Chang Li

Flight C of the APT Jeju 2026 Main Event is in the books at LES A Casino, with 116 players from 256 entries (209 unique) going through to Day 2.

The total Main Event field now stands at 1,015 entries, and 310 players are already through to Day 2 with Flight D underway. The KRW 2.2 billion (~USD 1.62 million) guarantee has already been broken, and the prize pool currently sits at more than KRW 2.3 billion (~USD 1.7 million).

Leading the pack is China's Chang Li, who bagged 239,000 to finish almost 50,000 clear of the rest of the field. Li's best cash to date sits at KRW 55,000,000 (~USD 36,000), so will be looking to convert his advantage into a deep run over the next few days.

Vietnam's Trinh Anh Tuan sits second with 189,500, while China's Jie Yuan rounds out the top three with 181,800.

Flight C Top Ten Chip Counts

Click here for the full Flight C Survivor List

The Day's Action

Kasidit Sukwongjan was one of the early movers, scooping a hefty pot with pocket queens against Yang Zhou, whose pair came up short. Tung Wing Wong also had a big hand with queens, calling off effectively his whole stack on the river against Dai Ziqin, and was relieved to find himself up against third pair to add a huge boost.

Iurii Brechalov

Not every big hand played out fairly. When Hongye Shi shoved behind Zhou Shou's jam, his ace-seven was dominated by ace-jack, until a voice at the table called for a seven and the dealer delivered it on the flop, sending Shou back to the registration desk.

Elsewhere, Tianyi Ma rivered a pair of aces up against Juncai Han's pocket queens to climb past 120,000, Suiyuan Chen turned the nut flush to get paid by Zheng Ye, and Iurii Brechalov doubled through Alexander Lyan after Lyan committed the last of his chips with a ten-high bluff.

Yuan made one of the boldest plays of the day late in the flight. After he opened from under the gun and picked up two callers, including fellow top-five finisher Zhuorui Xue, then big stack Guangxi Li squeezed from the big blind. Yuan four-bet jammed without missing a beat and Li let it go, awarding Yuan a pot that pushed him up the counts.

With the Superstar Challenge playing down to a winner, a series of high rollers filtered into Flight C during the afternoon, among them Ryuta Nakai, Daniel Neilson, James Mendoza and Huu Dung Nguyen. Nguyen made the most of it, bagging 148,300 to finish inside the top ten.

Huu Dung Nguyen

Notable Baggers

Several former APT Big Three champions made it through. Two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc failed to bag in Flight A but made no mistake this time around, returning to Day 2 with 128,000. APT Taipei 2024 Main Event winner Daisuke Ogita bagged 106,800, while this year's APT Jeju Classic Main Event champion William Li made it through with 56,700.

A trio of APT High Roller champions will also be back, led by Stanley Weng, who finished ninth with 149,900. Daniel Neilson (80,800) and Khoa Anh Ngo (65,300) complete the group.

Arjun Agrawal

India's Arjun Agrawal, who went deep in the Korea National Cup earlier in the series, finished fourth with 176,300, while Japan's Tempei Kotani (165,900) and Yuma Endo (164,800) both bagged big.

Flight D, the final starting flight, is now underway, and you can follow the action here. Late registration for the Main Event stays open until the start of Level 12 on Day 2, which begins on Wednesday, September 30.

The Flight C survivors of the Main Event are now bagging up for the evening, ready to return for Day 2 tomorrow.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action.

Motokatsu Uhara

With the last five hands announced, Motokatsu Uhara went on a shove-fest trying to double or go home with nothing.

He wanted one of the chip leaders of the tournament Arjun Agrawal to call but the Indian player just wouldn't take the bait. Frustrated, he went all-in blind for 48,000 under the gun. Finally, small blind Jiajun Liu, covered by 5,000, made the call, taking them to showdown.

Jiajun Liu: Q Q

Motokatsu Uhara: 6 6

As if playing baccarat he peeled his cards one at a time, only to reveal pocket pairs, much to his surprise and that of the rest of the table.

