Czech High Stakes Specialist Wins Largest Non-Main Event First Prize in APT History
Calvin Lee Looking for Second Superstar Title in Superstar Challenge Championship
APT CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | LIVE REPORTING | IMAGES | WINNERS
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 23, 2025 – The richest non-Main Event in Asian Poker Tour history has crowned a champion, with the Czech Republic’s Roman Hrabec going wire-to-wire to take down the inaugural TWD 777,000 (~USD 24,900) [Event 7] Super High Roller Championship.
Run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), and playing out at the tournament tables of the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間, the seventh of the scheduled 20 Championship Events saw six players out of an initial field of 81 entries return for the Final Day.
The record-breaking tournament had already established itself as the APT’s largest-ever USD 25K event before registration closed on Day 2, with the final TWD 59,519,521 (~USD 1,907,680) prize pool proving to be the richest ever generated outside of the APT Main Event.
In addition to becoming the first player to tame one of the exclusive Rose Gold Lion APT championship Trophies, Hrabec claimed the largest first place prize the tour has ever awarded outside of the Main Event.
The Czech high stakes specialist earned a monster TWD 13,398,721 (~USD 429,450) for his victory, plus a TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000) APT Championship Main Event seat.
With seven prior APT cashes featuring five final tables on his resume (including this one) which have all come in the last two years, this win firmly cements Hrabec’s position as one of the tour’s top players – placing him as the sixth biggest winner of the APT New Era.
SHR CHAMPIONSHIP SiX-HANDED FINAL TABLE RESULTS
For Super High Roller Championship Final Table Draw please CLICK HERE For Super High Roller Championship Results please CLICK HERE
All returning players had already locked up a guaranteed TWD 3,197,300 (~USD 102,480), and after topping the two previous days of the tournament, Hrabec returned very much in command of the final table.
That dynamic did not change, and Hrabec busted four out of his five opponents as play progressed, picking them off one by one.
Hikaru Hishinuma and Roman Hrabec clash at the final table
First Hrabec took care of the short-stack Manuel Fritz in sixth, and while Japan’s Hikaru Hishinuma was one of Hrabec’s initial obstacles bluffing him off the best hand in one instance, the Czech player responded by turning a full house against her pocket queens to leave her short before administering the coup de grace on the following hand to send her to the rail in fifth place.
Thailand’s Alexander Wice took care of France’s Axel Halley shortly afterward to leave just two players between Hrabec and the title.
After losing out to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in the APT Taipei 2024 Superstar Challenge and finishing in third, then coming in fourth place in the APT Jeju Super High Roller and Superstar Challenge, losing out to Danny Tang in the latter, Hrabec would not be denied a fourth time.
Danny Tang and Roman Hrabec get all the chips in preflop
While the #1 ranked Hong Kong tournament player put up a spirited resistance to Hrabec’s final table dominance, pulling off a great bluff to win close to a million-chip pot, the Czech player had the momentum and continued to keep up the pressure.
Hrabec eventually ousted Tang in third place after the two got all the chips in preflop; Tang’s ace-king lost the race to Hrabec’s pocket jacks and he hit the rail in third for TWD 7,697,100 (~USD 246,700).
The Czech player then trained his laser focus on Wice, coming into heads-up with a 2-to-1 chip lead and the match wrapped up in just seven hands; Wice committed the last of his chips with king-jack suited and lost out to Hrabec’s pocket queens.
Wice, who previously finished runner-up to Vietnam’s Trung Quan Nguyen at the APT Taipei 2025, was once again forced to settle for second – although the TWD 10,361,500 (~USD 332,100) runner up prize—the second largest of his poker career—should take the sting out.
Alexander Wice and Roman Hrabec get ready to duel for the Rose Gold Lion APT Championship Trophy
This win takes Hrabec up to over USD 13.3 million in live tournament cashes, although his position in the #2 spot on the Czech All-Time Money List remains unchanged.
“I feel amazing. It's always good to win. It's always good to win in Asia. Winning tournaments is good, it doesn't happen too often, so I feel good,” said Hrabec immediately after his victory.
“We like to play in Asia in general. My wife [Monica Hrabec] is playing poker as well, so we travel together, play poker and we like to spend time in Asia. So everything is combined together – it brought us here.”
Hrabec has won multiple tournaments over his career, but was particularly enamored with his latest trophy.
“It's a nice trophy. I will be happy to put it in my cabinet, to have it as a decoration in our living room, hopefully we will find enough space for that. It looks pretty, I can touch him, pat him,” he chuckled when asked about his views on the brand new APT Championship trophies.
Demonstrating his hunger for the game, Hrabec was keen to get back in the action immediately following his win.
“Next is 50k and then the Main Event tomorrow. So yeah, I'm ready,” he stated, before jumping straight into the ~USD 50,000 Superstar Challenge Championship.
All tournament information can be found on the Super High Roller Championship Final Day tournament page and you can follow all the action via the Super High Roller Championship Final Day APT Blog.
You can watch all the tournament action as it happened via the Super High Roller Championship live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
Calvin Lee Looking for Second Superstar Title in Superstar Championship
The USA’s Calvin Lee topped Day 1 of the Superstar Championship
Boasting the biggest buy-in on the 200-event APT Championship 2025 schedule, the TWD 1.5M (~USD 50,000) [Event 10] Superstar Championship is one of the festival’s most prestigious events.
While the tournament only attracted a 39-entry (33 unique) field it was one that was filled with some of poker’s top professionals with the likes of APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong, the USA’s Steve O’Dwyer, and Dylan Linde, Australia’s Michael Addamo, Thailand’s Punnat Punsri, and Austria’s Samual Muller all in the running.
Following the conclusion of the Super High Roller Championship, they were joined by finalists Roman Hrabec, Alexander Wice, and Danny Tang to provide a stacked line-up.
With a TWD 57,842,503 (~USD 1,853,925) prize pool on the line—the second richest of the festival so far—in addition to the second of the series’ exclusive Rose Gold Lion APT Championship Trophies and a chunky TWD 18,726,503 (~USD 600,210) top prize there was all to play for.
For Superstar Championship Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
After fourteen action-packed 40-minute levels, just 18 players were left in the running, with APT Incheon 2025 champion Calvin Lee leading the pack after wresting the chip lead from an in-form Hrabec towards the end of the Day 1 action.
Lee bagged a hefty 1,635,000 in chips – almost double that of next closest rival Chin Wei “Webster” Lim, who ended the day on 810,000.
While Hrabec lost out on the chance to bag yet another end-of-day chip lead, the newly crowned Super High Roller Challenge champion managed to bag up a top three stack of 790,000, with the top ten as follows:
SUPERSTAR CHAMPIONSHIP TOP TEN STACKS
For Superstar Championship Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Superstar Championship Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Superstar Championship Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
Other notable still in the running outside of the top ten include APT Manila 2024 High Roller champion Daniel Neilson (375,000), Japan’s Jun Obara (375,000), China All-Time Money List #2 Biao Ding (335,000), and APT Manila Classic 2025 Super High Roller champion Tobias Schwecht (270,000).
The Final Day action gets underway on Monday, November 24, at 11:15am (TST) and will be live streamed on the official APT YouTube channel on a 30-minute delay.
All tournament information can be found on the Superstar Championship Day 1 tournament page and you can follow all the action via the Superstar Championship Day 1 APT Blog.