{"id":454922,"date":"2026-02-07T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454922\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T18:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:28:26","slug":"canada-takes-gold-in-record-breaking-apt-jeju-classic-main-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454922\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada takes Gold in record-breaking APT Jeju Classic Main Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event<\/p>\n

February 1-7<\/p>\n

\n ENTRIES ($1600)
\n IN THE MONEY\n <\/p>\n

\n PRIZE POOL
\n $2,331,038\n <\/p>\n

\n 2ND PRIZE
\n $225K\n <\/p>\n

\n FIRST PRIZE
\n $403K\n <\/p>\n

1,718<\/p>\n

Entries in this, the largest poker tournament ever held in South Korea.<\/p>\n

VS<\/p>\n

\"William<\/p>\n

1st<\/p>\n

William Li<\/p>\n

\"CA\"\/<\/p>\n

Career Earnings: $467,931\n <\/p>\n

\"Shintaro<\/p>\n

2nd<\/p>\n

Shintaro Sato<\/p>\n

\"JP\"\/<\/p>\n

Career Earnings: $241,297\n <\/p>\n

\"William<\/p>\n

1st<\/p>\n

William Li<\/p>\n

\"CA\"\/<\/p>\n

\"Shintaro<\/p>\n

2nd<\/p>\n

Shintaro Sato<\/p>\n

\"JP\"\/<\/p>\n

Final Hand<\/p>\n

Career Earnings: $467,931\n <\/p>\n

Career Earnings: $241,297\n <\/p>\n

1ST
\n \"CA\"\/
\n William Li
\n $402,535<\/p>\n

2ND
\n \"JP\"\/
\n Shintaro Sato
\n $224,950<\/p>\n

3RD
\n \"RO\"\/
\n Christian Tabac
\n $157,305<\/p>\n

4TH
\n \"CN\"\/
\n Lei Zhang
\n $114,000<\/p>\n

5TH
\n \"CN\"\/
\n Zu You Wang
\n $90,825<\/p>\n

6TH
\n \"VN\"\/
\n Quang Minh Nguyen
\n $72,265<\/p>\n

7TH
\n \"JP\"\/
\n Arita Naohiro
\n $55,220<\/p>\n

8TH
\n \"CN\"\/
\n Haohui Ma
\n $38,970<\/p>\n

9TH
\n \"CN\"\/
\n Yuefeng Pan
\n $29,800<\/p>\n

Final Hand<\/p>\n

\n EXPAND GRAPHIC\n <\/p>\n

Faster. Higher. Stronger. In three words the Olympic motto conjures the essence of physical competition, and with the Winter Games now in full swing in northern Italy we can expect to see plenty of records shattered and legends born over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

Over 5,000 miles away from Milan, in Jeju, Korea, an altogether different contest has just concluded. It\u2019s one that may not involve skis or skates, but where stamina, focus and ice in the veins are still key to a podium finish. And, as is now more an expectation than a surprise, more records have been broken.<\/p>\n

The Main Event of the Asian Poker Tour Jeju Classic has drawn to a dramatic close, Canada has claimed the gold, and in the true spirit of the Olympic ideal, the winner \u2014 William Li \u2014 is a proud amateur.<\/p>\n


\n \"William <\/p>\n

William Li.<\/p>\n

Personal best<\/p>\n

Li\u2019s triumph comes just a few days after securing his previous best career cash of $39K in the APT Jeju High Roller Single-Day event, where he finished third behind China\u2019s Peng Chen and Hao Zhu.<\/p>\n

A new personal best, then, as the $402K Li picks up here is an improvement of more than 10x on his previous high score, and alone marks a figure some six times larger than his lifetime recorded tournament earnings to date.<\/p>\n

Broken records has been a theme of the APT in general over the past few years, and the series in Jeju has been no exception.<\/p>\n

With 1,718 entrants, the $1,600 Main Event has entered the books as the largest international poker tournament ever held in Korea. The prizepool of over $2.3 million is the second biggest in the APT\u2019s history in the country, as is the $402K top prize now in Li\u2019s pocket.<\/p>\n


\n \"The <\/p>\n

The action took place at the LES A Casino.<\/p>\n

ENZO ARCEO<\/p>\n

New high watermarks were also set in the series\u2019 Mini Main and Ultra Stack High Roller events, with various APT records set for the formats\u2019 entries, prizepool and top prizes. The Mini Main drew 812 entrants for a prizepool of $574K and $100K up top, while the Ultra Stack drew 312 for over $827K in prizes and $165K to the winner.<\/p>\n

Coming on the back of another record-breaking stop in Taipei last November, where the all-time APT record for richest Main Event<\/a> was set in the APT Championship, the successful start to 2026 in Korea points to yet another boom year for the Asian Poker Tour. It\u2019s also the perfect start to a year in which the tour is celebrating a special birthday, with 2026 the year of the APT 20-Year Anniversary.<\/p>\n

‘Anything can happen’<\/p>\n

\u201cPoker isn\u2019t my profession,\u201d a victorious Li told reporters following his win, but you wouldn\u2019t have known from the way he skilfully navigated his way through a tournament field packed with talent.<\/p>\n

With the likes of reigning GPI Player of the Year Punnat Punsri<\/a>, Jeju double-winner Ren Lin<\/a> and perennial APT crusher Lester Edoc in the mix, any player \u2014 amateur or pro \u2014 would need nerves of steel and the rub of the green to go all the way. Li was taking nothing for granted. \u201cI\u2019m actually a relatively pessimistic person,\u201d he confessed. \u201cEveryone knows how poker is \u2014 anything can happen. Nothing is ever certain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until it is.<\/p>\n

