Tony Ren Lin Tames Pewter Lion & KRW 396M (~USD 275K) Top Prize in Tour’s Largest Korean APT Super High Roller
China’s Yuan Shu Zhou Solves Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 for Maiden Tournament Title
APT JEJU CLASSIC 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | LIVE REPORTING | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
JEJU, SOUTH KOREA, February 1, 2026 – Running January 30 to February 8 in partnership with Landing Entertainment Korea at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World resort and playing out at the tournament tables of LES A Casino, action in the APT Jeju Classic 2026 is coming to the boil.
The highlight of the day was the arrival of the KRW 2.3M (~USD 1,600) Main Event and its KRW 2.2 billion (~USD 1.5 million) guarantee, with the opening Flight A seeing an eight percent increase in entries when compared to the APT Jeju 2025 Main Event – more on this below.
In addition to the Main Event, there was plenty of high stakes action in the Final Day of the tour's largest and richest Korean-based APT Super High Roller with China’s Tony Ren Lin making an epic comeback to clinch his maiden APT title, as well as the exciting conclusion of the Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8.
Then there was the single day KRW 500,000 (~USD 350) Sunday Super Stack, plus a further nine side events which you can read all about in the APT Jeju Classic 2026 Day 3; Results for Side Events: #19 - #25, #27 - #29 press release.
Main Event Up to 676 Entries After Opening Live Flight: China’s Yongqiang Tian Bags Flight A Lead
The award-winning APT Gold Lion Main Event Trophy
The lion tamers were out in force for the APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event, with the opening Flight A drawing the largest field of the day.
The action got underway at 11am (KST) with 421 initial entries (298 unique) anteing up the KRW 2.3M (~USD 1,600) buy-in and battling it out at the baize over the ten 60-minute levels.
This is a eight percent (7.9%) increase in entries over Flight A of the APT Jeju 2025 Main Event, which attracted 390 entries, and a sizable sixty-eight percent (68.4%) increase over the APT Incheon 2025 Main Event Flight A, which attracted 250 initial entries.
With the first of the festival’s signature marquee events, the APT Super High Roller, also setting a new tour country record its probable the Main Event will eclipse the record set during the APT Jeju 2025 – watch this space.
With 255 OnLive entries having already competed on Natural8 — with 37 making their way through to Day 3 and the paying positions — this brings the Main Event field up to 676 entries in total, with three live starting flights left to play out over the next two days.
By the time the last card came off the deck at around 11pm, just 143 players were left to bag up their chips.
It was Yongqiang Tian who successfully summited the tournament leaderboard to bag up a chip-leading stack of 524,400, with the Chinese player the only competitor to conclude the action with over a half million stack.
Compatriots Xiao Liu (402,800), and Xiongfeng Chen (316,900) rounded out the top three, with the USA’s Kyung Min Lee (282,400), and Australia’s Yita Choong (277,000) also making an appearance in the top ten:
MAIN EVENT FLIGHT A TOP TEN STACKS
For Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE
Other notables to make it through to Day 2 include the USA’s Peter Kiem (151,800), and Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss (130,500), India’s Akshay Nasa (128,000), Romania’s All-Time Money List #1 Alexandru Papazian (122,400), Natural8 Ambassador Nevan Chang (115,400), and Ireland’s Ryan Plant (93,600).
APT Incheon 2025 Main Event champion Junjie He (83,500) also made the cut, with other former APT title holders to make it through including APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 High Roller champion Martin Sedlak (115,900), APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong (113,400), APT Jeju 2025 Super High Roller champion Mingcong Chen (64,300), and Natural8 Ambassador Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (29,500).
With three more starting flights left to play out, there are still opportunities for those unsuccessful in their endeavours to win their way through.
Flight B gets underway at 11am (KST) on Monday, February 2, with players competing over six 45-minute levels and four 60-minute levels.
The final two starting Flights C & D — both boasting six 30-minute levels and four 45-minute levels each — get underway on Tuesday, February 3, at 11am and 6pm respectively local time, although late registration remains open until the end of level 11 on Day 2, which kicks off at 11am on Wednesday, February 4.
All tournament information can be found on the Main Event Flight A tournament page, and you can follow all the day’s action via the Main Event coverage on the APT Blog.
