Ka Chun Yuan

The TWD 10,000 APT National Cup has been won by Hong Kong's Ka Chun Yuan after he outlasted a gigantic field of 2,305 entries to get his hands on the lion silhouette trophy and the top prize of TWD 2,263,639 (\~$71,700). Yuan cut a three-way deal with Cheng En Tsai and Ting-Chieh Chen that saw them bank TWD 1,944,800 (\$61,600) and TWD 1,607,626 (\$50,920) respectively.

The total prize pool for the tournament stood at TWD 19,899,065 (~USD 629,650), an astronomical number for the buy-in level and a testament to the support that APT has. Outside of the Main Event, the APT National Cup was the largest-ever field in any APT event in the tour's history.

A huge turnout across the initial five opening flights saw just 134 players making it into the top five percent of the field and into Day 2. The Philippines' Edilberto Gopez held the overall chip lead after taking through 2,075,000 chips from Flight E.

The action was fast with the thirty-minute blind levels eating away at the player's stacks and forced action. It took fourteen levels for the final table to be reached with Taiwan's Pi-Ying Hsu being the unlucky player to bubble the biggest side event ever ran at the APT.

Kuan Long Lu took the chip lead into the final nine but with an average stack of just under twenty big blinds, anything could happen. It took just seven hands before the first casualty was recorded as Yiu Yueng Leung hit the rail. The player from Hong Kong was a tad unfortunate after his ace-six was undone by the ace-five of Sheng Chang Lu, who flopped a five. Leung picked up TWD 246,000 (~$7,790) for ninth.

Po Chun Chang

Just seven hands later, Po Chun Chang's seat was humanless after he three-bet shoved queen-ten and was called by the ace-ten of Kwang Cheng. The board ran dry for Chang which left him out in eighth for a payday of TWD 323,000 (~$10,230).

The eliminations were coming thick and fast as just two hands later, another chair was without its owner as Filipino player Dexter Brillo headed to the payout desk. Brillo had shoved all in with pocket tens but when confronted with Tsai's pocket kings, he was quickly lassoed out of the tournament for a score of TWD 450,000 (~$14,250).

Cheng couldn't keep up any momentum and despite getting his chips in good, he was the next player to be eliminated. Holding eight-nine, Cheng had flopped top pair but had a lot of outs to fade as Yuan's five-six had flopped a pair and a flush draw. Yuan turned a flush which left Cheng drawing dead but will surely be satisfied with TWD 590,000 (~$18,680) payday.

Kuan Long Lu

Eliminations were certainly the theme on this final table and the very next hand delivered another as Kuan Long Lu joined the list of sideliners after his pocket queens fell to the rivered flush of Tsai, who held ace-jack. Despite that bad beat, Kuan Long Lu can feel pleased with the extra TWD 730,000 (~$23,115) in his account.

Sheng Chang Lu was then all in for less than five big blinds with four-five and was called by both Tsai and Chen. Tsai held ace-ten but it was the king-five of Chen that rivered a pair of kings to take the pot and leave just three players in contention for the title. Sheng Chang Lu banked TWD 873,000 (~$27,640) for his efforts.

The tournament clock was paused while the remaining three players discussed a possible deal. Negotiations were ongoing for quite some time before a deal was agreed which locked up a set amount for each player and also left TWD 213,139, and the trophy, on the table to play for.

Ting-Chieh Chen

With a deal being struck, and abiding by APT's policy, the blind levels were reduced by half and were now set at fifteen minutes until a champion was crowned.

Chen was the first of the three to be eliminated after his queen-three couldn't hold on against the seven-five of Yuan, who rivered a pair of fives. A great run from Chen, and thanks to that deal will walk away with TWD 1,607,626 (~$50,920).

When heads-up play began, it was Yuan who held a three-to-one advantage over Tsai and it was over before it got started as it took just three hands for a champion to be crowned.

Chen shoved all in with jack-five and Yuan made the call with pocket sixes. A six on the flop gave Yuan a set and a firm lock on the hand. No miracle runner-runner could save Chen as he was eliminated in second for TWD 1,944,800 (~$61,600).

That leaves just one man standing - Ka Chun Yuan - who walks away with the top prize of TWD 2,263,639 (~$71,700) for his victory. Congratulations!