Day 3 Chip Leader Haiyang Yang

Another hard-fought day of poker at the 2026 Asian Poker Tour Jeju Classic saw 254 players return to LES A Casino with a single goal — a run at the Main Event title. By day’s end, most dreams had been dashed, but 47 players remained with championship hopes alive heading into Day 4.

In a hotly contested race for the chip lead that came down to the final hands of the night, China's Haiyang Yang managed to edge out the competition after bagging up 3,635,000. Yang's ascent was aided in part by winning a crucial flip against Shuang Bao late in the day. Hot on his tail is Shintaro Sato of Japan with 3,480,000, and rounding out the top three is Qi Pan of China, who ended with 3,395,000.

A regular on the Asian tournament circuit, Yang has amassed just over $450,000 in live tournament earnings. While he has cashed several times on the APT, a title has so far eluded him. His lone six-figure score came in 2024, when he placed fourth in a World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold’em event for $149,145. Yang will achieve a career-best payday should he navigate his chip lead into a third-place finish or better.

APT MAIN EVENT DAY 3 TOP TEN STACKS

The remaining 47 players have already locked up a guaranteed payday of KRW 9,300,000 (~$6,460), but all eyes are surely on the top prize of KRW 579,649,600 (~$402,535) along with the prestigious Main Event Gold Lion trophy. Additionally, the top three finishers will receive seats in the APT Championship Event (APTC) taking place in Taipei in November.

Remaining Payouts

Main Event Trophy

Day 3 Action

The returning 254 players returned having already secured a min-cash worth KRW 3,510,000 (~$2,440) and looking to make a push toward the final table.

Ren Lin entered the day with a short stack wasted little time getting involved in an effort to double up or bust trying. Lin managed to take down the blinds once before shoving preflop and getting called by Khoa Anh Ngo. It was a fair fight between Lin's pocket eights against Ngo's ace-queen, but Ngo hit a "Lady Gaga" on the turn to end Lin's run early.

Ren Lin

The unusual case of Yu Zhou, who managed to secure a cash despite being absent for all of Day 2, ended anticlimactically as Zhou remained a no-show on Day 3 and was blinded out within the first two orbits.

By the time the first break arrived, the field had already thinned to 170 players. Other notables eliminated in the early levels include Ping Dong, Peng Qin, Wen Jie Sun, Eric “Six Poker” Tsai, and high-stakes cash game legend Andy Tsai, who lost the majority of his stack after getting out-kicked by Chongwei Liao in a large pot and then busting shortly thereafter.

Andy Tsai

Tianhao Zheng entered Day 3 as the overall chip leader but ran into some early trouble after losing a massive pot to Shoumin Zhang on a bad beat. Zheng was never able to recover and ended up bowing out in 71st after jamming ace-queen into Yasuhiro Yamamoto's ace-king and failing to improve.

Two APT Main Event Champions—Lester Edoc and Punnat Punsri—were presesnt at the start of Day 3 with healthy stacks and looking to further solidify their names in APT history. Edoc started off hot after making a runner-runner straight against Yuzhi Shen to obtain a well above-average stack. However, Edoc suffered a cooler against Takashi Ogura after rivering trips against Ogura's full house to fall in 77th place. Punsri held on a little longer, but ultimately busted out in 67th place in his bid for another Main Event title, which means a new champion will be crowned.

Punnat Punsri

Faring better in the latter stages of Day 3 was Zu You Wang, who managed to steadily increase his stack throughout the day to end with a top ten stack of 2,925,000. Wang will be looking for redemption after placing runner-up in the National Cup earlier in the festival.

With just 49 players remaining toward the end of Level 26, two players got eliminated simultaneously at different tables to end play for the day. Peng Zhou was eliminated on an outer table, while Yu Han Su made her exit on the feature table after a cruel runout ended Su's run with ace-king against Nang Quang Nguyen's ace-jack.

Yu Han Su

Day 4 will begin tomorrow at 11:15 AM with 23:01 remaining on the clock for Level 26, which features 20,000/40,000 blinds with a 40,000 big-blind ante. The plan is to play down to a final table of nine, at which point play will pause until the finale on Day 5.

With fewer than 10 big blinds separating the top five stacks, a fiercely contested push toward the final table is expected. Be sure to check back here for ongoing coverage leading to the final table tomorrow and the exhiliriating conclusion on Saturday, Feb 7 at 11:15 AM.