Much to the anticipation of everyone, the dealer fanned out 6 8 8 giving Liu a full house. The whole table pulled out their phones to record the hand.

The dealer completed the board with a 5 turn and a 9 river. Liu left the table with mixed feelings as Uhara scooped the pot.

As Uhara stacked his chips to prepare for the final hand, Agrawal goaded him with, “Want to do it one more time?” Uhara declined, drawing laughter from the rest of the table.

Guangxi Li

Jie Yuan opened to 3,000 from under the gun, and Tang Kangjun and Zhuorui Xue in the next two seats both called.

When the action folded around to the big blind and chip leader at the time, Guangxi Li, he squeezed to 36,500. Without missing a beat, Yuan four-bet jammed, prompting folds from the next two players.

If Yuan's stack hadn't been as big as it was (around 126,000), Li might have put in the call. He ultimately let it go and lost around 15% of his stack in the process.

Action was picked up with Xiongfeng Chen, at risk, and Jing Kai Ng in an all-in showdown.

Xiongfeng Chen: A 5

Jing Kai Ng: Q Q

Chen was hoping for an ace to stay alive and make it through the day. The window card gave him a breath of fresh life when the dealer dropped A 9 2 .

With no queen falling on the T turn and 8 river, Chen secured a double-up at the last level of the day.

Chien Chih Weng

Chun Kit Kwan limped in from the small blind and Chien Chih Weng checked in the big. A 1,600 continuation-bet from Kwan on the A 8 9 flop was enough to take down the pot.

Xintong Li then raised to 3,000 from under the gun, and button Weng and big blind Junfeng Zou joined her to the flop. Li took it down after firing 3,600 on the 2 4 Q flop.

Takayuki Akamatsu open-jammed for 24,800 in the next hand and collected the blinds.

Junfeng Zou

In the next hand, Li limped from the small blind before folding to Akamatsu's raise to 6,000 from the big blind.

Weng then raised to 2,800 from under the gun and hijack Zou, called.

Weng led for 3,000 on the Q 4 J flop and Zou stuck around. On the 7 turn, Weng upped it to 6,000 and forced a fold.

Wang Sum Li opened on the button and Lingjian Yu in the big blind, called to see a flop.

The flop came A 3 4 and both players checked.

Yu led out on the T turn and Li, with a smirk, made the call.

On the river 5 , Yu fired another 5,000. Li called but started talking in their native language, sounding like a playful complaint.

Yu tabled A 6 for top pair which made Li talk more as he turned over J T for a busted flush draw.

Lingjian Yu opened to 2,400 in late position and both the blinds, Shoya Honda in the small and Yi Wang called to see a flop.

The flop came T 8 3 After action was checked to him, Yu continued with 3,200. Honda called but Wang had other plans and went beyond, making it 13,000.

Yu, not to be pushed around, went way beyond and made it 32,000. Honda got out of the heat.

Wang, however, considered - looking quite pained by the raise. He burned a time bank, started talking in his native tongue, burned another time card, then finally folded his hand.

He continued talking to Yu sounding frustrated.

Hisashi Yamanouchi

Stanley Weng

Stanley Weng opened to 2,500 in early position and when action folded around to the big blind, Chang Li called to see a flop.

The flop came 4 6 3 . Li checked and Weng, focused on his phone, checked after.

The turn T fell on the turn and Li, seemingly ignored by his opponent, made a move with 3,000. Weng called, then went back to his phone. The dealer finally called his attention and told him to put his phone down. He complied.

The dealer peeled a 5 river and Li continued with 6,100. Weng, still glancing at his phone that lay on the table, picked up a stack of chips worth 50,000 and jammed it in front of him. After which he alternately looked at Li and his phone as he waited for his opponent to act.

Li went into the tank with only 31,000 behind. After burning a time card, he put his tournament life on the line and called.

Weng showed A J for ace-high and, relieved, Li turned over 2 2 for a straight.