Chinese poker superstar Tony Ren Lin is hunting his second APT signature lion trophy
Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 Generates TWD 35.6M (~USD 1.1M) Prize Pool; Germany’s Darius Nass Leads Day 1
APT TAIPEI 2026 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 26, 2026 – Run in partnership with with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP) across two venues—the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and the Asia Poker Arena (APA)—Day 9 of the APT Taipei 2026 saw the 2,354-entry Main Event field whittled down to just 46.
With shares of the substantial TWD 111,862,080 (~USD 3,585,320) prize pool to be claimed—the second largest ever generated in an APT Main Event—and a gigantic TWD 16,640,100 (~USD 533,340) top prize awaiting the eventual champion, there was a great deal at stake as the tournament entered Day 3.
In addition to the Main Event, there were a further 16 tournaments (including satellites) in play across both venues.
Other highlights included Day 1 of the TWD 25 million (~USD 800K) GTD Event #124 Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8, and the opening two flights of the recently announced TWD 6 million GTD (~USD 192K) Labor Day Monster Stack, the latter of which took place over at APA.
You can read a brief summary of the Labor Day Monster Stack action in the Day 9 side event press release, with Day 1 of the Zodiac Classic action summarised further down in this article.
Chinese Poker Superstar Tony Ren Lin Bags Main Event Day 3 Chip Lead
A total of 338 players returned for Day 3 of the TWD 55,000 (~USD 1,700) buy-in APT Main Event, with the 268 survivors from the two Day 2 flights joined by 72 OnLive players who had won their way though on Natural8.
Being as two of these players, Russia’s Anton Lysenko and Thailand’s Chawengsak Assawinnimit, had also made their way through the live flights their smaller online stacks were removed from play earning the duo a TWD TWD 94,000 (~USD 3,010) min-cash.
All players were already guaranteed a share of the TWD 111,862,080 (~USD 3,585,320) prize pool, it was just a case of fighting to determine how big a slice each competitor would earn.
Of course, everyone’s goal was to make it though to the penultimate Day 4 for a shot at taming the award-winning Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and claiming the gigantic TWD 16,640,100 (~USD 533,340) top prize – the second largest Main Event first place prize ever awarded outside of the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event.
For APT Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
The first of the eight APTC Main Event seats on offer in the tournament was claimed via a lucky draw midway through the first level played, with Russia’s Sergei Zakharov sitting in the hot seat and winning his place in the USD 5M GTD APTC Main Event playing out in November.
Russia’s Sergei Zakharov won the first of eight APTC Main Event tickets via the lucky draw
There will be a second lucky draw at the start of Day 4, with the remaining six APTC tickets allocated to the top six finishers of the APT Taipei 2026 Main Event.
Down to 46
The action played out over nine and a half 60-minute levels, with the elimination of Malaysia’s Leonard Ng at the hands of Hong Kong’s Chun Yu Ma bringing the tournament to a close for the day.
While the pot was a substantial one it was not enough to give Ma the lead, although it did move him up to third in the overall chip counts.
It will be Chinese poker superstar Tony Ren Lin returning in the driver’s seat when play resumes for Day 4.
Lin was the only player to reach and breach the 5-million chip mark, bagging up a stack of 5,275,000 (105 big blinds) with which to make a play for his second APT Big Three tournament trophy after dominating a great deal of the streamed feature table action.
Thailand’s Pakinai Lisawad (4,750,000), and Ma (4,670,000) round out the top three stacks, with India’s Nishant Kumar (2,905,000), and the Philippines’ Michael Concepcion (2,615,000) also making an appearance in the top ten, with a total of 46 players locking up their spot for Day 4.
MAIN EVENT DAY 3 TOP TEN STACKS
Other notables still in the running include APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong (2,010,000), Natural8 OnLive players Kristof Segers (1,745,000), and Joshua McCully (1,540,000), the Netherlands Joris Michl (1,120,000), the USA’s Alan ‘Ari’ Engel (1,000,000), and Hong Kong’s Kevin Choi (109,500), with the latter returning as the short stack.
