Day 2B of the APT Taipei 2026 Main Event welcomed a second wave of players back to the felt, following the completion of Day 2A. Players battled their way through eight 60-minute Levels to secure their place in the next stage of the tournament, with over an hour of hand-for-hand play. The field drew 251 total entries. This included 147 players who progressed from Flight B and 104 additional players who jumped in during late registration which closed after the first break of the day.

Action continued until the field reached the money. With 14.5% of the field in each Day 2 flight guaranteed a payout, the bubble in Flight B was reached when just 69 players remained. The tense stand-off finally ended at ~1.15 A.M., bursting the bubble after over an hour of intense hand for hand action.

Flight 2B Bubble Hand, Suhwan Kwon(left) & Grant Wang(right)

It was Grant Wang who was the unfortunate bubble boy. He got his pocket eights in against Suhwan Kwon’s King-Jack with Kwon finding a jack on the flop, sending him to the rail.

The 2026 APT Taipei Main Event smashed the TWD 70 Million guarantee with 2,354 players ponying up the TWD 55,000 buy-in, generating a massive TWD 111,862,080 (~USD 3,585,320) prize pool. The minimum payout stands at **TWD 94,000 (~USD 3,010) while the eventual champion will walk away with the top prize of TWD 16,640,100 (~USD 533,340).

The top six placed finishers will also receive a ticket to the APT Championship Main Event here in Taipei this November, worth TWD 312,000 (~USD 10,000), and an additional two tickets will be awarded randomly, one to a random draw after all players are in the money, and one to a random draw on Day 4.

Full Payout Structure

Suhwan Kwon

It was Suhwan Kwon who bagged 975,000 to top the Day 2B counts. It wasn't all smooth sailing for Kwon. He passed some chips across to Dong Yan early in the day after mucking to his opponents two pair, but he was sitting high in the counts most of the flight, and nearing the bubble he was already chip leading.

Next in line is Selim Oulmekki (803,000) from France and South Korea's Jaejoong Kim (752,000), each securing strong positions that will give them momentum heading into Day 3. Oulmekki had a strong start early in the day as he already had built a dominating stack at his table, within in the first few hours of play.

Top Ten Chip Counts – Flight 2B

Fabrizio Nutzel

A number of notable players made it through to Day 3, including Fabrizio Nutzel (481,000), Trung Nguyen (399,000) and Sofia Lovgren (51,000). Lovgren had a tougher start to the day after losing some of her stack to Chih Chiang in the first few levels of play. She continued to tumble and was one of the shortest stacks heading into the bubble, but still managed to lock up a bag and progress to Day 3.

Germany’s Nutzel build up a healthy stack throughout the day, helped by calling down Chao Ting Cheng’s bluff to win a sizeable pot midway through the day.

Yita Choong

Others started the day off well but fell short of the finish line as the field thinned. Some of the notable eliminations included Yita Choong, who started the day off strong after doubling up early in the day, but hit the rail during Level 16.

Mike Takayama, the winner APT's richest ever Super High Roller, also made it through around seven levels before eventually running out of luck. He got all his chips in behind, against Jisoo Ha, but didn’t find help from the board.

Remaining Main Event Schedule – APT Taipei 2026

The Main Event structure remains unchanged. Day 2B survivors (69) will now merge with the Day 2A field (199) and those who made it through OnLive (72), to form a unified Day 3 with 340 players making it through. However, players Chawengsak Assawinnimit and Anton Lysenko played live and secured a bag of chips, but also made it through OnLive so will have locked up the first two minimum cashes. 338 players are due to take their seats tomorrow at the Red Space Events Centre and play through Day 3.

Action resumes tomorrow, Thursday, April 30 at 11:15 AM local time. Play will begin at Level 18 and continue through ten 60 minute levels, or until the field is reduced to 48 players — whichever comes first.

Join us again tomorrow as we bring live updates, chip counts, and highlights straight from the tournament floor, with the road to the Final Table drawing ever closer.

