• Mini High Roller Championship Generates APTC’s Eighth USD Seven-Figure Prize Pool; Michael Egan Leads Final Table

• South Korea’s Gyeong Beom Kim Tops Trip Saver Championship Day 1

APT CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | LIVE REPORTING | IMAGES | WINNERS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 29, 2025 – Playing out at the tournament tables of the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間 and run in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), the penultimate day of the APT Championship 2025 saw the last six of the festival’s 20 Championship Events in action.

In addition to the finale of the High Roller Championship—the tour’s richest-ever tournament outside of the Main Event—the Micro Main Event Championship, the Freezeout Championship and the single day Turbo Championship also played down to thrilling conclusions – you can read more about these last three in the Day 16 daily recap article.

Then there was Day 2 of the Mini High Roller Championship, with the event generating the eighth seven-figure prize pool of the festival.

Players proved they were still hungry for more, piling into Day 1 of the final Championship Event of the festival, with Day 1 of the two-day Trip Saver Championship drawing an 394-entry field.

Joyce Jousts for Festival’s Final Rose Gold Lion in High Roller Championship

Toby Joyce defeated Nguyen Huu Dung to win the inaugural High Roller Championship

With the record-breaking Main Event now in the history books, all the rail birds’ attention was focused on the thrilling conclusion of the TWD 466,000 (~USD 14,935) High Roller Championship.

Just 12 players out of the initial 173 entries returned to the felt for the third and final day of the tournament, all guaranteed a TWD 1,288,300 (~USD 41,290) slice of the TWD 75,782,176 (~USD 2,428,915) prize pool – the richest ever generated outside of the Main Event.

It was Ireland’s Toby Joyce who tamed the last of the festival’s exclusive Rose Gold Lion trophies, overcoming an all-star field featuring former APT champions, multiple WSOP bracelet winners and Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel – although the ten-time bracelet winner did not make it through to the final day.

Joyce overcame Vietnam’s Nguyen Huu Dung heads-up to claim his maiden APT title and a TWD 17,618,976 (~USD 564,710) top prize – the second largest non-Main Event first place prize of the New Era, and the second largest score of the Irish poker professional’s career.

While Dung—who already boasts two APT titles—was denied a third, the TWD 11,935,700 (~USD 382,555) runner-up prize represents the largest cash of his career so he will not be too disappointed with the result.

Top L-R: Toby Joyce, Nguyen Huu Dung, Jun Obara, Chase Cokaliong, Thanh Tung Nguyen Bottom L-R: Matthias Lipp, Alexander Wice, Punnat Punsri, Gerald Karlic

HIGH ROLLER CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For High Roller Championship Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

For High Roller Championship Results please CLICK HERE

Two quick eliminations on the first 60-minute played saw Vietnam’s Khoi Le Nguyen and Australia’s Steven Chew bring the action to the final table bubble.

Eventual runner-up finisher Nguyen Huu Dung set up the final nine a level later, sending Austrian high stakes specialist Samuel Mullur out in tenth.

While it was Jun Obara who returned with the start-of-day chip lead, Joyce was in the ascendency as the final table arrived.

However, it was Austria’s Matthias Lipp who scored the first final table casualty, winning a race with pocket sixes against Thanh Tung Nguyen's ace-seven to send the Vietnamese player out in ninth on the eighth hand played.

Joyce scored the next knockout one hand later, finding pocket kings to overcome Chase Cokaliong’s ace-queen and the Filipino played hit the rail in eighth.

Four hands later, Austria's Gerald Karlic took a turn as tournament top dog, finding pocket aces to eliminate Super High Roller championship runner up Alex Wice in seventh to climb up the leaderboard.

Gerald Karlic eliminates Alex Wice

Following the first break, Karlic took a big bite out of Obara’s stack, with Joyce administering the coup de grace shortly afterwards.

The Japanese #2 ranked tournament player was just one of five scalps the Irish poker professional collected on the road to claiming his maiden APT title .