Tony Ren Lin Tames Pewter Lion & KRW 396M (~USD 275K) Top Prize in Tour’s Largest Korean APT Super High Roller
China’s Tony Ren Lin made an epic comeback to claim his maiden APT title in the Super High Roller
It proved to be second time’s the charm for Tony Ren Lin, with the Chinese player battling back from just two big blinds at the final table to claim his maiden APT title and the Pewter Lion APT Super High Roller Trophy.
Lin had come within touching distance of winning the tournament previously, only to fall to final boss Isaac Haxton during the APT Taipei 2024 edition of the event.
The Final Day of the KRW 15M (~USD 10,400) buy-in APT Super High Roller saw 23 players out of the 115 entries return to the felt to fight it out for a share of the tour’s richest Korean-based Super High Roller prize pool of KRW 1,589,587,500 (~USD 1,103,880).
With the award-winning Pewter Lion APT Super High Roller Trophy on the line, in addition to a KRW 396,317,500 (~USD 275,220) top prize and an Asian Poker Tour Championship Main Event seat valued at KRW 14,400,000 (USD 10,000) for the winner there was a great deal at stake.
Five of the remaining field would depart empty-handed, with Australia’s Dylan Foster exiting on the money bubble at the close of the fourth 40-minute level played to guarantee the remaining players a payout of at least KRW 24.7 million (~USD 17,175).
It took a further three levels to set up the final nine, with Poker Hall of Famer John Juanda narrowly missing out on the final table, exiting in 13th place at the hands of a rampant Quang Dinh Do.
China's Xinjing Li (12th) and Japan's Yoko Sasaki (11th) followed Juanda to the rail shortly afterward, with the departure of Calvin Lee in tenth place at the hands of Guoliang Wei setting up the final table.
Battling Back
Tony Ren Lin battles back from two big blinds
Start of day chip leader Yosuke Miki saw the chips he accumulated on Day 1 fuel his run to the final table, but the Japanese player could go no further than seventh, falling at the hands of Ireland's Ryan Plant in a three-way all-in that saw Juanda's executioner Do claim the side pot.
While it was China’s Do who came in with a chip lead over double that of next closest rival Khoa Anh Ngo, it all went wrong for Do when play became four-handed.
Eventual runner-up finisher Ryuta Nakai picked off a Do river ace-high shove to enjoy a stint as tournament top dog, before ushering Ngo to the rail in fourth to take play three-handed shortly afterward.
Lin then went on heater to battle back from the brink of elimination, sending Do out in third place to bring close to a 2-to-1 chip lead into the heads-up match against Nakai.
Four hands later, it was over, with Lin — holding king eight offsuit — defending his big blind against the Japanese player’s button raise and hitting trips on the flop. Lin check raised the flop, before barrelling the turn and shoving the river with Nakai looking him up with third pair only to discover he was behind.
“Twelve hours ago, I used to joke that if you just have an average stack, that’s already enough to win the championship. So I kept holding on to that belief,” confided Lin in Mandarin immediately after his win.
“When we were down to three players, I only had about two big blinds left — around one and a bit. Then someone shoved all-in on me. I had 7-2 suited. Mathematically, it was supposed to be a call — there’s basically no fold equity — but I thought about it for a long time.”
“No matter what the pot odds were, I felt that calling with a hand that’s actually ahead of someone would be better. So I folded that hand. After that, it felt like the cards just kept coming to me. I ran really well, too. So today just feels amazing!”
Lin went on to talk about what the win, and the trophy meant to him after coming so close previously only to lose out to Haxton.
“This trophy means a lot to me. The first time I saw the APT trophy, I really loved it. I think the APT trophy is honestly the best-looking trophy in the world. I believe every poker player wants to win this lion trophy. In 2024, when I first went to Taipei to play APT, I wanted it so badly. Back then I even talked about it with one of the top pros, Isaac Haxton.”
“I ended up losing to him heads-up — I ran bad and finished second. I was really upset at the time. But today, when I played heads-up, I just felt like I was going to win. That’s why confidence is so important. Gold will always shine.”
In addition to finally taming his first APT lion, Lin was also impressed with festival as a whole.
“As for the event experience, it’s been amazing. APT just keeps getting better every year. And honestly, this trophy is already perfect — it can’t get any better. Every stop keeps improving, but it’s already so good that it doesn’t need to be better.”
