Kazushi Nomura

Flight D of the APT Taipei 2026 Main Event has wrapped up, concluding the starting flights, with Japan's Kazushi Nomura bagging the chip lead with 244,600. Nomura is a relative newcomer to the international circuit, with his recorded live results limited to just a single WPT cash of around $2,000, but he showed no signs of inexperience today, navigating a tough field littered with elite talent to lead the 114 survivors.

Flight D drew 227 entries (189 unique), bringing the total Main Event entries to 2,064 (including 510 OnLive Natural8 players), and the prize pool to TWD 98,081,000 (~USD 3,143,621).

South Korea's Gun Young Kim bags in second with 206,600, having been one of the more active players at his table throughout the day, with Taiwan's Shao Ching Chen rounding out the top three with 187,700. Among the other notables in the field today was Punnat Punsri, the 2025 GPI Player of the Year, who took his seat in Flight D looking to add a Main Event deep run to an already impressive series featuring two cashes.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Flight D Action

It was an eventful day at the tables. Tsz On Hai, who bags in seventh, was involved in one of the more dramatic hands of the flight, flopping the nut flush to eliminate Kazuyuki Tanemura, who held the second nuts, a brutal spot that drew an aggrieved photo from Rene von Reden, who's stack had been damaged in the process. Both Punsri and von Reden bagged up at the end of the day, with the German recovering well after the tough mid-session spot by busting Bryan Liu with ace-queen to end with 154,200, and Punsri close behind with 146,800. APT Championship Main Event winner Nishant Sharma also bagged, sitting in the middle of the pack with 87,800 heading into Day 2A.

Punnat Punsri and Rene von Reden

Second-place bagger Young Kim was one of the busier players at his table, winning a pot with pocket nines for an overpair against Hao Che Cheng and applying squeeze pressure elsewhere to pick up chips consistently.

Wai Cheng Keong fired three streets before putting Kazuma Ishihara all-in on the river, only for Ishihara to make the hero-call with second pair and find Keong had nothing, lifting himself back to starting stack in a single hand.

Wai Cheng Keong

Chi Dung Tran was on the wrong end of a well-disguised trap, shoving with a rivered top pair only to run into Jian Hong Chen's flopped set of jacks, leaving Tran significantly short.

Among the notable departures was Lloyd Fontillas, founder of Gods of Poker, who exited just before the end of the day. Fontillas got his chips in good with pocket nines against Nishant Kumar's ace-king. Fontillas was ahead on the flop, but an ace on the turn left him drawing to two outs. The river bricked, sending him to the rail in unfortunate fashion.

Lloyd Fontillas

Tomorrow's Double Day 2 & The Leaders

Tomorrow resumes with Day 2A and Day 2B, both taking place on April 29th. Survivors from Flights A, C, and D combine for Day 2A, with 542 players returning at 11 AM local time, registration open until 12:15 PM. Flight B's 199 survivors head into Day 2B, beginning at 3 PM with registration open until 4:15 PM. Both days will play down to the money, with 14.5% of each field collecting a cash.

Sung Jin Yun

Heading into Day 2A, South Korea's Sung Jin Yun holds the overall chip lead with 365,100 from Flight A, ahead of fellow South Korean Chul Woo Jung's 306,900 from Flight C.

On the Day 2B side, Taiwan's Zi Han Lin bags the Flight B lead with 352,500, the second largest stack from the starting flights. When approached while bagging his chips, Lin kept it brief: "It's just a start. Day 2 is when things really start."

Zi Han Lin

With late registration open for a short while tomorrow, the prize pool, currently sitting at TWD 98,081,000 (~USD 3,143,621), has a very real chance of crossing the nine-figure mark before play gets underway tomorrow.

That's it! Flight D is officially done with 114 survivors out of 227 entries continuing their journey to Day 2.

The players are bagging up their chips. Stay tuned for a recap to find out who the big stacks were and the notables who went through.

The floor director has stopped the clock and has announced last five hands. So far there were a total of 227 entries for the flight with 114 hopefuls looking to make it to Day 2 without any misfortune as Flight D comes to a close.