Thailand’s #1 ranked tournament player Punnat Punsri was another, running ace-jack into Joyce’s pocket queens 12 hands later to exit in fifth place.

Joyce and former Main Event champion Punnat Punsri clash at the final table

There was to be no easy ride to the finish line for Joyce, with Dung tussling with Karlic to edge in front, and the three took turns as table captain for the next two levels until a huge clash between Joyce and the latter radically changed the table dynamics.

Joyce found himself on the right side of an aces versus queens confrontation to earn a huge double at Karlic’s expense, putting paid to his title dreams and sending him to the rail in fourth place a few hands later.

“The most challenging opponents at the final table were probably Gerald Karlic, the guy who I doubled up off with the queens against aces, and Matthias Lipp,” Joyce stated in his post match interview.

However, Vietnam’s Dung showed Austria's Matthias Lipp the door in third place to set up a heads-up joust that spanned 16 hands and lasted close to a full level, but Joyce’s 3-to-1 chip lead proved insurmountable.

Joyce reduced Dung down to his last eight big blinds before all the chips went in, and while the Vietnamese player’s ace-six was leading Joyce’s king-nine, a king-high flop sealed the deal.

“The moment I won, it felt pretty fitting that I won with the hand king-nine suited. One of my friends passed away recently, and I was going to dedicate my win to him. We had a dog together, and we used to joke that our favorite hand was King-nine – canine.”

This win pushes Joyce up to over the USD 3-million in live poker winnings, although his position at #6 on the Ireland All Time Money List remains unchanged.

“I guess I’m going to play a lot more APTs,” an ebullent Joyce stated in his post-match interview.

“My biggest supporter is definitely Douglas, my partner over here, and all my friends who helped me study,” said Joyce.

“So thanks everyone for supporting me. And also, I want to include my parents, because at some point in my career I was probably not doing so well, and they were there to support me. Even though it’s not the job you want your children to do, I guess, they believed in me.”

Toby Joyce celebrates his win with his partner Douglas

Austria’s Samuel Mullur came up just short of making his second final table showing of the series, cashing in 10th place for TWD 1,477,800, while Australia’s Steven Chew claimed his fourth cash of the festival for his 11th place finish.

Notables to make the paying positions but come up short of a place on the Final Day include Natural8 Ambassador Kannapong Thanarattrakul (13th for TWD 1,288,300), the USA's Dylan Linde (17th for TWD 1,061,000), Malaysia's Chin Wei "Webster" Lim (19th for TWD 954,900), the Philippines' Mike Takayama (21st for TWD 879,100), and former StarCraft professional Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (22nd for TWD 879,100).

All tournament information can be found on the High Roller Championship Final Day tournament page and you can follow all the action via the High Roller Championship Final Day APT Blog.

You can also watch the action as it happened via the High Roller Championship Final Day live stream on the official APT YouTube channel.

Mini High Roller Championship Generates APTC’s Eighth USD Seven-Figure Prize Pool; Michael Egan Leads Final Table

Australia’s Michael Egan is on the hunt for his maiden APT title

All the high stakes Championship action was not exclusive to the High Roller Championship, with Day 2 of the three-day TWD 233,000 (~USD 7,470) Mini High Roller Championship drawing the eighth USD seven-figure prize pool of the festival.

Just 60 players out of an initial 97 entries survived the nine 40-minute Day 1 levels to return for Day 2, but with late registration open until the start of level 12 the field soon filled out, with 87 more entries bringing the total field up to 184 entries (143 unique).

This generated the eighth USD seven-figure prize pool of the festival, with TWD 38,687,693 (~USD 1,239,990) in the purse and the top 27 places paid, with the eventual champion earning a substantial TWD 8,569,093 (~USD 274,650) top prize, in addition to the exclusive Pewter Lion APT Championship Trophy.

For Mini High Roller Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Several big names departed before the paying positions, with All Time Money List #15 Steve O’Dywer, and Natural8 Ambassadors Sparrow Cheung and Kitty Kuo are just some of the players who came up short.

