Haiyang Yang is playing for his maiden APT title on the tour’s biggest stage
China’s Yongbin Wang Leads Tour’s Richest Korean Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8
APT JEJU CLASSIC 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | LIVE REPORTING | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
JEJU, SOUTH KOREA, February 5, 2026 – Running at the tournament tables of tables of LES A Casino — located at the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa World resort and hosted in partnership with Landing Entertainment Korea — Day 6 of the ten-day APT Jeju Classic 2026 was another entertaining day for the rail birds.
In addition to Day 3 of the record-breaking Main Event, there was also Day 1 of the two-day Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8, with the tournament generating its richest-ever prize pool in the country – more on this below the Main Event updates.
Other exciting side event action saw Poker Hall of Famer John Juanda claim his third career APT high roller title in Event #63 Turbo High Roller.
There was also the Final Day of the two-day KRW 5M (~USD 3,400) High Roller as well as a plethora of Turbo tournaments, Omaha events, and even a Seven Card Stud tournament – all of which you can read about in the side event press release.
Main Event
Just 254 players out of the 1,718-entry KRW 2.3M (~USD 1600) APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event returned for Day 3 of the largest international poker tournament ever to play out in Korea.
All returning players were already guaranteed a KRW 3,510,000 (~USD 2,440) payout from the KRW 3,414,009,600 (~USD 2,370,840) prize pool – the second richest the tour has ever awarded in the country, and the fifth richest in the APT’s 20-year history.
The eventual champion will walk away with a hefty KRW 579,649,600 (~USD 402,535) top prize – the second largest the tour has ever awarded in the country, and the fourth-largest APT Main Event prize ever awarded.
The top three finishers will also receive a APT Championship (APTC) Main Event seat valued at KRW 14.4 million (USD 10,000) for the tour’s USD 5M GTD season-ending showpiece running November 13-29 in Taipei, Taiwan.
It took close to eight and a half 60-minute levels to thin the field down to 47, with a simultaneous double bust out on two separate tables concluding the action for the day.
The first came on the live streamed table where China’s Yu Han Su suffered a brutal exit at the hands of APT Ho Chi Minh 2018 Main Event runner up Nang Quang Nguyen when the latter flopped Broadway with ace jack to crush Su’s ace king after the two got all the chips in pre-flop.
China’s Peng Zhou was also eliminated on one of the outer tables, with Su cashing in 49th place, and Peng exiting in 48th, both for a KRW 9,300,000 (~USD 6,460) pay day.
Su’s exit leaves just one female player remaining in the Main Event with Congya Zhang the last women standing, and the Chinese player will be returning 37th in the chip counts with a stack of 675,000.
China’s Congya Zhang is the last women standing in the Main Event
It is Haiyang Yang in pole position, with the Chinese player bagging up a chip leading stack of 3,635,000 after just pipping Japan’s Shintaro Sato (3,480,000) for the tournament top spot in one of the final hands of the evening.
China’s Qi Pan (3,395,000) rounds out the top three, with Superstar Challenge runner-up and APT Taipei 2025 Super High Roller champion Quang Minh Nguyen (3,275,000) also managing to bag a top ten stack:
MAIN EVENT DAY 3 TOP TEN STACKS
For Main Event Day 3 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 3 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 4 Draw please CLICK HERE
Whatever happens over the next two days one thing is certain – there will be a brand new champion crowned on Saturday, with former champions Punnat Punsri (67th) and Lester Edoc (77th) both falling by the wayside as play progressed.
Other notable eliminations included start-of-day chip leader Tianhao Zheng (71st), Flight A frontrunner Yongqiang Tian (73rd), and Flight C chip leader Junh Young Ki (82nd).
Natural8 Ambassadors Chih Wei Fan (76th), and Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (198th) were also unable to make the cut, and Day 2 no show Yu Zheng (240th) also failed to turn up for Day 3.
APT Super High Roller and Superstar Challenge champion Tony Ren Lin was another casualty and while the Chinese player has managed a 100 percent cash success rate so far this series he was unable to progress to Day 4, hitting the rail in 243rd place during the early levels with Vietnam’s Khoa Anh Ngo showing him the door.
Khoa Anh Ngo has already final tabled the APT Super High Roller and Superstar Challenge this festival
Ngo (1,610,000) is one of three remaining Natural8 qualifiers remaining in the field eligible for the N8 USD 8,000 Last Longer Challenge, with the other two being Singapore’s Chongwei Liao (1,670,000), and the UK’s Jun Li (740,000).
Other notables still in with a shout of taming the award-winning 24K Gold Lion APT Main Event Trophy include Flight D frontrunner Yasuhiro Yamamoto (2,155,000), the UK’s Qibang “James” Cheung (1,230,000), and Australia’s Yita Choong (975,000).
All tournament information can be found on the Main Event Day 3 tournament page.
You can read all the live coverage on the Main Event Day 3 APT Blog or watch it as it happened via the Main Event Day 3 live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
The Day 4 action gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Friday, February 6 with the tournament playing down to the nine-handed Final Table. Play will restart with 23-minutes remaining on the clock on level 26, with blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante.
Full coverage will be available on the APT Blog, and you can also watch all the tournament thrills and spills via the Main Event Day 4 live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
China’s Yongbin Wang Leads Tour’s Richest Korean Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8
Yongbin Wang is hunting his maiden APT title in the Zodiac Classic
Outside of the tour’s three flagship tournaments and the top end high roller events, the KRW 3.6M (~USD 2,400) Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 is one of the more prestigious tournaments on the APT schedule.
With former champions include the likes of APT All-time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong — who has won it twice — Hong Kong’s Alan Lau, and Austria’s Matthias Lipp, this is tournament title APT regulars and high rollers both are aiming to win.
Boasting a KRW 500M (~USD 343,000) prize pool guarantee, the APT Jeju Classic 2026 edition of the Zodiac Classic drew a sizable 426 (300 unique) entry field.
The KRW 1,310,630,400 (~USD 910,160) prize pool is the richest this tournament has ever generated in the country, with a total of 63 players making the paying positions, with a min-cash good for KRW 5,640,000 (~USD 3,915) and the eventual champion taking home a chunky KRW 252,980,400 (~USD 175,680 top prize — the largest this event has ever awarded in Korea — and an APTC Main Event seat.
For Zodiac Classic Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
It is China’s Yongbin Wang who will be returning in the driving seat, bagging up a stack of 378,500 after the thirteen 40-minute levels played out, with compatriot Jing Wang (351,500), and Vietnam’s Van Hien Dang rounding out the top three stacks.
Just 131 players made the cut for the Final Day, with APT Manila 2024 Super High Roller champion William Teoh (276,000), and India’s Akshay Nasa (266,000) also making an appearance in the top ten Day 1 stacks:
ZODIAC CLASSIC TOP TEN DAY 1 STACKS
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
Other notables still in the running include the Philippines James Mendoza (180,000), APT Incheon Super High Roller champion Michael Foo (179,000), Russia’s Maxim Sorokin (143,000), Australia’s Dylan Foster (100,000), two-time champion Joseph Cheong (94,000), and Natural8 Ambassador Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (70,500).
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am (KST) on Friday, February 6, with the tournament playing down to a champion.
All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic Day 1 tournament page, and you can read about how all the action played out via the Zodiac Classic Day 1 APT Blog.