Hao Zhang will be returning in pole position with the Main Event chip lead

• Joseph Cheong Claims Record Second Double Title Victory and APT Championship Seat in Zodiac Classic

• Former APT Jeju Main Event Champion Xixiang Luo Leads Mini Main Event

APT JEJU 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

JEJU, SOUTH KOREA, October 3, 2025 – The final table of the largest international poker tournament ever to play out in Korea is set, with the 1,693-entry KRW 2.6M (~USD 1,860) APT Jeju 2025 Main Event field reduced to the last nine players.

While players and the watching rail will have to wait another suspenseful 24-hours for the conclusion of the festivals’ flagship tournament, another of the series’ record-breaking side events has played out to an exciting finish with the tours’ largest Korean-based Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 crowning a champion – more on this further down.

Outside of these two events, the tournament tables of the LES A Casino—located at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World resort and hosted in partnership with Landing Entertainment Korea—were all in operation with the three opening flights of the KRW 1M (~USD 715) Mini Main Event drawing a 618-entry field. You can read about this further down. You can read about this further down.

There was also plenty of high stakes action with the KRW 4.5M (~USD 3,215) Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty kicking off at 11:30am local time (KST), and a further eight side events offering an eclectic spread of mixed games as well as No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha poker action. You can read about all that in the Day 8 side event press release.

Main Event Day 4 Action

Just 48 players out of a record field of 1,693 entries returned for the penultimate day of the APT Jeju 2025 Main Event all guaranteed a pay out of KRW 10,460,000 (~USD 7,470) from the tours' richest-ever Korean-based Main Event prize pool of KRW 3,803,155,200 (~USD 2,716,540).

The eventual champion will earn a hefty KRW 649,835,200 (~USD 464,170) top prize – the largest the tour has ever awarded in the country, and the third-largest APT Main Event prize ever awarded.

The top three finishers will also receive a APT Championship Main Event seat valued at KRW 14 million (USD 10,000) for the tour’s largest-ever USD 5M GTD tournament running November 24-28 in Taipei, Taiwan.

It was China’s Peng Zhou returning with the start-of-day chip lead, with the blinds recommencing with 27 minutes remaining on level 26 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante.

It took just over six and a half 60-minute levels to reduce the field down to the final nine, with the elimination of Cypriot bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis in 10th place at the hands of China's Shung Qiu concluding the Day 4 tournament action with 18 minutes remaining on level 32.

All remaining finalists are guaranteed a payout of at least KRW 47,990,000 (~USD 34,280), with China’s Hao Zhang coming in with a chip-leading stack of 16,375,000 – valued at 102 big blinds when play resumes at 11:15am on Saturday, October 4.

The Middle Kingdom is providing 78 percent of the final tablists, with Yayun Liu (10,180,000), and Qiu (10,040,000) rounding out the top three, with the trio the only players returning with eight-figure chip stacks.

China’s Lili Tang will be returning fourth in the counts with a stack of 6,425,000 and is the last woman standing, joining the ranks of two-time APT Main Event finalists Sofia Lovgren, and Dang Thi Hue, and Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo.

China’s Lili Tang is the last woman standing in the Main Event

There have only been two female Main Event champions in tour history, and none in the New Era, with Kuo claiming victory in the APT 2021 Taipei Main Event, and Hue winning the APT 2022 Phu Quoc Main Event.

Tour regular Yita Choong will be making his APT Main Event final debut but boasts eight APT final tables on his poker resume in addition to an APT title, with the Australian player having previously won a Single Day High Roller during the APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024.

Start-of-day chip leader Zhou (5,025,000 ) was able to leverage his big stack to fight his way through to a place in the last nine.

The only other non-Chinese player remaining is no stranger to APT Main Event final tables, with Abraham Ceesvin making his fourth career APT Main Event final table appearance, and his third of the New Era.

The Singaporean will be hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish in the APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Main Event where he cashed for a career-best score, and will be hoping fourth time’s the charm.

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE

Back row (l-r): Yita Choong, Peng Zhou, Shuang Qiu, Bizhen Li, Yayun Liu Front row (l-r): Haiyang Yang, Lili Tang, Hao Zhang, Abraham Ceesvin

For APT Jeju 2025 Main Event Player Profiles please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Day 4 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Final Table Draw please CLICK HERE

The field’s only other remaining female player Yu Han Su of Taiwan bowed out in 14th place for a KRW 32M (~USD 22,890) pay day.

Other notables to make Day 4 but come up short of the final table included APT Incheon 2023 High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor (20th for KRW 24.5M), Germany’s Fabian Gumz (22nd for KRW 20.7M), APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 High Roller champion Martin Sedlak (24th for KRW 17.1M), the UK’s Guy Taylor (25th for KRW 17.1M), Taiwan’s Poseidon Ho (33rd for KRW 12.5M), Australia’s Joshua McCully (36th for KRW 12.5M), and the Czech Republic’s Roman Hrabec (43rd for KRW 10.4M).

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time (KST) on Saturday, October 4, where the nine remaining players will battle it out for the award-winning 24K Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and title. The action will be live streamed via the official APT YouTube channel.

You can read about all the Main Event Day 4 action via the APT Blog or watch the action as it played out via the Main Event Day 4 Live Stream.

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Day 4 tournament page.

Joseph Cheong Claims Record Second Double Title Victory and APT Championship Seat in Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8

The USA’s Joseph Cheong won the second largest Zodiac Classic of all-time

Another of the festival’s record-setting events to play down to an exciting finish was the KRW 3.3M (~USD 2,360) Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8.

