Australia’s Daniel Neilson topped the second-largest Main Event field in APT history
APT TAIPEI 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 26, 2026 – Run in partnership with with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP) across two venues—the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and the Asia Poker Arena—Day 8 of the APT Taipei 2026 saw the final numbers confirmed in the APT Main Event.
The APT’s flagship tournament drew a massive 2,354 total entries (1,300 unique) and generated a substantial TWD 111,862,080 (~USD 3,585,320) prize pool; over 60 percent (62.9%) in excess of the sizable TWD 70 million (~USD 2.2 million) guarantee.
This makes it the second-largest tournament in the tour’s 20-year history, just behind the record-breaking APT Taipei 2025 edition of the tournament.
Excluding the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event—which comes with a significantly bigger buy-in—this is the second-richest Main Event the tour has ever run, again just trailing the APT Taipei 2025 Main Event.
A total of 340 players will make the paying positions, with the eventual champion taming the award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy, and claiming a gigantic TWD 16,640,100 (~USD 533,340) top prize.
While this is ‘only’ the sixth largest top prize ever awarded on the tour, in terms of APT Main Events, only the APTC Main Event and the APT Taipei 2025 Main Event have awarded more in the New Era.
While any player making the final table will bank at least TWD 1.3 million (~USD 44,000), the top six finishers will all take home payouts in excess of TWD 3.2 million (~USD 100K) and also claim a TWD 312,000 (~USD 10,000) seat to the USD 5M GTD APTC Main Event running in November.
A further two APTC Main Event seats will also be awarded by lucky draw; the first at the start of Day 3, and the second on Day 4.
For APT Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
Two Day 2 Flights
The APT’s flagship event drew 1,554 entries over the four respective opening live flights, with a further 510 entries competing OnLive with official tournament sponsor Natural8.
For the first time in tour history Day 2 of the tournament ran across two separate flights; the 542 survivors from Flights 1A, 1C, & 1D competed in Day 2A, while the 147 survivors from Flight 1B returned for Day 2B.
Late registration remained open for the first level of each respective Day 2 flight, closing after the first 15-minute break on both.
Double Bubble Fun; Neilson Summits Day 2A to Take Overall Lead
Day 2A got underway at 11am local time (TST) where the Day 1A, 1C, & 1D survivors were joined by a further 187 late entries.
The action played out over close to eight 60-minute levels, ending three quarters of the way through level 18 with the elimination of the unfortunate Yung Teng Wang on the first of two money bubbles.
The first of the Main Event bubbles had plenty of drama; following a miracle two-outer where Taiwan’s Aung Myo narrowly avoided elimination at the hands of South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim, Wang found himself all-in and at risk against Hong Kong’s Chun Shing Lau.
Taiwan's Yung Teng Wang departs on the Day 2A bubble
Holding pocket kings it looked to be a dream spot for Wang, who was well ahead of Lau’s pocket queens.
However, a queen-high runout spelled disaster for the Taiwanese player, although it did guarantee the remaining 199 Day 2A players a payday of at least TWD 94,000 (~USD 3,010).
The one silver lining for Wang was the fact he drew a TWD 12,000 Micro Main Event ticket as a consolation prize.
It was APT Manila 2024 High Roller champion Daniel Neilson sitting atop the Day 2A leaderboard after players bagged up for the evening, and the Australian will be returning in pole position on Day 3 with a stack of 1,425,000 with which to make a play for his second APT signature lion trophy.
Many former APT champions were not so fortunate, with APTC Main Event winner Nishant Sharma, APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Main Event winner Rene von Reden, APT Taipei 2023 Main Event winner Punnat Punsri, Summer Series Da Nang 2023 Main Event winner Shixiang ‘Herald’ Khoo, and Christopher Mateo all falling by the wayside.
South Korea’s Hoseong Ha (1,180,000), and Laos’ Mangkone Sanaphanith (1,054,000) rounded out the top three Day 2A stacks.
