Even as the tournament reached its climax, Li never allowed himself to feel comfortable. “I’m actually a relatively pessimistic person, so I don’t really let myself feel happy too early,” he explained. The only moment he truly felt confident came late in heads-up play. “If there was a moment when I felt the most confident, it was after I won the second-to-last pot. The chip gap became huge, and at that point I felt the title was basically mine.” Until then, caution ruled. “Everyone knows how poker is — anything can happen. Nothing is ever certain.”
Reflecting on the final table, Li pointed to the very first hand of heads-up play as a major turning point. “In the first hand of heads-up, I made a standard limp with 9-4, I hit two pair,” he said. After playing against his opponent for two days, Li felt he had reliable reads. “He tends to make a lot of unpredictable all-ins,” Li noted, and when the shove came, “I didn’t think I was behind many hands, so it felt like an easy call.” Winning that pot, he said, brought the stacks almost level.
William Li
Not every key decision felt as clear. “The second hand was actually pretty uncomfortable,” Li admitted. Holding a straight draw, he knew the risks. “I was behind a lot of his calling range. If he called two barrels and then shoved the river, I would lose to higher straights and all the full houses.” Still, the nature of heads-up poker left little room to retreat. “With the combo I had, I didn’t feel like I could fold much. Even though he covered me, I had to go with my hand.”
Beyond the cards, Li highlighted the physical demands of the deep run. “Honestly, one of the biggest difficulties in the main event was that there was no dinner break on Days 2 and 3,” he said, admitting he was “really hungry,” and even felt “a bit dizzy” by Day 4. Still, he viewed it as part of the challenge. “Poker is a competitive sport — it’s not supposed to be easy,” he said. “Being hungry and having irregular meals is simply part of what players have to deal with and overcome.”
Li was full of praise for the tour itself. “Overall, I think the experience was very good,” he said, pointing to professionally trained dealers, solid equipment, and a highly capable floor and referee team. “In my opinion, within Asia, APT is probably one of the best-run series.”
As for the prize money, Li was clear that the win would not change his life in dramatic fashion. “Poker isn’t my profession. I’m not a professional player,” he said. Instead, he sees the payout as motivation. “To me, it’s more like a reward or feedback for the effort I’ve put into this hobby. It encourages me to keep going.” After years of playing and losing, he said the victory finally felt like “a return on that passion.”
Li closed with a simple note of gratitude. “Finally, I want to thank my family for supporting this hobby of mine.”
Final Table Action
In a finale that had fireworks from the get-go, Yuefeng Pan unsurprisingly found himself all in for his last chip on the very first hand of play after calling all-in versus an open from Sato. Pan's cards were live, but Sato spiked a pair on the flop and Pan was unable to catch up to bow out in ninth place.
Yuefeng Pan
Following an orbit of hands that saw Tabac take over the chip lead, Haohui Ma made a move with his short stack holding an ace, but found himself dominated against Quang Minh Nguyen and failed to improve to exit in eighth.
With hardly a lull in the action, Nguyen found himself in a perfect spot to double up after picking up pocket aces against Zu You Wang's pocket queens. Nguyen slowplayed his hand and found a low runout against Wang, who put Nguyen all-in on the turn. Nguyen called and showed him the bad news, scoring an early double-up after the river bricked out.
Zu You Wang
Wang's woes continued after doubling up a short-stacked Arita Naohiro, who ended up exiting shortly thereafter in seventh despite the double-up by running ace-jack into Lei Zhang's ace-king.
Sato's relentless aggression finally backfired after Nguyen showed a willingness to call the Japanese player down lightly and before long, Nguyen took over the chip lead after a series of hands went his way.
Nguyen's good fortune didn't last long, however, as he found himself on the wrong end of a cooler with trip aces against Tabac's full house to lose the chip lead. Just a few hands later, Sato won a huge flip against Nguyen to retake the chip lead and leave Nguyen on the short stack. It only got worse for Nguyen after getting his money in good against Sato, only for Sato to hit a runner-runner straight to eliminate Nguyen in sixth place.
Quang Minh Nguyen
From there, Sato continued to dominate the final table, building his stack to nearly half of the chips in play with five players remaining. Wang was unable to regain traction and made a stand with ace-four, only to run into Li’s pocket eights. Failing to improve, Wang was eliminated in fifth place while Li, who had remained a relatively quiet presence at the table until that point, gained a nice boost to his stack.
A pivotal hand for Li occurred after getting all in preflop with ace-eight against Tabac's ace-nine. Li found himself one card from elimination, but drilled a nine on the river to double through Tabac and claim the second spot on the leaderboard.
Christian Tabac
With more ammunition to work with, Li pulled off a big bluff against Tabac after three-bet shoving with air on the flop and getting Tabac to fold a pair. Despite falling to the shortest stack, Tabac would not be the next to go after Zhang picked up pocket tens and four-bet jammed them into Sato's pocket jacks. Interestingly, Li held pocket queens in the hand, but ended up letting them go in the face of so much action. Zhang was unable to improve and departed in fourth place.
Tabac still had some fight left in him and managed to double-up a couple of times, but ultimately fell to Sato after calling a massive preflop shove with ace-king against Sato's queen-three. Sato flopped a queen and Tabac was unable to catch up, ending his impressive run in third place on a bad beat.
Shintaro Sato
Sato was poised to make quick work of Li in their heads-up battle, with Sato enjoying a more than three-to-one chip lead at the start. However, Li scored a double-up after flopping two pair against Sato's top pair on the very first hand.
Li further closed the gap in a series of small pots before catching Sato in a massive bluff gone wrong. In the hand, Sato check-called two bets from Li, who had turned a straight, and then led out for a shove after the river paired the board. The bold move made Li tank for a while, but he eventually called correctly, which left Sato with just over a single big blind.
William Li and Shintaro Sato
On the very next hand, it was all over. Sato moved in with king-six and was called by Li, who held ace-deuce. The runout improved neither player, leaving Li best with his ace to put an end to the tournament and claim the APT Jeju Classic Main Event title.
That brings an end to the APT Main Event coverage from Jeju, but be sure to check the APT Blog for updates from the APT High Roller as the festival draws to a close.
Gold Lion Main Event Trophy
Shintaro Sato
William Li
William Li
William Li
William Li and Shintaro Sato
Christian Tabac
Shintaro Sato
Lei Zhang