Chi Chen

Chi Chen opened to 8,000 from early position and was looked up by Gary Thompson in the hijack. Action folded to Ostap Perfilev on the button, who three-bet to 47,000, leaving himself 5,000 behind. It came back around to Chen, who four-bet all in and had both players covered. Thompson took a merry dance out of there, and Perfilev put his remaining stack out for his tournament life.

Ostap Perfilev: 8 8

Chi Chen: A Q

A safe flop for Perfilev of 3 7 K but when the Q peeled off on the turn he needed help. None came on the J river and Perfilev was sent to the rail.

Tanupat Punjarojanakul

Tanupat Punjarojanakul was already all in and at risk from the big blind for his last remaining chips, and had Ranno Sootla covering him from the cutoff. Both were sitting with short stacks of around 20 big blinds.

Tanupat Punjarojanakul: A K

Ranno Sootla: 8 8

With the cards already on their backs, it was Sootla who had the lead pre-flop.

Sootla picked up a set on the 7 8 2 flop and Punjarojanakul stood from the table to watch the rest of the runout.

It was the end of the road for Punjarojanakul after seeing the Q turn, and 2 river, joining other early casualties such as Dinesh Alt.

Dinesh Alt

More Early Casualties:

Rene von Reden

Wooram Cho raised from the cutoff to 6,000 only to face a three-bet from Rene von Reden on the button to 14,000. The blinds folded, and Cho made the call.

Von Reden continued for 14,000 on the 2 K 8 flop and Cho made the call.

The T peeled off on the turn, and von Reden didn't slow down, firing off a bet of 23,000. Cho thought for a brief while and mucked his hand, sending the pot to Von Reden uncontested.

Robert Kiss

Within the first 10-minutes of play, a number of short stacks lost their final chips and were eliminated from the event.

The field has already dropped from 156 returners to 140 active players in the field. More than half of the field will now reach the money as 71 players will cash.

Robert Kiss was one of the most recent players to bust. Other of those who returned, but ran out of luck in the first level of the day include:

Jeffrey Lo

Players were already on the river with a pot of around 120,000. The J 9 2 7 K had been dealt and Jeffrey Lo had bet 75,000 from the small blind. Action went back to Yang Ang who moved all in from the hijack for his remaining 119,500.

Lo didn't take too long before making the call and the players flipped their hands.

Yang Ang: K K

Jeffrey Lo: T 8

Ang had rivered a set, but Lo had him beat having turned the straight.

It was the end of the road for Ang, and he joined the many players who were eliminated within just the first 10-minutes of play.

Anson Lau

Action folded to Katsunori Takeuchi in the cutoff who made it 6,000 to play and found calls from Anson Lau on the button and Sean Tan in the big blind.

The flop came 3 K Q . Tan checked to Takeuchi who continued for 8,000. Lau made the call and Tan folded.

The action went check check on the 4 turn and the players saw the 2 drop on the river. Takeuchi led out for 15,000 and Lau didn't take long to toss in the call tabling Q J and picking off Takeuchi's bluff with A 6 .

The returning 156 players have taken their seats, unbagged their chips and started paying blinds in the final day on the Zodiac Classic Event.

The Final Day of the APT Taipei 2026 Zodiac Classic is here. After thrilling action throughout Day 1, the field has been reduced from a total of 486 entries (357 unique), which generated a TWD 35,691,840 (~USD 1,123,970) total prize pool, down to just 156 survivors. Only 71 players will make the money today each already guaranteed a minimum payout of TWD 133,300 (~USD 4,270).

Today, they return to Red Space Taipei to battle for the prestigious Zodiac Classic trophy, the top prize of TWD 6,767,640 (~USD 216,910), and two USD $10,000 seats for the APT Championship Main Event will be awarded to first and second place finishers, seeing them return to back here in Taipei in November.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Darius Nass

Leading the charge into the Final Day is Darius Nass, who bagged the overall chip lead with 468,500 chips. Close behind are Ka Lok Lam (359,500) and Joshua Gebissa (345,000), each with sizeable stacks that will give them a strong start heading into the final day.

It will be a star-studded field with many previous APT champions returning to Day 2. Nishant Sharma (68,500), Rene von Reden (106,000), Mike Takayama (158,500) and Dinesh Alt (106,000) are set to return to already competitive field, while rising stars such as chip leader Darius Nass who, if cashed above fifth place will have more than doubled their current recorded live earnings.

Prize Pool & Payouts

Play resumes at 11:15 a.m. local time with blinds at Level 14 with 1,500/3,000 blinds and a 3,000 big blinds ante. Action will continue until a champion is crowned.

Stay tuned to the APT blog updates,as we bring you all the live action from the floor across the day.