For a full list of Day 3 survivors: Click here.

With the elimination of the 49th and 48th player, the day has come to an end, leaving 47 players advancing to Day 4. Stay tuned as a recap of the day will follow shortly.

Yu Han Su

What a way to end Day 3!

Nang Quang Nguyen opened the cutoff to 80,000 and Yu Han Su three-bet to 320,000 out of the small blind. When it got back to Nguyen, he shoved for 1,200,000, and Su quickly called for around 1,100,000.

Yu Han Su: A K

Nang Quang Nguyen: A J

A great spot for Su to double up late in the day, but an absolutely brutal flop of T K Q gave Nguyen Broadway to take the lead.

Su's best chance of survival was a chop, and that was her only hope after the 9 hit the turn. The T river brought no help, and Su departed in 49th place, bringing an end to Day 3.

Action was picked up with Jun Li calling Shojiro Morita, who was at risk and all-in for 90,000 nearing the end of the day.

Shojiro Morita: 8 5

Jun Li: A 9

Li was ahead with ace-high on the flop of 4 Q 6 .

As the poker gods would have it, it wasn’t Morita’s time to go when the turn fell 5 , pushing him into the lead.

The 2 on the river sealed his double up, keeping him alive as he moves on to Day 4.

Sergei Udachin

Sergei Udachin opened for 650,000 leaving one 5,000-chip behind. Dongying Ling immediately to his left called. When action folded around, Ling made the mistake of turning over his cards, unaware that Udachin still had one chip behind.

The floor was called and had Ling leave his cards tabled without any issue. The flop came 3 T 4 at which point Udachin threw in his last chip and put his hands together as if in prayer. When Ling called, he fist pumped the air joyfully.

Sergei Udachin: A T

Dongying Ling: A K

Udachin has hit the flop with a pair and continued praying that his lead stayed. The dealer peeled the 8 turn and the 4 river granting Udachin his wish. Ling was crippled and was eliminated a few hands after.

Yuta Morikawa

Yuxuan Hou raised to 80,000 from early position and Yuta Morikawa shoved the hijack for 735,000. Boon Seng Ang was in the small blind and called off his 220,000, and Hou also called for his stack of 510,000.

Boon Seng Ang: A K

Yuxuan Hou: J J

Yuta Morikawa: T T

Ang had a good chance of tripling up, but not after the J 8 7 flop gave Hou top set.

Morikawa could still win with a nine, but the 5 6 runout didn't change anything.

Once all was said and done, Ang was eliminated, Hou more than doubled up 1,300,000, and Morikawa was left with 225,000 in his stack.

Dongying Ling

Hui Liu opened to 80,000 in middle position and received an all-in reply from Dongying Ling for 335,000 from the button. When action went back to Liu, he made the call putting Ling's run in jeopardy.

Dongying Ling: A Q

Hui Liu: K 7

Ling was in the lead and was pushed further ahead when the flop came 4 5 A .

The runout 8 4 didn't change anything giving Ling a much needed double up.

Shojiro Morita raised to 100,000 first to act and found one caller in Yixi Tang, who was in the big blind.

Tang check-called a 100,000 continuation bet from Morita on the A 7 T flop and then both players checked on the J turn.

The 9 completed the board and Tang led out for 300,000, sending Morita deep into the tank.

Morita used up several time extensions before eventually deciding to stick in a call and Tang turned over A 8 for a straight. Morita shook his head and sent his cards into the muck, conceding the pot to Tang and falling to just 75,000 in chips.

Chongwei Liao

Yi Lu shoved for his last 370,000 from the cutoff and it was folded to Chongwei Liao, who also went all in from the small blind to put Lu at risk.

Yi Lu: A T

Chongwei Liao: Q Q

"Ah, thirty percent," Lu said in reference to his odds of winning the hand and doubling up.

The thirty percent didn't come in, however, on the J 4 7 7 4 runout and Lu wished his tablemates good luck as he exited the tournament area.

Nang Quang Nguyen

Yuxuan Hou raised to 80,000 on the button and then called the shove of Nang Quang Nguyen, who moved all in from the small blind for 745,000.

Nanh Quang Nguyen: A J

Yuxuan Hou: A K

Nguyen was dominated, and the 5 6 7 flop didn't give him much to work with.

A 2 on the turn left him with just three outs, and that's all Nguyen needed as the J landed on the river, improving him to a pair of jacks.