- Punnat Punsri Leads Superstar Challenge With KRW 446M (~USD 318K) Up Top
APT JEJU 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
JEJU, SOUTH KOREA, September 26, 2025 – Welcome to the APT Jeju 2025, with the Asian Poker Tour returning to the picturesque South Korean island for the fifth time in tour history.
Hosted in partnership with Landing Entertainment Korea at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World resort and running September 26 to October 5, the festival features 103 events (including satellites) packed into a 10-day schedule with the series boasting over KRW 4.9 billion (~USD 3.4 million) in total prize pool guarantees.
As always, the highlight of the festival will be the flagship KRW 2.6M (~USD 1,860) buy-in Main Event which comes with a sizable KRW 2.2 billion (~USD 1.5 million) guarantee and plays out from Sunday, September 28 to Saturday, October 4.
The tour’s two other signature tournaments—the KRW 15M (~USD 10,715) APT Super High Roller and the KRW 5M (~USD 3,570) APT High Roller—both boast nine figure (six in USD) prize pool guarantees.
In addition to the appetizing guarantees, the festival also offers players a chance to claim a seat to the APT’s largest-ever guaranteed tournament series running November 14-30, 2025 – the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC).
There are seven seats in total up for grabs, with the top three places in the Main Event, as well as the champions of the APT Super High Roller, the APT High Roller, the Superstar Challenge, and the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 all receiving a ticket to the USD 5 million guaranteed APT Championship Main Event valued at USD 10,000.
Live blog coverage for the festival will begin on Friday, September 26 covering the high stakes action in Day 1 of the KRW 35M (~USD 25,000) Superstar Challenge – you can read about the highlights of that and a summary of the action in the three opening flights of the APT National Cup below.
The festival live stream can be viewed on the official APT YouTube channel, with the action getting underway with exclusive coverage of the Final Day of the Superstar Challenge at 11:45am (KST) on Saturday, September 27.
In addition to the guaranteed marquee events, the series boasts daily High Roller tournaments and Woman’s Events, plus an eclectic selection of mixed games and assorted poker variants. Highlights include:
KEY EVENTS *
APT National Cup (KRW 200M/~USD 143K GTD): Sept 26-27 – KRW 850K (~USD 610) buy-in
Superstar Challenge: Sept 26-27 – KRW 35M (~USD 25K) buy-in
Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 (KRW 350M/~USD 250K GTD): Sept 27-28 – KRW 1.1M (~USD 790) buy-in
APT Super High Roller (KRW 500M/~USD 358K GTD): Sept 27-28 – KRW 15M (~USD 10,715) buy-in
Sunday Super Stack: Sept 28 – KRW 500K (~USD 360) buy-in
Main Event (KRW 2.2B/~USD 1.5M GTD): Sept 28-Oct 4 – KRW 2.6M (~USD 1,860) buy-in
Baby Superstar Challenge: Sept 29 – KRW 10M (~USD 7,170) buy-in
Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 (KRW 500M/~USD 358K GTD): Oct 2-3 – KRW 3.3M (~USD 2,365) buy-in
Mini Main Event (KRW 300M/~USD 215K) GTD: Oct 3-4 – KRW 1M (~USD 720) buy-in
APT High Roller (KRW 700M/~USD 501K GTD): Oct 4-5 – KRW 5M (~USD 3,570) buy-in
Ultra Stack (KRW 150M/~USD 107K GTD): Oct 4-5 – KRW 850K (~USD 610) buy-in
Micro Main Event: Oct 5 – KRW 500K (~USD 360) buy-in
*All buy-ins in KRW, USD is for reference only
APT National Cup Sets Korean Poker Record
China’s Dingxin Zhou is leading the largest-ever opening event ever to play out in Korea
The APT Jeju 2025 has started with a bang with the opening event—the KRW 850,000 (~USD 600) buy-in APT National Cup—setting a new Korean poker record.
A massive 760 entries generated by a field of 433 unique players makes this the largest opening event ever to play out in Korea.
If these numbers are an indication of how things will play out this festival, then all the tour records set at the recent APT Incheon 2025 could well be broken over the next ten days.
The prize pool stands at a sizable KRW 536,190,336 (~USD 382,990) making it the richest opening event the tour has ever run in South Korea, and the fourth richest in APT history.
With the top 14 percent of each flight making the cut, a total of 108 players successfully circumnavigated the tournament minefield to make the Final Day and the paying positions.
All remaining players are guaranteed a payout of at least KRW 1,351,000 (~USD 965), with the eventual champion walking away with a respectable KRW 102,032,336 (~USD 72,880) top prize – the largest the tour has ever awarded for this event in the country and second-largest APT National Cup prize ever awarded.