Back Row: (L-R) Kento Nasu, Quang Dinh Do, Ryuta Nakai, Paulius Plausinaitis, Ren Lin
Front Row: (L-R) Yosuke Miki, Guoliang Wei, Ryan Plant, Khoa Anh Ngo
APT SUPER HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE RESULTS
For APT Super High Roller Results please CLICK HERE
For APT Super High Roller Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE
Notables to cash but come up short of the final table included Superstar Championship winner Calvin Lee (10th for KRW 32,290,000), Poker Hall of Famer John Juanda (13th for KRW 28,350,000), and Natural8 Ambassador Sparrow Cheung (15th for KRW 25,990,000).
All tournament information can be found on the APT Super High Roller - Final Day tournament page.
You can read about how all the high stakes action played out on the APT Blog or watch the action as it happened via the APT Super High Roller Final Day live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
China’s Yuan Shu Zhou Solves Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 for Maiden Tournament Title
Yuan Shu Zhou made his first recorded live tournament score one to remember
While 141 players made the paying positions, just 140 players from an initial field of 991 entries returned for the Final Day of the KRW 1.1M (~USD 760) Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8, all looking to solve the riddle of who would claim the lion’s share of the KRW 644,546,400 (~USD 447,600) prize pool and a slice of the KRW 297,300,000(~USD 206,460) on offer in bounty payouts.
With Kaiwan Wei making it through twice over the three opening Day 1 flights, the US players shortest stack was removed from play, earning him a KRW 1.2 million (~USD 830) min-cash before any cards were dealt.
The action came thick and fast, with over half of the remaining field hitting the rail in the first two 30-minute levels played.
The lightning-fast action continued throughout the day, with the nine-handed final table reached just after the third break on the thirteenth 30-minute level played, with Flight C frontrunner Kaihua Huang of China coming in with the chip lead.
However, it was compatriot Yuan Shu Zhou who claimed the accolades, putting on a dominating performance that saw him eliminate seven of the eight finalists on his way to the top of the leaderboard.
What makes Zhou’s victory all the more impressive is the fact this is his first-ever tournament, and he certainly made it one to remember after overcoming last women standing Yingfei Gu to claim the Silver Lion Silhoutte trophy, with Gu claiming a career-best KRW 72,200,000 (~USD 50,140) plus a further KRW 5 million (~USD 3,470) in bounties for her runner-up finish.
Speaking via the aid of a translator, an ecstatic Zhou confided that he usually played cash games, but had recently decided to try his hand at tournaments.
"This is my first tournament in Jeju. It's my first time going out of China!" Zhou explained. "It is my first time playing an MTT, so I am very excited."
"I've been playing poker for about three years, but wanted to shift to [tournaments] just in the last three months," Zhou confided.
Zhou’s three years grinding cash appear to have given him good instincts when it comes to decision making under pressure, with the Chinese player claiming he did what he felt was “right”.
"I just did things my way. I did what I thought was necessary to win."
It certainly paid off, with Zhou collecting a KRW 119,356,400 (~USD 82,885) top prize, in addition to a further KRW 48,200,000 (~USD 33,470) in bounties after collecting ten scalps on his way to claiming his maiden tournament title.
While fifth place finisher Huang was tied with Zhou for the most bounties claimed, it was Shun Bo Yu who bagged the biggest bounty on offer, pulling the KRW 32,500,000 (~USD 22,570) ticket just before the final table action got underway – much to the dismay of the remaining players.
Yu banked a further seven bounties for a total of KRW 42 million (~USD 29K) before exiting in fourth place at the hands of Zhou for a further KRW 38 million (~USD 26K).
Back Row: (L-R) Wei Ni, Yuan Shu Zhou, Gao Qian Zhang, Kaihua Huang, Qi Heng Liu
Front Row: (L-R) Chi Ngong Tang, Shun Bo Yu, Yingfei Gu, Wen Jie Sun
MYSTERY BOUNTY HUNTER FINAL TABLE RESULTS
Notables to cash but come up short of the final table included: India’s Akshay Nasa (31st for KRW 2.8M plus 4.4M in bounties), APT Jeju 2025 Super High Roller champion Mingcong Chen (49th for KRW 2M), APT National Cup finalist Vishal Ojha (71st for KRW 1.79M), and Australia’s Yita Choong (85th for KRW 1.5M plus 1.1M in bounties).
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE
For Mystery Bounty Hunter Results please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Hunter - Final Day tournament page and you can read the highlights of the action via the APT Blog.