Boasting a KRW 500M (~USD 357,000) prize pool guarantee and an APT Championship Main Event seat valued at KRW 14M (USD 10,000) for the winner, the APT Jeju 2025 edition of the Zodiac Classic drew a sizeable 449 (326 unique) entry field, making it the largest iteration of the tournament ever to play out in Korea, and the second largest Zodiac Classic of all-time.

Just 146 players returned for the Final Day, all looking to earn a slice of the KRW 1,283,040,000 (~USD 916,460) prize pool – the second largest this tournament has ever generated, just behind the record APT Incheon 2025 iteration of the tournament.

With a KRW 244,598,800 (~USD 174,710) top prize—the richest this tournament has ever awarded in Korea, and second richest Zodiac Classic top prize of all-time—on the line there was all to play for.

The action resumed at level 14 with blinds of 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 big blind ante, and with only 63 players making the paying positions it proved to be a lengthy battle to burst the money bubble.

This burst six 40-minute levels into the action midway through level 19, with China’s Weining Chen getting his queens cracked by Romania’s Iulien Blebea, who guaranteed the remaining players a KRW 5,440,000 (~USD 3,885) payday when his ace-five suited ran out four to a straight.

China’s Weining Chen departs on the money bubble

It took a further nine gruelling levels to reach the final table, with APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong coming in with the chip lead, which he converted into a record second Zodiac Classic title win after overcoming China’s Ledong Zhou heads-up.

That makes Cheong the only player in tour history to have won two Zodiac Classic titles, a feat he has already accomplished in the prestigious Superstar Challenge, making him the first double, double title winner of the APT New Era.

Zhou put up a great fight however, and came close to winning himself, overcoming a 2-to-1 chip deficit in the heads-up match to pull in front after a flopped flush versus flopped straight hand.

The Chinese player was one card away from claiming his maiden APT title, but Cheong rivered a flush of his own to retake the lead, and subsequently, the title.

This left Zhou to rue what might have been, although there is no shame in losing to a player of Cheong’s calibre. Zhou earned KRW 154,480,000 (~USD 110,340) for his runner-up finish – the second-best cash of his poker career.

China’s Peng Deng rounded out the last of the podium positions, taking KRW 110,790,000 (~USD 79,135) for third place – a career-best score.

Other notable players to make final table appearances included Romania’s Iulian Blebea (5th), the USA’s Daniel Lei (7th), Singapore’s The Naing (8th), and Thailand’s Napat Chokejindachai (9th).

ZODIAC CLASSIC FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For Zodiac Classic Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For Zodiac Classic Results please CLICK HERE

Other notables to cash but come up short of the final table included the Philippines’ David “Spade” Erquiaga (21st for KRW 10.5M), Australia’s Aaron Lim (24th for KRW 9.2M), Russia’s Maxim Sorokin (29th for KRW 7.9M), Malaysia’s Murly Manokharan (32nd for KRW 6.7M), Germany’s Martin Finger (35th for KRW 6.7M), APT Super High Roller champion Mingcong Chen (56th for KRW 5.4M), and Morocco’s Mehdi Chaoui (62nd for KRW 5.4M).

All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 Final Day tournament page, and you can follow along with a play-by-play account of the action on the APT Blog.

Former APT Jeju Main Event Champion Xixiang Luo Leads Mini Main Event

Xixiang Luo hunting sixth career APT title after bagging the chip lead in the Mini Main Event

Outside of the record-breaking events already playing out, the biggest draw of the day was the KRW 1M (~USD 715) Mini Main Event.

Boasting a KRW 300 million (~USD 215,000) guarantee, the three opening flights drew a combined total of 618 entries (349 unique), making it the second-largest iteration of the event the tour has run in South Korea, just behind the recent APT Incheon 2025 tournament.

This generated a KRW 519,120,000 (~USD 370,800) prize pool – the second richest the event has generated in the country.

With the top 14 percent of each of the three flights making the Final Day and the paying positions, a total of 87 players will be returning to battle it out for the trophy, title and KRW 99,410,000 (~USD 71,000) top prize, all having already locked up a payout of at least KRW 1,610,000 (~USD 1,150).

For Mini Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

It is APT Jeju 2024 Main Event champion Xixiang Luo leading the charge, bagging up a chip leading stack of 1,097,000 after topping the counts for the 135-entry Turbo Flight C.

The Chinese businessman has continued to tear it up at the Jeju tournament tables, having already claimed a further two APT titles this festival.

Luo won Event #40: Turbo - PL Omaha Hi-Lo - 5 Card (Big O), and Event #58: PL Omaha High - Lazy Rivers to bring his tally of career APT titles to five, and finished runner-up to Thailand’s Punnat Punsri in Event #68: 7 Card Stud Masters.

The USA’s John Kim is coming in second in the overall counts after bagging the largest stack of 842,000 in the 256-entry Flight A, with Zixu Wang rounding out the top three Final Day stacks with the Chinese player bagging the second largest Flight A stack of 693,000.

Flight A top three finisher Yue Sun will be returning fourth in the overall pecking order, with Flight B frontrunner Ka Chuen Yip of Hong Kong coming in as the fifth largest stack of 572,000 after topping the 227-entry Flight B.

A total of 36 players made it through from Flight A, 32 from Flight B, and 19 from Flight C with the top ten Final Day stacks as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT TOP TEN STACKS

Other notables still in the running include India’s Kunal Patni (417,000), the Netherland’s Tom Verbruggen (256,000), France’s Arthur Conan (120,000), India’s Siddharth Karia (177,000), and the USA’s Michael Wang (63,000).

For Mini Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Mini Main Event tournament page.

Action for the Final Day gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Saturday, October 4, with the tournament playing down to a champion.