Choi Eng Loong
Choi Eng Loong capped off an incredible run by winning the Asian Poker Tour Championship (APTC) 2025 7-Max Championship, securing a career-best TWD 4,275,460 (~USD 138,150). The two-day contest drew 313 entries, with just 107 players earning a seat on Day 2 to chase a piece of the impressive TWD 21,634,560 (~USD 702,420) prize pool.
As the first-ever 7-Max event held at APTC, the tournament set a new benchmark for the series. The energy inside Red Space, Taipei never dipped as players traded pots, swapped momentum, and navigated the deeper structure on their way toward the final table spotlight.
For Loong, the victory continues an incredible 2025 campaign. He had already posted a strong result earlier this year in the Asia-Pacific region, finishing third for USD 90,614. This 7-Max win now stands as the biggest cash of his career, and he also picks up a ticket to the APTC Main Event worth TWD 311,000 (~USD 10,000).
7-Max Championship Final Table Results
Day 2 Action
Day 1 saw many notable players hop into the field including Shiina Okamoto, Joseph Cheong, Lucia Navarro Martinez, Biao Ding, Hannes Jeschka and Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo. Many of them bagged and tagged and started the second and final day with sizeable stacks.
Jongkwan Lee
The bubble came in ferociously, as only 39 made the money. Despite building up a stack throughout the early hours of play, Jongkwan Lee was the unlucky bubble boy and was eliminated in a brutal knockout against Abraham Ceesvin, after he admitted he “got lucky” picking up on the board.
The eliminations then came thick and fast, and it wasn’t long before the final table was reached. Shun Yi Zheng just missed out on making it after being pipped out in a brutal series of events. Zheng was fed the dream and saw hope of a double up, but it was quickly snatched away by the eventual champion.
Play was paused, and the final table went eight-handed, with Loong entering the final table as chip leader. Seungmook Jung was hot on his tail, as he sat in second going into the final table.
Jung saw a lot of late-night action, which included taking the stack off Anusorn Asiralertsiri with pocket aces just before reaching the final table. Busting Christian Harder with pocket kings and sending him out in 13th place, also helped build his stack.
Dinesh Alt
The first elimination of the final table saw Dinesh Alt get knocked out in eighth. He got all his chips in with pocket sixes on a rainbow flop, against Asiralertsiri’s ace-king. Unfortunately for Alt, a king on the turn sealed his fate, and he was sent to the rail.
Jung was next to fall in seventh place as he lost a chunk of his stack in a hand against Ran Ilani and then jammed the small blind into Asiralertsiri, who was in the big blind. He snapped him off and Jung was behind with queen-four off suit. Jung picked up a queen on the flop, but was against Asiralertsiri’s king-jack suited, and the turn and river saw a jack and king, respectively.
It was then the end of the road for Benjamin Leblond after pairing his ten-eight suited on the flop, but he was out-kicked by Ilani, sending him home in 6th place.
John Perry
Action stagnated for a while until John Perry secured a double-up from the then chip leader Loong. Perry managed to hold with a pair of tens, as Loong bricked out after flopping a straight draw. His luck ran out just one hand later, Perry slid out in fifth place after getting his stack in against Loong again and missing the runout.
The final four battled for around 15 minutes until it was time for Asiralertsiri to surrender their remaining stack and take home the fourth-place payout. Asiralertsiri went down to his last million chips, which was around eight big blinds in Level 30, and shoved over Ilani’s open. Ilani called and showed nine-deuce offsuit, and picked up a nine on the turn. Although Asiralertsiri picked up a pair on the river, fours weren’t enough to save him.
Hannes Jeschka
The final three saw the first pivotal hand even out the stack with Jeschka doubling through Loong, going into the last stages of the tournament. Ilani was just stretching to the top position sitting with the largest stack. Jeschka lost a fair chunk of their stack against Ilani after he picked up a better pair on the river.
That sequence led to them ending their day in third place after Jeschka took on Loong in the very next hand. Loong opened the button and called a jam by Jeschka, for just under ten big blinds. Loong’s rail were calling for the flush to come in after the flop brought in a heart-draw for Loong, and the two of hearts turn, secured him the pot and busted Jeschka.
Heads-up saw Ilani go in as the favourite, sitting with significantly more than half the chips in play. Loong was happy to play and put up a fair fight, and kept the momentum up, as he had done for the majority of the final table. Loong and Ilani battled for around 45 minutes before the Malaysian player spun up a stack and took the lead.
It wasn’t long before Loong was at risk for his tournament life. Ilani limped the small blind and Loong checked from the big blind. There were a number of bets on each street, which eventually got to showdown after Loong three-bet shoved on the river. Loong had rivered the flush, but Ilani couldn’t get away from his straight.
Heads Up Action, Choi Eng Loong (left), Ran Ilani (right).
With Loong then sitting with around 75% of the chips in play, it was a matter of minutes until Ilani was the one at risk. Loong called Ilani’s shove and was ahead with ace-queen against his opponent's ace-seven. Loong turned a queen, and the seven on the river wasn’t good enough to save Ilani, which meant he left the tournament in second place.
This concludes coverage of the 7-Max Championship at APTC 2025, but live reporting will continue with the Ultra Stack Championship and PLO Championship Final Days on Wednesday, Nov 19, both kicking off at 11.15 AM. There will also be fresh action as the four-day Natural8 National Cup Championship event gets underway, with live coverage starting when cards hit the air at 3 PM local time.
Stick with us on the APT blog as we follow the action live from the Red Space Event Centre in Taipei across the next two weeks – highlighting the epic showdowns and bad beat stories.
Choi Eng Loong
Ran Ilani