Action stopped halfway through Level 19 after the bubble burst, and 69 players will progress to Day 3 tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the full Flight 2B recap which will be posted shortly.

Suhwan Kwon (left) & Grant Wang (right)

After a number of double up's on the bubble, another hand was played on Table 70. It was the chip lead Suhwan Kwon who opened to 16,000 on the button and Grant Wang three-bet to 100,000 from the small blind. The big blind folded, and Kwon moved all in for around 750,000 and Grant went into the tank. He used two time bank cards before calling off the rest of his 150,000 stack.

A lot of table talk was shared, with Grant asking Kwon "Ace-King?", "Ace-Queen?", "Ace-Jack". All of which Kwon replied with a swift "No".

Grant continued with, "Well, what do you have?". Kwon responded "Not a good hand".

After the floor confirmed that all remaining tables were not in action, they called for the cards to be flipped.

Grant Wang: 8 8

Suhwan Kwon: K J

Wang needed to hold to avoid being one of the Main Event bubble boys, but the flop went Kwon's way as the dealer fanned the J T 7 .

There was no help for Wang on the 2 turn or 2 river and Wang was sent home in 70th place, just missing out on the money.

Suhwan Kwon left the hand as the likely chip leader of Flight 2B, and in a prime position heading into the start of Day 3 tomorrow.

Keisuke Tajiri made it 20,000 under the gun before Tao Wei Chang ripped it all in from the small blind with a covering stack. Once the big blind folded, Tajiri quickly called for his stack of 110,000, putting himself at risk.

Keisuke Tajiri: A A

Tai Wei Chang: 5 5

Tajiri was in the perfect spot to double up on the bubble, as long as the dealer dealt out a favorable runout.

A clean board of Q 3 J K J came out, keeping Tajiri's bullets as the best hand, much to the dismay of the other 69 players in Day 2B.

Nguyen Hao made it 16,000 to play from under the gun and action folded to Juho Maeng in the cutoff who three-bet all in for 78,000. Action came back to Hao who made the call.

Juho Maeng: A Q

Nguyen Hao: 8 8

Not the door card Maeng was looking for on the 8 6 6 flop and he was in deep trouble.

The 3 turn left him drawing dead, and the 7 irrelevant river sealed the deal.

With 71 players remaining and 69 spots available on Day 3, the floor staff have decided to begin hand-for-hand play.

Yuji Watanabe

With 65,000 in the pot on a completed board of J 6 A 6 7 , Yuji was first to act from the big blind and fired an overbet of around 100,000.

Lam Ho, seated in early position, used a time bank before jamming for roughly 190,000. Watanabe quickly called with just a few big blinds more than Ho.

Ho showed the nut full house with A A to earn the full double-up, as Watanabe revealed a flush holding Q 3

Min Jinhee

Action has significantly slowed and there has been very little post flop action towards the end of this level as we are 3 away from the money.

In one hand, Min Jinhee opened to 15,000 from the small blind and Sergei Zakharov shoved from the big blind for 150,000.

Jinhee paused, before folding, and showing pocket sixes. Her opponent took the pot and flashed his pocket jacks.

Alan Engel

Action folded to Yuji Watanabe in the hijack who moved all in for about 400,000 and had the table covered. Alan Engel in the cutoff ,then also moved all in for his last 108,000 and action was on Isaac Hechanova in the small blind, who also moved all in for 234,000. Counts were checked, and cards flipped over.

Alan Engel: A A

Isaac Hechanova: Q Q

Yuji Watanabe: 7 7

No sickness on the T 8 2 3 2 runout and Engel was shipped the pot for a treble up whilst Hechanova doubled his remaining stack with the side pot from Watanabe.

Sofia Lovgren

There are a number of players who are sitting with less than 100,000 heading towards the money bubble.

Sofia Lovgren is among one of the shortest stack with just 57,000. She isn't the shortest of the pack as Chi Jen Chen has just 40,000 to his name.

Hsu-Sheng is looking down at around 49,000 and sitting to his direct left is Yuki Kawabata who will also be looking for a spin, sitting with 68,000.