Shixiang Khoo

Shixiang Khoo, the 2023 APT Summer Series Danang Main Event champion, was back on the felt today as he jumped into Flight C of the National Cup Championship. He arrived in a calm and grounded mood, summing up his year with quiet honesty. “Yeah, it’s alright. This year, competition-wise, not so bad, not so so well,” he said with a small smile.

His start to the day felt steady too. “Yeah, it’s OK. For now it’s OK,” he noted, taking the early levels in stride as the room continued to fill around him.

Looking back on the two years since his career-defining win in Danang, Khoo spoke proudly about the growth he has witnessed at APT. “Oh, it’s definitely continued growing under great management. I feel that they have very good goals, and the scene in Asia has constantly been growing,” he explained.

He also highlighted the international shift he sees happening across the region. “Asia is the market to be at, where you see more Europeans coming over to play more poker. So we have to catch up on skills as well. We have to grind more hours, we have to have more associations within each country and within Asia itself to improve as a region.”

Shixiang Khoo APT Summer Series Main Event Champion

As a past champion, that progress means a lot to him. “I’m hoping that we continue growing, APT continues growing, and as one of the champions, I’m very proud to be part of this competition as well.”

His first impressions of Red Space this time around were positive too. “Beautiful. The first time was freezing. This time around it’s much better. I brought such thick clothes this time around,” he joked.

Khoo plans to take on a strong schedule this series. “I’ll be playing the Main, all the key events, probably the Zodiac, but not the high roller ones,” he said. He also shared his humble outlook about continuing to improve. “Yeah, I feel that I still am lacking in some spaces of the game to be able to compete with players like Joseph and the better Singaporean players as well.”

Khoo settled back into his seat as Flight C continued, ready for a long grind and hoping to build another memorable run on APT soil. Good luck to him throughout the series.