That $402K is certainly now his \u2014 as is a free seat in the APT Championship Main Event later this year \u2014 after Li bobbed and weaved his way through an action-packed final table on Saturday.<\/p>\n

First out, to few people\u2019s surprise, was the unfortunate Yuefeng Pan. Down to a single 25K chip by the end of Friday\u2019s penultimate day of play, Pan returned for the final table with only a quarter of a small blind to his name. Forced in on hand #1 of the final table with \"\"\"\", Pan was behind from the get-go and stayed there, exiting in 9th for $29K.<\/p>\n


\n \"Quang <\/p>\n

Quang Minh Nguyen.<\/p>\n

Pan, of China, was soon followed out the door by his compatriot Haohui Ma (8th, $38K), who ran his \"\"\"\" into the \"\"\"\" of Vietnam\u2019s Quang Minh Nguyen\u00a0(above).<\/p>\n

Fresh from a runner-up finish in the APT Superstar Challenge<\/a>, Nguyen KO\u2019d Ma then slowplayed pocket aces to take a big chunk of chips from Zu You Wang, building a chip lead and attempting to take control of another final table at the APT Jeju Classic.<\/p>\n

It was not to last, however. Following the exit of Japan\u2019s Arita Naohiro in 7th ($54K), Nguyen was next out in brutal fashion.<\/p>\n

Having taken some knocks to his stack, Nguyen got his chips in the middle holding \"\"\"\" versus the \"\"\"\" of Japan\u2019s Shintaro Sato. The \"\"\"\"\"\" flop gave Nguyen two pair and a virtual lock on the hand but, as Li would later say, \u2018nothing is ever certain\u2019. The runout of \"\"\"\" was a cruel one, giving Sato the runner-runner straight and sending Nguyen out in 6th with $72K.<\/p>\n

Lucky river saves Li<\/p>\n

With a dominant stack comprising almost half the chips in play, the tourney began to look like Sato\u2019s to lose. Li wasn\u2019t going quietly, however, first eliminating Wang (5th, $90K) with pocket eights before coming perilously close to the trapdoor himself.<\/p>\n

With blinds at 250K\/500K with a 500K ante, Romania\u2019s Christian Tabac opened to 1M from the small blind, Li 3-bet shoved to 6.7M from the big blind and Tabac made the call.<\/p>\n

Li was marginally ahead with his \"\"\"\" against the \"\"\"\" of Tabac, but all that changed on the \"\"\"\"\"\" flop.<\/p>\n

Li needed help, but the \"\" on the turn was not it. Thankfully for the man from Canada, the river brought the card he needed \u2014 the \"\" \u2014 to keep his hopes alive and propel him back into contention.<\/p>\n


\n \"Mihai <\/p>\n

Christian Tabac.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Lei Zhang was next out, victim of a cooler that saw three of the four remaining players dealt pocket pairs: Li had queens, Sato jacks and Zhang tens. Zhang and Sato both shoved, leaving Li with a tough decision. Ultimately he elected to fold \u2014 Sato had him covered \u2014 and the jacks held to knock out Zhang in 4th place for a $114K payday.<\/p>\n

Three soon became two after Sato saw off Tabac in a moment of fortune. Pressing his advantage as the big stack, Sato open-shoved from the button holding \"\"\"\", only for Tabac to snap-call behind him with \"\"\"\". Alas for Tabac it was Sato who would pair up on the queen-high board, and the Romanian exited in a respectable 3rd place with $157K.<\/p>\n

The final comeback<\/p>\n

That left Sato with a significant chip lead over Li, but the margin was closed quickly thanks to a Li double-up on the very first hand of heads-up play. Then came the turning point; a damaging bluff-gone-wrong for Sato.<\/p>\n

Li limped with \"\"\"\", Sato checked his option with \"\"\"\". The \"\"\"\"\"\" flop brought a gutshot for Li, who followed Sato\u2019s check with a bet of 800K. Sato called, only for the \"\" on the turn to fill Li\u2019s straight.<\/p>\n

Sato checked again, Li fired another 2.5M and Sato called with his overcards. The \"\" scare-card came on the river and Sato open-shoved for 30M. Sato had his opponent barely covered, and after some consideration Li made the call and saw the good news.<\/p>\n


\n \"Shintaro <\/p>\n

Shintaro Sato.<\/p>\n

With the tide fully turned, Li was just inches from victory. The next hand would be the last. Sato moved in with \"\"\"\", Li called with \"\"\"\", and the board ran out dry. Sato, who for so long had seemed within moments of victory, had to settle for the runner-up spot and $224K.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see him again at November\u2019s APT Championship, if not before, as the final three players in this record-breaking Main Event all secured free seats in the APTC Main Event.<\/p>\n

For Li it\u2019s a first live tournament victory, a massive $402K payday and one of the most beautiful trophies in poker to take home.<\/p>\n

And appropriately for his Olympian achievement, it\u2019s gold.<\/p>\n


\n \"New <\/p>\n

New Main Event champion William Li and his Golden Lion.<\/p>\n

Note that dollar amounts mentioned in this article have been converted from Korean Won, are approximate and correct at time of writing.<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of the Asian Poker Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APT Jeju Classic 2026 Main Event February 1-7 ENTRIES ($1600) IN THE MONEY PRIZE POOL $2,331,038 2ND PRIZE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-454922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}