Hazel Chui

Chung Ching Cheung opened for 3,000 from the cutofff. Pasith Teekauttamakorn called on the button. Hazel Chui three-bet raised to 12,000.

Cheung folded immediately. Teekauttamakorn let the clock run a little before finally letting his hand go.

Chui scooped some much needed chips to improve her stack.

Lloyd Fontillas

The exact preflop action wasn't captured, but the table was joined with Gods of Poker founder Lloyd Fontillas all-in and at risk against Nishant Kumar.

Lloyd Fontillas: 9 9

Nishant Kumar: A K

Fontillas found himself on the right side of the flip as the J T 4 flop was dealt, though Kumar picked up a few extra outs in the process.

The A turn surged Kumar ahead, and left Fontillas drawing to the remaining two nines in the deck, but the 6 river didn't comply, sending the industry veteran to the rail just before the end of the day.

Wai Cheng Keong

Wai Cheng Keong opened to 3,200 from early position and was called by David Erquiaga on the button, plus Kazuma Ishihara defending his big blind. All three opted to check the J 9 2 flop before Keong led for 5,000 on the 3 turn, called by both players.

The J paired the board on the river and Keong eyed up Ishihara's stack before placing 12,000 into the middle. Erquiaga got out of the way swiftly, leaving Ishihara to face a call for the remainder of his stack.

The Japanese player went deep into the tank, burning through a couple of timebanks, before grabbing his chips with a sombre look and committing them to the middle.

Keong flicked over A 7 for nothing, but Ishihara's hero-call had paid off, as his T 9 for second pair was good, earning him a massive boost and lifting him back to starting stack level, equivalent to around 30 big blinds.

Hsuan Lee

Hong Pham was on the lowjack and against Hsuan Lee on the cutoff.

Both players were looking at a pot of 22,000 with a board that showed 5 4 3 K

Pham led out for 7,600. Lee raised it to 19,000.

Pham went into the tank, assessed her chips, wondered if there were other livable 'Earths' in other galaxies, then pushed in the chips to call.

The river then threw down a Q on the river. Pham tapped her option to Lee, who shoved his chips all in, covering the stack of Pham.

Pham didn't take that long to fold.

Prasad Alaparthy

Gun Young Kim opened to 2,600 from middle position before calling a three-bet to 8,000 by cutoff Hao Che Cheng.

Kim check-called Cheng's 8,000 continuation-bet on the 2 3 4 flop before both players checked the remainder of the 4 7 runout, with Kim tabling 9 9 for an overpair to take the pot.

Prasad Alaparthy then opened to 2,500 from the cutoff, but looked a little jarred as he tossed his hand to the muck after Kim squeezed to 7,500 from the big blind.

Chih Han Hsu raised to 2,400 from middle position and was joined to the flop by Shunichi Okamoto in the cutoff. Both checked the Q J 7 flop before Hsu check-called Okamoto's 2,000 bet on the 7 turn.

Hsu opted not to call when Okamoto upped it to 8,000 on the 8 river.

Rene von Reden

We didn't catch all the action, but there Ka Chun Wong had his 25,900 chips in the middle and was all in. Rene von Reden also had all his chips in the middle, around 50,000.

Ping Hsuan Hsu considered for a moment to join the three-way, but folded.

Ka Chun Wong: 6 6

Rene von Reden: K K

Board fell 5 J 4 T 4

Wong couldn't find any rescue from the poker gods and all his chips were shipped to von Reden.

Sananthachat Thanapatpisal

A chorus of "Seat Open!" has been echoing around the playing area of the Main Event table. From the total 222 entries, there are still 139 with chips and a seat, hoping to survive the final two levels in order to advance to Day 2.

Some of those who have been eliminated so far include Anton Widjaya, Sananthachat Thanapatpisal, You Jia Lin, JInku Han, Jun Ho, Chih Han Hsu, Kei Takazawa, Reinout Van Ekeren, Tetsuro Tomita, Kazuya Seguchi, Kenichi Yamashita, Aseem Jain and Yoshihiko Otsuka.

Some of these players have re-entered again though, such as You Jia Lin, Chih Han Hsu and Sananthachat Thanapatsipal.