Calvin Lee

Out of all the APT events hosted at Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea, the Superstar Challenge truly stands out. Not only does the Black Stealth Lion Trophy distinguish itself from the rest, but the KRW 35,000,000 buy-in is higher than any other event, attracting only the most elite players (or those with the deepest pockets) to battle it out for victory.

A total of 24 entries (18 unique) hit the tables, creating an impressive prize pool of KRW 781,670,000 (~USD 561,000) today. After fourteen 40-minute levels, the field narrowed to the top six survivors, who will return tomorrow to battle for the top prize of KRW 328,300,000 (~$235,000), an APT Championship ticket in November, and the prestigious APT Trophy.

US national Calvin Lee leads the field with 1,490,000 chips. The APT circuit regular has over $4M in live earnings, a career-best cash of nearly $1.2M, and a first-place finish at APT Seoul over seven years ago - hopefully tomorrow he can refresh that title.

Final Table Chip Counts

Hot on Lee's heels is Stanley Weng. Weng made solid moves throughout Day 1, as one of the original entries seated at the start of the day, he's battled through 11 hours of intense poker and been rewarded for it. Weng seemed to build the majority of his stack in the levels before the final table was announced, going from around 500,000 to 1,200,000 in just over an hour.

Stanley Weng

Rounding out the podium is Sweden's Mikael Andersson. Like Weng, he was part of the original eight that bought in at the start of the day and hustled through to the end. With just a few hundred thousand chips separating the top three, it's still anyone's guess as to who will be crowned the APT Superstar tomorrow.

Bringing up the rear but not out of the race is Germany’s Fabian Schmidt. Another member of the original eight, Schmidt performed well to build his stack throughout the day and was the chip leader for much of it. A hero-call from Katsuki Yamashita late in the day took a sizeable chunk off his stack, and he never fully recovered. Hopefully, tomorrow he’ll find better fortune to rebuild.

Fabian Schmidt

An honorouable mention has to be given, however, to Taiwan's own Poseidon Ho. As the final nine were preparing for the final table, Ho mentioned that out of the KRW ~780M prize pool, he "personally contributed over 100 million" of it, having busted and bought back in twice, for a total of three entries. Your sacrifice doesn't go unnoticed, Poseidon.

While largest and smallest stacks seem very disparate, it's anyone's game tomorrow during the final table, but one thing is for certain - they'll all be locked in and bringing their A game, trying to get their hands on the Stealth Lion trophy and the lion's share of the KRW 781M prize pool. Four of the six are guaranteed a cash, so they'll all be anxious not to be out first or second tomorrow. Here's a list of the payouts:

*in addition to the APTC Taiwan Ticket in November

Tomorrow's Day 2 final will resume at 11:15am South Korean local time and will be available for live stream by clicking the APT Official YouTube Channel.

The full seat draw can be viewed by clicking here.

Day 1 has of the KRW 35M Superstar Challenge has wrapped up here at the Paradise Casino! Six players have managed to bag up for the final day tomorrow out of a field of 24 entries.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's events.

Thanisorn Saelor

Stanley Weng opened to 32,000 from under the gun, and only Thanisorn Saelor in the small blind made the call.

Saelor check-called 20,000 from Weng following the 5 Q J flop.

Action slowed down, however, on the remainder of the K 5 runout.

Both players flipped over and Weng's pocket eights made the superior two pair to Saelor's pocket threes.

Jun Obara

Stanley Weng raised to 32,000 from the button and got called by Jun Obara, defending his big blind.

The A 3 3 flop came and Obara check-raised Weng's 18,000 continuation bet to 58,000, and forced a fold out of Weng.

Still, he remains in the top two stacks at the table.

Thanisorn Saelor raised to 32,000 from the button and was called by Calvin Lee in the small blind.

On the J 6 K flop, Lee check-called a 30,000 continuation bet from Saelor.

The action repeated on the T turn, this time to the tune of 80,000.

Lee check-folded on the T river, not being able to call Saelor's 225,000 bet.

Since the last level Poseidon Ho and Kannapong Thanarattrakul have been eliminated. Play is now six-handed.

Kannapong Thanarattrakul

Kannapong Thanarattrakul opened with a 34,000 raise from the hijack, and got two calls from Mikael Andersson and Jun Obara in the blinds.

On the 5 Q J flop, Obara check-folded and Andersson check-called a 30,000 continuation bet from Thanarattrakul.

The dealer turned over the T turn, and Thanarattrakul fired off again, this time for 105,000. Andersson check-folded.

Calvin Lee

Fabian Schmidt put out a 21,000 raise from middle position and got called by Calvin Lee on the button.

Both players checked through the 3 Q K flop. On the 5 turn, Schmidt check-folded a 25,000 bet from Lee.

A short while later Joseph Cheong had busted for the second time and was out of the event.

Fabian Schmidt opened from early position with a 24,000 raise, called only by Stanley Weng in the big blind.

On the 4 6 3 flop, Weng led out for 18,000, only to be re-raised to 100,000 by Schmidt, which Weng called.

Weng led out on the 2 turn for 65,000, to which Schmidt couldn't seem to find the call and gave the hand up.

The Final Table has begun, with the final nine players beginning to battle it out for the top spot and coveted APT trophy.

With nine remaining out of 24 entries, only four places are paid:

Here's how they're looking going into the last two levels of the night:

Stanley Weng

Stanley Weng raised to 20,000 from the cutoff, with Fabian Schmidt joining from the button. Kannapong Thanarattrakul, who was another late registration today, bumped the price of entry to 100,000 from the small blind.

Weng folded instantly, and Schmidt took a moment before ultimately deciding to let that one go.