Chi Ngong Tang Going into Day 2 with the Chip Lead

Day 1 of the record breaking 2025 APT Jeju High Roller is a wrap.

The 2025 APT Jeju High Roller is officially the largest APT High Roller tournament ever to play out in Korea, with a massive 305 (192 unique) entries generating a whopping prize pool of KRW 1,317,600,000 (~USD 941,140).

Out of the 305 players who took to the felt 68 have survived and bagged up chips to take through to Day 2.

39 players will make the money tomorrow with a minimum cash payout of KRW 8,990,000 (~USD 6,420) being awarded but all remaining players will be eyeing up the mouthwatering top prize of KRW 261,400,000 (~USD 186,715) which comes along with that a seat into the APT Championship Main Event worth USD 10,000.

It was Hong Kong’s Chi Ngong Tang who finished Day 1 with a massive 1,398,000 chips. Close behind Tang is Natural8 Ambassador Taiwan’s Yu-Chung ‘Nevan’ Chang with 1,267,000 in chips. Hot on Chang’s heels is China’s Mingcong Chen, hot off his win in the Super High Roller event at this series, with 1,203,000 in chips.

Mingcong Chen Looking to Make it a High Roller Double in Jeju

Tang has a modest USD 63,000 in lifetime earnings and looking to take down his first major title.

Chang has just under USD 3,000,000 in lifetime earnings along with four APT High Roller titles and a plethora of other major titles.

Chen has had a memorable APT Jeju Series so far taking down the Super High Roller event and then finishing runner-up in the Baby Superstar. His winnings from these two events have helped him notch up just under USD 900,000 in lifetime earnings and he now has two APT titles to his name.

Also sitting in the top ten and not too far behind the leaders are Taiwan’s Poseidon Ho (1,198,000) and China’s Jieming Xu. Ho is a regular on the APT circuit with just under USD 2,000,000 in lifetime earnings and will be looking to make waves on Day 2 and hopefully take down his first APT Flagship Trophy. Xu has just over USD 500,000 in lifetime earnings and like Ho will be looking to get his hands on his first APT major title.

Aussie Anton Lu rounds out the top ten. Lu has just under USD 2,000,000 in lifetime earnings along with a multitude of major titles.

Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

For a full APT Jeju High Roller Day 1 Survivor List Click Here.

Other Notable Players Bagging Up

Dylan Foster Still in the Hunt

As we would expect in the series’ final Flagship event the big-name players have come out in force and a plethora have made it through to Day 2 and in with a shot at getting their hands on the coveted APT Rose Lion Trophy.

Frenchman Fabian Rolli (679,000) will be looking to break the USD 200,000 mark and take down his first major title.

Dutchman Tom Verbruggen (521,000) will be looking to add to his near USD 800,000 in live earnings.

Aussie Dylan Foster (501,000) will be looking to make it a two-time APT High Roller Champion and add to his near USD 1,300,000 in lifetime earnings.

Germany’s Martin Sedlak will be looking to break the one milly mark in lifetime earnings by hitting a final table spot and takes through 293,000 in chips. His compatriot Fabian Gumz (453,000) will also be looking to boost his lifetime earnings to near the USD 4,000,000 mark.

Romanian Iulian Blebea is sitting in 32nd spot with 415,000 in chips and will be looking to bag his first major title and take his lifetime earnings to over the USD 1,200,000 mark.

Iulian Blebea

Thailand's Punnat Punsri with over $30,000,000 in lifetime earnings sits in 33rd spot with 413,000 in chips.

Day 2 kicks-off tomorrow at 11.15AM Local Time (KST). Stay tuned for live updates straight from the floor. To view the full seat draw for Day 2 click here.

Play has now concluded for the day and the remaining 68 players are now bagging up their chips.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day along with full chip counts and Day 2 Seat Draw.

Poseidon Ho opened to to 20,000 and got called by Chao Ting Cheng. Nopparut Piyatassakorn, immediately to Cheng's left, shoved all-in for 201,000. Ho placed in 206,000 as that was the initial count of the dealer, when she corrected herself and told Ho the correct count.

He said,"What? If it's 201,000 I might not just call," gesturing to pull his chips back as the tournament director arrived just to check what's going on. He sheepishly said he was just joking, then went back to serious mode when Cheng, whom he forgot was still in the hand, asked how much he had behind.

After he answered him, Cheng made the call.

The flop came 2 9 9 . Ho fired another 95,000 which made Cheng think for a few seconds before announcing a fold without letting go of his hand.

Nopparut Piyatassakorn: 6 6

Poseidon Ho: K K

Once the cards were tabled, Cheng showed A K and said "Good fold." The dealer peeled the runout of 3 and Q which didn't help Piyatassakorn at all.

Ho scooped the huge pot as Piyatassakorn left the tournament disappointed.

The clock has been paused as the floor announced the last six hands of the day.

Tyler Jennens raised it up to 20,000 from early position and Kuan Chen in middle position flat called. Zhiyuan Xu in the next seat then three-bet to 300,000 all in and action folded back around to Jennens who four-bet jammed all in to isolate and had both players covered. Chen got out of the way sharpish.

Zhiyuan Xu: 8 8

Tyler Jennens: J J

The dealer flipped over the flop of 6 5 2 and it wasn't looking good for Chen.

The 3 rolled off on the turn and then the dealer peeled off the magical 8 as the river to give Chen his set and a full double up and more.

Chi Ngong Tang

Chi Ngong Tang opened with a 20,000 bet and got two callers in Meerwais Hussaini in the small blind and Quang Minh Bach in the big blind.

The trio saw a flop of 2 T 7 which they checked.

On the 7 turn, after the blinds checked, Tang resumed the heat with a 40,000 bet. Hussaini folded but Bach, looked across at the dealer before making the call.

The A fell on the river and after another check from Bach, Tang fired 60,000 which was enough to win the pot.

Action was picked up with Yee Yan Wen all-in for 126,000 against Alan Tian Zheng, who had him covered in a pot of around 30,000 and a board of A 7 8 J A .

Zheng held T T which couldn't beat Wen's Q Q .

Iulian Blebea

With over 60,000 in the pot the board was showing 7 Q 8 2 and Minh Tran had checked to Iulian Blebea who bet out for 35,000.

Tran made the call and the players saw the T peel off on the river. Tran checked again and now Blebea pushed out a stack of 100,000 which put Tran all in.

Tran used all three of his remaining time banks before he tossed in the call, tabling 6 6 which was way behind Blebea with his K Q and Tran was sent to the rail.

Iulian Blebea

Action was picked up with Iulian BleBea heads up with Poseidon Ho on a board of K 7 3 8 6 and a pot of more than 200,000.

Ho bet 75,000 and BleBea called. Ho showed A K for top pair prompting BleBea to throw his hand in the muck.

Thomas Boivin

Xun Zhang opened to 16,000 and got called by big blind Thomas Boivin taking them to the flop.

The flop came K 8 J . Boivin led with 12,000 and Zhang called with no hesitation.

Boivin check-called the turn 3 after Zhang fired 17,000.

On the river 7 , Boivin shot out 25,000. Zhang raised to 75,000 sending Boivin to the tank, so long it cost him two time banks.

He finally called and Zhang tabled K Q for a flush. Boivin mucked his hand as Zhang scooped the pot before the table was broken.