Flight A chip leader Yongqiang Tian

Flight A of the APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event is a wrap.

The opening flight of the KRW 2,300,000 Main Event drew 421 entries (298 unique), packing into Les A Casino, Jeju, and battling it out at the tables over ten 60-minute levels.

This is an eight percent (7.9%) increase in entries over Flight A of the APT Jeju 2025 Main Event, which attracted 390 entries, and a sizable sixty-eight percent (68.4%) increase over the APT Incheon 2025 Main Event Flight A, which attracted 250 initial entries.

With 255 OnLive entries having already competed on Natural8 — with 37 making their way through to Day 3 and the paying positions — this brings the Main Event field up to 676 entries in total, with three live starting flights left to play out over the next two days.

After nearly twelve hours of play at the tables 145 players were left standing to bag up their chips to take through to Day 2 on February 4.

It was China’s Yongqiang Tian who closed out the flight with the chip lead, bagging an impressive 524,400. Close behind Tian was compatriot Xiao Liu with 402,800 and making it a Chinese podium clean sweep in third spot was Xiongfeng Chen with 316,900.

Top Ten Chip Stacks:

Iulian Bleabea sent to the rail in Flight A

A plethora of APT regulars took their seats in the opening flight of the event to try and build a healthy stack to take through to Day 2 but most fell by the wayside. The likes of Romania’s Iulian Bleabea, Germany’s Rene von Reden, and Russia’s Maxim Sorokin will all be looking to jump into one of the remaining three flights to get a stack to take into Day Two.

APT High Roller stalwart Australia’s Yita Choong sits in eighth spot with 277,000 and will be looking for a deep run to take his lifetime earnings to near the USD 3.5m mark.

Yita Choong made it through the flight with a healthy stack

Natural8 Ambassador, Taiwan’s Neven Chang is still in and sitting on 115,400 chips with a good shot at another APT title to take his lifetime earnings over the USD 3.4m mark.

Close behind is Germany’s Martin Sedlak on 115,900 chips who will be hoping to push his lifetime earnings up to near the USD 1.25m mark.

Trailing behind Sedlak is APT All-time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong, another APT stalwart, sitting on 113,400 and looking to take his lifetime earnings to near the USD 21m threshold.

Joseph Cheong through to Day 2

For a full list of all flight A survivors with chip counts click HERE.

There are still an additional three live starting flights for the event, starting with flight B, which kicks off at 11.00 am tomorrow, February 2.

The remaining 143 players have bagged their chips officially ending APT Main Event Flight A. Stay tuned for a full recap coming shortly.

Hao Ting Liu opened to 3,000 under the gun and got called by the player on the left, Yiming Li and big blind Julian Yoo.

The flop came 3 Q 2 After action was passed to him, Li fired 5,000 and got Yoo to fold. Initial raiser Liu, however, went beyond and made it 10,000. Li called.

Both players knuckled the Q but after another check from Liu, Li bet 23,500. Liu threw in a time bank to consider his options but ultimately called.

Li tabled A A prompting Liu to muck his hand in frustration.

Yi Chang Ho, under the gun, opened to 2,800 and got callers in Mingcong Chen in cutoff and Farhad Mohajerani on the button. But small blind William Li had other things in mind and three-bet to 15,000. Ho called and so did Chen but Mohajerani decided to get away from the escalating heat.

The flop came K 2 5 . Li continued with a 10,000 bet which pushed Chen out of the way but retained Ho. Applying maximum pressure, Li shoved all-in for 38,200 on the 9 turn. After burning a time bank, Ho called putting Li at risk.

William Li: 8 8

Yi Chang Ho: A Q

Li was ahead with his eights but still needed to evade a few outs on the river to seal his double up. Not only did he evade a possible over card hitting the board but his hand improved to a set with the 8 river cementing his double up through Ho.

The clock has now been paused and the floor has announced that six more hands will be dealt for the day.

All remaining players will then bag up their chips to take through to Day Two on February 4.

With over 17,000 in the pot the flop of T T 7 was fanned out across the table. Loy Abdo checked from the hijack, and Bo Jin bet out for 2,200 from the cutoff. Abdo made the call.

The turn brought the 7 and Abdo checked it over to Jin, who fired out a second barrel for 6,600. Abdo flat called once more.

The river brought the 9 and Abdo checked for a third time. Jin went into the tank and asked to see Abdo's stack numerous times before he pushed out a bet of 33,000, which was enough to put Abdo all in. Abdo thought for a while and tossed in the call tabling 8 8 for two pair, which was streets ahead of Jin's 4 4 , which played the board.

Martin Sedlak

With 20,000 in the middle beside a A 3 6 , Kozo Yamada and Martin Sedlak, on the button, waited as the dealer peeled the Q turn.

Yamada bet 12,700 and was called by Sedlak to see the river which fell Q . Yamada wasted no time and shoved all-in for 34,500. Looking straight at Yamada without giving anything away, Sedlak considered his options and slowly pushed his cards to the muck pile.

Action was picked with Peng Deng firing 55,000 into a pot of around 60,000 on a completed board of K 2 K 5 A . His opponent Quan Cui went into the tank considering his options as he only had 32,000 behind.

He leaned back as he pushed his time banks forward. After some time, he finally made the decision to make a stand and called for his tournament life.

Cui turned over A Q then stood up to leave when Deng flipped over K T for trips on the flop.

Iulian Bleabea Sent To The Rail

Jie Wang made it 2,400 to play from early position, and action was folded to Iulian Bleabea on the button, who moved all in for his last 23,000.

Action came back around to Wang who snap called.

Iulian Bleabea: Q J

Jie Wang: T T

No help for Bleabea on the 3 A 9 4 8 run out and he was sent to the rail.

Quang Huy Nguyen

Action was picked up on a flop of 7 2 5 with 18,000 chips beside it.

The dealer peeled the Q and small blind Gang Wang in the small blind fired 6,000. His only opponent in the hand Quang Huy Nguyen called from cutoff to see the last card.

The river T fell, Wang fired another 11,000 sending Nguyen to the tank. With only 28,000 left behind, Nguyen couldn't make the call and surrendered both his hand and the pot to Wang.