Joseph Cheong kept his APT Main Event dream alive
Several former APT Big Three champions hit the rail as play progressed; start-of-day chip leader and APT Manila 2024 High Roller champion Daniel Neilson (66th), APT Taiwan 2021 Main Event champion & Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo (68th), and APT Jeju 2025 Main Event winner Abraham Ceesvin (98th) were all unable to make the cut.
Joining them at the payout desk were APT Cebu 2015 Main Event winner John Tech (163rd), APT Incheon 2022 Main Event winner Farhad Aghayev (174th), APT Jeju 2024 High Roller winner & Natural8 Ambassador Ting Yi ‘Eric’ Tsai (301st), and APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 High Roller winner Martin Sedlak (333rd).
For Main Event Day 3 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 3 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Day 4 Draw please CLICK HERE
For Main Event Results please CLICK HERE
All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Day 3 tournament page.
You can read about all the Day 3 action on the APT Blog, or watch it as it happened via the APT Main Event Day 3 live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.
The Day 4 action resumes at 11:15am local time (TST) on Friday, May 1, with the plan to play down to the final table.
Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 Generates TWD 35.6M (~USD 1.1M) Prize Pool; Germany’s Darius Nass Leads Day 1
Germany’s Darius Nass bagged the Day 1 chip lead in the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8
With two-time Zodiac Classic champion Joseph Cheong still plugging away in the Main Event, there is a chance for another player to take center stage in one of the more prestigious events on the APT Taipei 2026 schedule.
One of those who may fancy their chances more than most is Germany’s Darius Nass who topped Day 1 of the 486-entry (357 unique) field of the latest edition of the TWD 85,000 (~USD 2,700) buy-in Event #124 Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8.
The field breezed past the TWD 25 million (~USD 800K) GTD, amassing a prize pool of TWD 35,691,840 (~USD 1,143,970), with Nass concluding the thirteen 40-minute levels played with a stack of 468,500 with which to make his play for the TWD 6,767,640 (~USD 216,910) top prize awaiting the eventual champion.
The top two places will also claim a seat to the USD 5M GTD Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) Main Event.
By the time the tournament clock ticked into the red, just 156 players were left in contention, although with only the top 71 places paying out, and a min-cash good for TWD 133,300 (~USD 4,270), over half of the remaining field will be departing empty-handed on the Final Day when play resumes.
For Zodiac Classic Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
Hong Kong’s Ka Lok Lam (359,500) and Germany’s Joshua Gebissa (345,000) joined Nass in the overnight podium positions, with other notables to bag a top ten stack including Thai TV host Napat Chokejindachai (301,500), Ireland’s Gary Thompson (273,000), Hong Kong’s Hon Cheong ‘Ivan’ Lee (271,500), and three-time APT titlist Ngoc Anh Cao (260,500).
ZODIAC CLASSIC TOP TEN DAY 1 STACKS
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Zodiac Classic Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
APT Manila 2024 High Roller champion Daniel Neilson (231,500) jumped in immediately following his Main Event cash.
Other former and reigning APT champions to make it though including the Philippines’ John Tech (188,000), APT Super High Roller champion Mike Takayama, Germany’s Rene von Reden (106,000), Indonesia’s Rudy Edenata (103,000), Germany’s Martin Sedlak (98,500), two-time Main Event champion Lester Edoc (88,000), and reigning APTC Main Event champion Nishant Sharma (68,500).
Other notables to make it though Day 1 included France’s Hugues Gerard (240,500), poker vlogger Ching Yu ‘Andy Stacks’ Tsai (155,500), South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim (60,000), and triple bracelet winner Yan Shing ‘Anson’ Tsang (29,500).
All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 Day 1 tournament page.
You can read about how the Zodiac Classic Day 1 action played out via the APT Blog.
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time (TST) with the tournament playing down to a champion and of course, the APT Blog team will be on hand to bring you all the tournament thrills and spills.