Takashi Mizukami

Day 1 of the 2025 APT Incheon Zodiac Classic has wrapped up at the lavish Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea. With 400 entries, 298 of which were unique, it set a record for a Zodiac Classic event in South Korea. The total confirmed prize pool of over KRW 1B more than quadrupled the KRW 250M guarantee.

Players battled for over nine hours through 12 40-minute levels, with 156 players bagging up to advance to Day 2. They’ll return tomorrow with the first-place prize of KRW 198,470,000 (~USD 143,507) and one of the most prestigious titles on the APT calendar in their sights. The winner will also secure a KRW 13,830,000 (~USD 10,000) APT Championship Main Event Ticket for use in November.

Ending the day at the top is Japan’s Takashi Mizukami with a whopping 452,200 chips. Relatively new to the professional poker scene, Mizukami has already made a strong impression with a podium finish at the World Series earlier this year, earning his best live cash of $9,970. Mizukami will leave the venue today in high spirits, aiming to surpass that cash tomorrow.

Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

In second place is Vietnam’s Trung Quan Nguyen, bagging 301,500 chips. With close to $1M in live earnings, a top-10 spot on Vietnam’s All-Time Money List, and an APT High Roller title from earlier this year, he’s one to watch tomorrow. Nguyen tripled his stack over the course of the day, helped in the early stages with a calculated river bet.

Trung Quan Nguyen

Rounding out the top three is Japan’s Katsuki Yamashita with 288,000 chips, just a few big blinds behind Nguyen. Yamashita played well today, despite taking a small hit from Kosaku Akashi earlier. Still, he nearly doubled his stack throughout the day, and if this momentum carries forward, he’ll be a threat as the field narrows tomorrow.

Representing the women and coming in at number nine is Emi Oike. Another Japanese national, Oike had about 50,000 chips during the middle stages, after being pushed off a hand by Mongolia’s Bayarkhuu Batbayar. Nearly quadrupling her stack since that hand, she’ll aim to replicate that success tomorrow to surpass her career-best cash of $15,000.

Emi Oike

Other notable names making it through are Poseidon Ho (174,900), Joseph Cheong (170,400), Dicky Tsang (157,500), Murly Manokharan (125,800), Jason Lau (111,100), Charlie Chiu (105,400), Jeremy Chan (92,700) and Superstar Challenge winner Calvin Lee (63,400). All certainly worth keeping an eye on tomorrow.

With 156 players out of 400 entries still in the hunt for the title, they'll aim to reach the top-55 to secure a spot in the money, with the min-cash being set at KRW 5,010,000 (~$3,625). Of course, everyone will be bringing their A-game and vying for a seat at the final table, where the most action will unfold and the greatest rewards await.

Final Table Payouts

**includes 1x APTC Main Event seat worth KRW 13,830,000 (USD 10,000) for the winner.

The final day kicks off tomorrow at 11:15 AM local time, with the clock resuming with 15 minutes remaining in level 12. After that, players will compete through three 40-minute levels followed by a 15-minute break until a winner is crowned.

The full list of payouts can be found by clicking HERE.

A full Zodiac Classic survivor list can be found by clicking HERE.

That concludes coverage of Day 1 of the Zodiac Classic, be sure to tune back in tomorrow as we bring you all the updates, chip counts and drama from the final day!

The floor stopped the tournament clock with 15-minutes remaining and announced that the players would be dealt six more hands.

These have all now been completed and the remaining players have now all bagged up for the day.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day with chip counts and Day 2 seat draw.

Miyoshi Kenta

Kin Lo raised to 4,400 from the cut-off and Miyoshi Kenta flat-called from the button only to see Khoa Anh three-bet all in from the big blind and he had Kenta covered. Lo got out of the way quickly and Kenta called.

Miyoshi Kenta: Q T

Khoa Anh: A K

The flop of Q 7 3 sent Kenta into the lead but he was not home and dry yet.

The Q came on the turn and reduced Anh's outs, but when the 2 peeled off on the river it made Anh his flush and sent Kenta to the rail.

Tharit Nanthana raised to 4,400 from under the gun and found calls from Ruidi Yo in the cut-off and Kai Yang on the button.

The dealer layed out the flop of J K T and Nanthana continued for 6,000. Both Yo & Yang called.

The 3 came on the turn and all players checked as they did on the 6 river.

Nanthana tabled ten-nine for third pair but was way behind Yo and his A J for second pair and the pot was pushed his way.

With registration closing a little over 30 minutes ago, the figures are in for this series' Zodiac Classic prize pool and payouts.

With 400 entries (298 unique), this sets a new record for the largest field, prize pool, and first place prize in a Zodiac Classic event here in South Korea. With a whopping KRW 1,036,800,000 (~USD 749,675) prize pool up for grabs, all of the 193 remaining players will be looking to secure their chance at a cash by making it down to the 55 paid places.

A full list of the payouts can be found here.

Miyoshi Kenta

With the flop reading 6 Q 9 and the pot already swollen Kin Lo in the cut-off bet out for 8,500 and Miyoshi Kenta flat-called from the button.

The turn saw the A peel off and now Lo checked to Kenta who bet out for 14,000. Lo tanked for a while and then moved all-in which saw an insta-fold from Kenta and Lo was pushed the pot.

Ryusuke Matsuo raised to 3,200 from early position and was called by Aiki Yoshida in middle position. Tatsuhiko Kawashita on the button then three-bet to 15,000. Yoshida folded and Matsuo four-bet jammed all in for about 30,000 and Kawashita snap-called and it was he who was at risk.

Tatsuhiko Kawashita: A K

Ryusuke Matsuo: A Q

Something for both players on the 7 Q K flop but no help for Matsuo on the J turn but when the Q peeled off on the river Matsuo jumped out of his chair in joy as Kawashita looked in amazement as he was sent to the rail in brutal fashion.

Jun Obara seated under the gun and Kwok Chun Yip in middle position were head-to-head on a flop of 6 8 2 with both players opting to check.

Obara check-called a 4,000 bet from Yip following the 4 turn, and action repeated on the J river, this time to the tune of 10,000.

Yip flipped over K J for top pair on the river, leaving the Superstar Challenge runner-up to slide his cards into the muck.

Jeremy Chan

Vyacheslav Pak opened with a 3,200 raise from under the gun, and faced a three-bet shove from Jeremy Chan for his last 24,000 chips. Pak quickly made the call and they went to showdown:

Jeremy Chan: A Q

Vyacheslav Pak: K Q

Chan was ahead going into it, and the 2 Q 9 2 T runout did little to change that, giving both players a pair of queens but securing the double up for Chan with top kicker.

With 220 players currently in and a total of 395 registrations, the total prize pool has just ticked over KRW 1B!

A full list of the payouts and a confirmed final prize pool will be posted shortly.