For APT National Cup Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
The KRW 200 million (~USD 143,000) guarantee was exceeded on the initial Flight A, which got underway at 11am (KST) with 283 entries duking it out over close to twenty-one 25-minute levels, with 40 of them making it through to the Final Day.
It was China’s Dingxin Zhou topping the counts of the initial flight, bagging up 750,000 in chips.
Zhou was one of only two players to crack the 700K mark over the three starting flights, with the other being Flight C frontrunner Jie Zhu.
Compatriot Wencheng Lin was Zhou’s next closest Flight A rival after concluding the action with a stack of 538,000. Hong Kong’s Jaemoon Seok rounded out the top three stack with 483,000.
All tournament information can be found on the APT National Cup - Flight A tournament page.
China’s Yirui Zhang topped Flight B of the APT National Cup
A further 42 players made it through from the 293 Flight B entries, with China’s Yirui Zhang leading the second of the three starting flights, concluding the twenty-one 20-minute levels played with a stack of 686,000 which puts them third in the overall counts coming into the Final Day.
China’s Haozhao Wang (547,000), and Liao Cheng (467,000) rounded out the top three Flight B stacks.
All tournament information can be found on the APT National Cup - Flight B tournament page.
China’s Jie Zhu bagged biggest on the Turbo Flight C
Just 26 of the 184 Turbo Flight C entries were able to make it through from the third and final flight, with the previously mentioned Jie Zhu closing out the twenty 15-minute levels played with a stack of 715,000 and the Chinese player will return second in the overall chip counts.
Once again it was players from the Middle Kingdom dominating the tournament top spots, with Tao Zhang (620,000), and Yao Fang (555,000) rounding out the top three.
All tournament information can be found on the APT National Cup – Turbo Flight C tournament page.
APT NATIONAL CUP FINAL DAY TOP TEN STACKS
For APT National Cup Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Turbo Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Turbo Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE
For APT National Cup Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Saturday, September 27 with the 108 survivors returning to play down to a champion. Live coverage will be available on the APT Blog.
Punnat Punsri Leads Superstar Challenge With KRW 446M (~USD 318K) Up Top
Thailand's Punnat Punsri leads the final 16 players in the Superstar Challenge
With a hefty KRW 35 million (~USD 25,000) buy-in, the Superstar Challenge is the priciest tournament on the APT schedule and regularly attracts some of poker’s most accomplished players.
This iteration was no exception, with poker luminaries such as the USA’s Isaac Haxton, Hong Kong’s Danny Tang, and Germany’s Martin Finger just some of the big names to fight it out at the felt over the fourteen 40-minute Day 1 levels played.
The action got underway at 11:15am (KST) with 11 initial entries, with the field soon swelling to 40 entries (32 unique) making it the second largest iteration of the tournament the tour has run in South Korea to date – the 72-strong APT Incheon 2023 Superstar Challenge still maintains the tour’s country record for this tournament.
This generated a KRW 1,326,000,000 (~USD 947,140) prize pool—the third richest this event has ever generated—with the top six places getting paid and the eventual champion taking home a KRW 446,080,000 (~USD 318,630) top prize – the largest this tournament has ever awarded.
For Superstar Challenge Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
Just 16 players remain in contention with Haxton and Finger unable to make the cut.
It is APT Taipei 2023 Main Event champion Punnat Punsri topping the chip counts. While Punsri’s initial entry was a bust it proved to be second time’s the charm with the Thai player spinning up his second stack up to a chip leading 1,400,000.
The only other player to crack the seven-figure stack threshold was Germany’s Fabian Gumz, who bagged up 1,105,000, with APT Taipei 2025 Superstar Challenge champion Biao Ding of Hong Kong rounding out the top three with a stack of 970,000.
Other former Superstar Challenge champions still in the running include Australia’s Joshua McCully (540,000) and two-time winner Joseph Cheong (420,000) with the US player looking for a historic third Superstar Challenge victory.
Other notables looking to tame the Black Stealth Lion include Hong Kong’s Danny Tang (605,000), APT Incheon 2023 High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor (530,000), the Czech Republic’s Roman Hrabec (470,000), and Australia’s Dylan Foster (405,000).
SUPERSTAR CHALLENGE TOP TEN STACKS
For full Superstar Challenge Final Day Chip Counts please CLICK HERE
For Superstar Challenge Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Superstar Challenge Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the Superstar Challenge Day 1 tournament page and you can follow all the action as it played out via the APT Blog.
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Saturday, September 27 with the tournament playing down to a champion.
Full coverage will be available on the APT Blog, or you can watch the action as it plays out via the live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.