Akshay Nasa bagged the overnight chip lead in the Natural8 Cup Championship

APT CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | LIVE REPORTING | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 20, 2025 – Playing out at the tournament tables of the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), the seventh official day of the 17-day Asian Poker Tour Championship saw Day 2 of the four-day TWD 93,000 (~USD 3,000) buy-in [Event 6] Natural8 Cup Championship Freezeout reach the business end of the tournament.

The Day 2 action kicked off at 11:15am (TST), with the 224 Day 1 survivors out of an initial field of 408 entries joined by a further 82 players before registration closed at the start of level 11, bringing the total number of entries up to 490.

With the TWD 31 million (~USD 1 million) guarantee already reached and breached on Day 1, this pushed the prize pool up to TWD 39,372,480 (~USD 1,270,080) – the second largest of the festival so far.

Just 71 players remain in contention to battle for the TWD 7,538,480 (~USD 243,180) top prize, in addition to a TWD 311,000 (USD 10,000) APT Championship Main Event seat, and one of the festival’s exclusive Pewter Lion APT Championship Trophies.

For Natural8 Cup Championship Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

For the second time at this festival, India’s Asksahy Nasa has landed the overnight chip lead in one of the APT Championships’ 20 Championship Events, having previously brought the overnight chip lead into the final day of the 7-Max Championship where he finished in 20th place.

The action played out over close to ten 60-minute levels, with Nasa returning with just over the 40,000 starting stack. By the time the dinner break rolled around this had climbed to six-figures and the Indian player showed no signs of slowing down.

All five of the tournament’s biggest stacks crumbled as as play progressed, with start-of-day chip leader Jason Li, two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc, Romania's Alexandru Papazian, Thai TV host Napat Chokejindachai, and South Korea's Sung Jin Yun all hitting the rail.

A protracted bubble period lasting close to two levels kicked in with 76 players remaining, with Nasa wielding his monster stack like a club to beat his opponents into submission.

This finally came to a close with the elimination of Taiwan’s Wun Long Lui at the hands of compatriot Teng Kuei Hsu concluding the action, guaranteeing all 71 survivors a payday of at least TWD 148,400 (~USD 4,790).

Wun Long Liu exits on the money bubble

Seungyeol Kim proved that a chip and a chair still count for something, with the Korean player squeaking through with just a single 1,000 chip.

However, it is Nasa who sits firmly in command with a stack of 1,095,000, with the former APT Main Event champion the only player to bag a seven-figure stack.

Ireland’s Toby Joyce sits 22 big blinds behind as the second largest stack, concluding Day 2 with 916,000 in chips, with [Event 5] PLO Championship third place finisher Jon Rounce-Sue of New Zealand (868,000) rounding out the top three.

The Philippine’s Christopher Mateo (791,000), and former Super High Roller champion Julian Warhurst (590,000) also bagged top ten stacks.

NATURAL8 CUP CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 2 TOP TEN STACKS

Other notables to earn a place in the paying positions include two-time Main Event champion Mike Takayama (497,000), PLO Championship runner-up Fabian Rolli (423,000), and champion Kok Wei Toeh (395,000), and back-to-back Women’s Championship bracelet winner Shiina Okamoto (297,000).

Natural8 Ambassadors Kitty Kuo (168,000), and Sparrow Cheung are still in the mix, as is APT Jeju Main Event champion Abraham Ceesvin (82,000), and many more.

For Natural8 Cup Championship Day 2 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Natural8 Cup Championship Day 2 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Natural8 Cup Championship Day 3 Draw please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Natural8 Cup Championship Day 2 tournament page and you can follow all the action via the Natural8 Cup Championship Day 2 APT Blog.

The Day 3 action resumes at 11:15am (TST) on Friday, November 21, four minutes remaining on level 18.

There are a further eight 60-minute levels scheduled as players attempt to lock up their spot for the Final Day, which plays out on Saturday, November 22 – this will be live streamed on the official APT YouTube channel with a 30-minute delay.