Tobias Schwecht guaranteed the remaining 27 players a payday of at least TWD 386,900 (~USD 12,400) after his ace queen won a race against the pocket eights of Axel Halley to burst the money bubble and send the Frenchman to the rail empty-handed.

At the conclusion of the fifteen 40-minute levels played, just nine players were left in the running, with Australia’s Michael Egan leading the back with a stack of 3,510,000 – valued at 59 big blinds.

Lithuania’s Paulius Plausinaitis (3,315,000) sits second in the counts and will be the only other player returning with a stack valued at over 3-million in chips.

Hong Kong’s Wayne Lam (2,910,000) rounds out the top three, with the final table stacking up as follows:

Seated (L-R): Paulius Plausinaitis, Dumitru Pora, Michael Egan, Wai Kiat Lee Standing (L-R): Daisuke Ogita, Wayne Lam, Anthony Hu, Trong Hieu Ngo, John Schulz-Pedersen

MINI HIGH ROLLER CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TABLE

Notables to cash but some up short of the Final Day include Hong Kong’s Hon Cheong “Ivan” Lee (10th for TWD 735,100), former StarCraft professional Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (13th for TWD 638,300), Super High Roller champion Roman Hrabec (15th for TWD 580,300), Schwecht (17th for TWD 522,300), and bracelet winner Michael Wang (20th for TWD 464,300).

For Mini High Roller Championship Day 2 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini High Roller Championship Final Table Draw please CLICK HERE

For Mini High Roller Championship Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Mini High Roller Championship Day 2 tournament page and you can follow all the action via the Mini High Roller Championship Day 2 APT Blog.

The Final Day restarts at 11:15am (TST) on Sunday, November 30 and will be live streamed on a 30-minute delay on the official APT YouTube channel.

South Korea’s Gyeong Beom Kim Tops Trip Saver Championship Day 1

South Korea’s Gyeong Beom Kim leads Day 1 of the Trip Saver Championship

The biggest draw of the day proved to be Day 1 of the two-day TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,120) Trip Saver Championship, with players piling into the last Championship Event of the festival in an attempt to save their trip and tame the last of the Pewter Lion APT Championship Trophies.

The action got underway at 3:45pm (TST), and by the time registration closed at 11:10pm the field had climbed to 394 entries (273 unique) and generated a TWD 11,914,560 (~USD 381,875) prize pool to cruise passed the tournaments TWD 3 million guarantee with ease.

The top 55 places will make the paying positions, with a min-cash coming in at TWD 58,400 (~USD 1,870), with the eventual champion claiming a TWD 2,310,960 (~USD 74,070) top prize.

For Trip Saver Championship Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Players battled over twelve 40-minute levels with the field reduced to 154 competitors by the time the tournament clock ticked into the red.

While there are still plenty of eliminations between the remaining field and a cash prize, South Korea’s Gyeong Beom Kim will be returning in the best of positions to make a play for the title, trophy and top prize, bagging up a tournament-leading stack of 384,000.

Taiwan’s Chien-Hung Chi (349,000), and Australia’s Liam Jehu (302,500) round out the top three and were the only other players to conclude the action over the 300K mark.

The UK’s Adam Alfie (225,000), South Korea’s Duhan Lee (215,500), and Australia’s John Perry (208,500) all bagged top ten stacks.

TRIP SAVER CHAMPIONSHIP TOP TEN DAY 1 STACKS

Other notables still in the running include APT Incheon Main Event champion Junjie He (205,000), the bracelet winner Brian Green (200,000), former APT Super High Roller champion Milos Petakovic (177,500), the Netherlands Tom Verbruggen (150,000), Natural8 Ambassador Sparrow Cheung (97,500), and former Main Event champion Shixiang Khoo (49,000) to name but a few.

For Trip Saver Championship Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Trip Saver Championship Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Trip Saver Championship Final Draw please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Trip Saver Championship Day 1 tournament page.