Red Space was packed to the rafters for the final three flights of the record-breaking National Cup Championship

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 15, 2025 – It has only taken two days for the Asian Poker Tours’ largest ever festival to rewrite the record books, with the TWD 15,000 (~USD 495) [Event 1] National Cup Championship drawing the largest non-Main Event field in the tour’s 19 year history.

Run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), the second day of the 17-day Asian Poker Tour Championship saw the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 venue packed to the rafters as the three final flights of the opening Championship Event played out over the course of Saturday.

The initial 723 combined Flight A & B entries were padded out by a further 684 Flight C entries to smash the TWD 12 million (~USD 396,000) guarantee on the third flight played.

The 647-entry Flight D and 343-entry Flight E pushed the tournament to new heights with a total of 2,398 (1,157 unique) entries, beating the previous largest side event record of 2,305 set during the APT Taipei 2024 National Cup.

With this being a Championship Event with a TWD 3,000 (~USD 100) larger buy-in than the standard APT National Cup tournaments, it is in a different category when it comes to prize pool records, but the inaugural National Cup Championship has laid down a solid benchmark for future iterations of the tournament.

The prize pool stands at a sizable TWD 29,855,675 (~USD 985,335)—over 150 percent more than the guarantee—putting it in the top three of the richest non-High Roller side events the tour has ever run.

In addition to claiming all the accolades that come with winning the inaugural National Cup Championship title and taming the second of the festival’s exclusive Championship Lion Trophies, the eventual champion will walk away with a hefty TWD 29,849,200 (~USD 985,120) top prize, plus an APT Championship Main Event seat worth TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000)!

With the top 14 percent of each flight making the Final Day and the paying positions it was a dog eat dog scuffle as players battled to improve their standing in the chip counts.

In total, the combined 102 Flight A & B survivors will be joined by a further 234 survivors from the three remaining flights, with Israel’s Ben Gur making it though twice meaning his shortest stack will be removed from play and he will become the first player to have locked up a min-cash of at least TWD 22,200 (~USD 730).

For National Cup Championship Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Flight C got the festival action underway at 11am local time (TST) with the action playing out over twenty-two 25-minute levels.

It was Daito Yamashita topping the flight, with the Japanese player bagging up a stack of 892,000 with which to make his play for the title and trophy, putting him eighth in the overall pecking order coming into the Final Day.

Japan’s Daito Yamashita bagged biggest on 684-entry Flight C

Taiwan’s Kuan Ying Chen (827,000) and Chih Han Hsu (803,000) rounded out the top three, and were the only other Flight C players to crack 800K in chips, with 96 players making it though the tournament maelstrom.

All tournament information can be found on the National Cup Championship Flight C tournament page and you can read about all the thrills and spills in the Flight C APT Blog coverage.

Hong Kong’s Wing Fai Kwan topped the 647-entry Flight D

A further 91 players made it through from Flight D, with the action playing out over twenty-two 20-minute levels and Wing Fai Kwan bagging up 1,112,700 in chips, which will see the Hong Kong player return second in the Final Day pecking order.

Two other players also reached the seven-figure stack milestone, with China’s Yu Bao (1,078,000) and Taiwan’s Wei Chun Kuo (1,012,000) rounding out the top three Flight D stacks, which puts them third and fifth respectively in the overall counts.

All tournament information can be found on the National Cup Championship Flight D tournament page and you can read about how it all went down in the Flight D APT Blog coverage.

Hong Kong’s Kevin Tang will be returning in pole position after topping Flight E

Just 48 of the 343 Flight E entries made it through from the fifth and final flight, with Kevin Tang closing out the twenty-three fast-paced 15-minute levels played with a stack of 1,233,000 and the Hong Kong player will be returning for the Final Day in pole position.

Taiwan’s Ting-Chieh Yang (874,000) and Hong Kong’s Nicholas Go (776,000) rounded out the top three Flight E stacks.

All tournament information can be found on the National Cup Championship Flight E tournament page and you can read about all the action in the Flight E APT Blog coverage.

NATIONAL CUP CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL DAY TOP TEN STACKS

For National Cup Championship Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE

For National Cup Championship Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE

For National Cup Championship Flight D Player List please CLICK HERE

For National Cup Championship Flight D Survivors please CLICK HERE

For National Cup Championship Flight E Player List please CLICK HERE

For National Cup Championship Flight E Survivors please CLICK HERE

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time (TST) on Sunday, November 16 with the 336 survivors returning to play down to a champion. Live coverage will be available on the APT Blog.