Other notables returning for Day 3 include current Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 Tony Ren Lin (766,000), Columbia’s Andres Vasquez (679,000), APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong (529,000), Taiwan’s I Chun 'Charlie' Chiu (249,000), former Main Event winner John Tech (222,000), and South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim (109,000).
For Main Event Day 2A Player List please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 2A Survivors please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Day 2A tournament page.
You can read about all the Day 2A action on the APT Blog, or watch it as it happened via the APT Main Event Day 2A live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
Suwan Kwon Bursts Day 2B Bubble to Top Flight
Suwan Kwon sent Grant Wang to the rail to burst the 2B bubble and top the flight
The second of the Day 2 flights saw the 147 surviving Flight 1B players return at 3pm local time (TST), where they were joined by a further 103 late entrants.
It took a level longer to thin the field down to the final 14.5 percent, with the action concluding mid-way through level 19 with 69 Day 2B players making it through to Day 3.
Two Day 2 flights meant two money bubbles, and although the second was not as dramatic as the first, hand-for-hand play lasted close to an hour.
The second unlucky player to fall just short of the money was Grant Wang, who found himself all-in pre-flop with pocket eights and at risk against the suited king-jack of South Korea’s Suwan Kwon.
Suwan Kwon and Grant Wang enjoy the moment on the Flight 2B money bubble
A jack-high runout concluded the Flight 2B action, shooting Kwon to the top of the Flight 2B chip counts with a stack of 957,000, which puts him in fourth in the overall pecking order for Day 3.
Just like Flight 2A bubble boy Yung Teng Wang, the USA’s Grant Wang received a TWD 12,000 Micro Main Event ticket as his consolation prize.
France’s Selim Oulmekki (803,000), and South Korea’s Jaejoong Kim (752,000) rounded out the top Day 2B stacks, and they will return eighth and eleventh respectively in the overall counts.
While recently crowned APT Super High Roller champion Mike Takayama and defending APT Taipei 2025 Main Event champion Akria Takasugi were unable to make the cut, some previous APT Big Three winners were able to make it through.
APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Super High Roller champion Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (411,000), APT Jeju 2024 High Roller champion Ting Yi ‘Eric’ Tsai (129,000), and APTC Mystery Bounty Championship winner Sofia Lovgren (51,000) will all be returning for Day 3.
Other notables to make it through include the USA’s Alan ‘Ari’ Engel (719,000), Hong Kong’s Stephen Lai (357,000), the Philippines’ John Costiniano (166,000), the USA’s Christian Harder (160,000), and the Netherland’s Ronald Haverkamp (142,000).
For APT Main Event Flight 2B Player List please CLICK HERE
For APT Main Event Flight 2B Survivors please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Flight 2B tournament page.
You can read about how the Main Event played out via the Flight 2B APT Blog. You can also watch the action as it happened via the APT Main Event Day 2B live stream.
Day 3
The award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event Trophy
The 268 survivors from the two Day 2 flights will combine for Day 3, and will be joined by 72 OnLive players who won their way through on Natural8.
Notables coming in from Natural8 include Ambassador Sparrow Cheung (500,700), former Main Event champion Farhad Aghayev (394,500), Natural8 Ambassador Yu Chung ‘Nevan’ Chang (212,400), former Main Event champion and Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo (264,600), and APT Jeju 2025 Main Event champion Abraham Ceesvin (237,000).
Two players made it through twice; once apiece from the live flights and also OnLive – Anton Lysenko, and Chawengsak Assawinnimit had their smaller OnLive stacks removed for play, earning the duo a min-cash of TWD 94,000 (~USD 3,010).
That means a total of 338 players will be returning for Day 3, all looking to earn a place in the final 48 players.
The Day 3 action gets underway at 11:15am (TST) and will play out over ten 60-minute levels or down to 48 players – whichever comes first.
For APT Main Event Day 3 Draw please CLICK HERE
Once again there will be full coverage on the APT Blog, and a live stream available on the official APT YouTube channel.