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On the penultimate day of the 2026 APT Jeju event, a historic record was set when Berhanu Kassa emerged victorious from 173 entries in the Micro Main Event, winning 27,980,000 KRW and his first live title, becoming the first Ethiopian champion in the APT's 20-year history. Chinese player Ziyang Wang finished third, earning 12,990,000 KRW, a new career high; while Tom Verbruggen dominated the Extreme Deepstack High Roller event.
On October 6, 2026, the APT Jeju Station entered its penultimate day of competition, and the final guaranteed event of the series, the Micro Main Event, officially crowned its champion. Ethiopian player Berhanu Kassa fought his way through a field of 173 entries, ultimately defeating Kwang Chung Tan to claim the 27,980,000 KRW prize and his first live tournament title.
More importantly, this victory made Kassa a part of APT history—he became the first Ethiopian player to win an APT title in the tournament's 20-year history. Chinese player Ziyang Wang finished third, earning 12,990,000 Korean won, a new career best.
173 players competed for the mini-main event, with Kassa leading from the final round of 26.
This year's Micro Main Event had 173 participants, resulting in:
Total prize pool of 125,000,000 Korean won
That's about $93,985.
After the three starting groups concluded, a total of 26 players advanced to Day 2, and all of them have entered the prize pool.
Kassa continued to accumulate chips in the final round, taking the chip lead when he entered the nine-player final table, and maintained his position in the leading group throughout the subsequent championship battle.
APT Micro Main Event Core Data
| project | data |
|---|---|
| Number of participants | 173 |
| Day 2 Advancement | 26 people |
| Total prize pool | 125,000,000 Korean Won |
| champion | Berhanu Kassa |
| Champion Prize Money | 27,980,000 Korean Won |
| runner up | Kwang Chung Tan |
| Runner-up prize money | 18,880,000 Korean Won |
| Third place | Ziyang Wang |
| Third Place Prize | 12,990,000 Korean Won |
Kassa defeated the third-place finisher in the home tournament to win his first career title.
In the Heads-Up phase, Kassa faced Singaporean player Kwang Chung Tan.
Tan had already completed several deep runs before this year's APT Jeju, including a third-place finish in the Main Event; the Micro Main Event also marked his fourth appearance in the Final Table in this series.
Kassa ultimately won the championship match, gaining:
27,980,000 Korean Won
That's about $21,040.
This is his first live tournament title and the second-highest single prize of his career, second only to his 6th place finish at this year's Mini Main Event.
Kassa Jeju Station's cumulative earnings surpass 71 million Korean won after qualifying for four events.
This Micro Main Event championship wasn't Kassa's only deep run at this year's Jeju Station.
In addition to the Micro Main Event, he also made it into the money in events such as the Main Event, the Korea National Cup, and the NLH Single Re-entry.
The total revenue for the entire series exceeded:
71,000,000 Korean Won
That's about $53,000.
For a player who had never won an APT title before, this Jeju event not only brought him his first championship, but also made Kassa the first Ethiopian champion in APT history.
Ziyang Wang finished third, with a career-high 12.99 million won.
Chinese athlete Ziyang Wang made it all the way to the final three and ultimately finished the competition in third place.
His prize money is:
12,990,000 Korean Won
That's about $9,765.
This achievement also officially broke Ziyang Wang's personal record for the highest live tournament prize money.
Other players who made it to the Final Table include Jing Su, Tsz Yeung Ka, Wen Jie Sun, Yuxuan Hou, Yasushi Saito, and Yong Fatt Lee. The original article presented the complete rankings and prize money as an image; therefore, this article does not extrapolate rankings not confirmed in the text.
Weimin Chen ranked 11th, Yingjie Chen ranked 14th
Several starters who were leaders in the initial group completed the bonus lap in the final round, but failed to make it into the Final Table.
Weimin Chen, who reached the final table of this year's APT Jeju Main Event, finished in 11th place; Yingjie Chen, the chip leader in Group C, was eliminated in 14th place.
Mystery Bounty Hunter champion Daisuke Abiko ranked 19th, Natural8 brand ambassador Hua Wei Lin finished 20th, and Maggie Weng from Taiwan finished 26th.
Travelers' Journey has only 5 players left, with Sebastian Henao holding a huge lead.
The final Silver Lion trophy of the series will be awarded in the Traveler's Journey event, with a buy-in of 1,800,000 Korean won.
This match has:
38 participants
Actual participants:
31 people
Total prize pool:
59,097,600 Korean Won
That's about $44,435.
Only 5 players remained at the end of Day 1, and all five players had secured at least 5,610,000 Korean won.
Colombian athlete Sebastian Henao:
609,000 Scoreboard
Approximately 152 blinds have achieved a significant lead.
Chinese player Jieming Xu is in second place, while Henao and Xu's combined scorecards have exceeded 80%.
Another Chinese player, Xinze Li, ranked third; Chun Kit Wan and Keer Lin also secured one of the final five spots.
The final round will resume at 11:15 a.m. on October 7 and will proceed directly to determine the final champion.
Extreme Deepstack High Roller: Tom Verbruggen stages a comeback to win his 3rd APT title
Event #111 Extreme Deep Stack High Roller also concluded with the championship match.
A total of 141 people participated in this event, with a total prize pool of:
523,650,200 Korean Won
That's about $393,870.
41 people entered the final round, and only the top 20 will receive prize money.
Dutch professional poker player Tom Verbruggen fought his way up from outside the top ten in the final round to ultimately claim the title.
125,713,200 Korean Won
It is worth approximately $94,520 and is his third APT title.
Jun Li finished second, earning 85.39 million won; Hang Xu came in fifth.
The champion, Heads-Up, will be Verbruggen facing off against Jun Li from the UK.
Jun Li previously won the Zodiac Classic at the 2024 APT Taipei event, and ultimately finished as runner-up in this event:
85,390,000 Korean Won
That's about $64,200.
Chaoui Roqai Mehdi took third place with 56,310,000 won; Trinh Anh Tuan ranked fourth.
Chinese athlete Hang Xu ranked second on Day 1 and ultimately finished in 5th place.
37,350,000 Korean won
That's about $28,080.
Jiaxian Pan, the chip leader on Day 1, failed to make it to the Final Table.
Yixi Tang wins his first APT title in a single-day high roller tournament.
Chinese player Yixi Tang achieved a breakthrough in the Event #120 Single Day High Roller event.
This match has:
25 people participated
Yixi Tang finally reached the summit, and his gains were:
70,560,000 Korean Won
It is worth approximately $52,074, and he also won his first APT title.
Yixi Tang had already accumulated over $700,000 in live tournament winnings before this competition, and this time he finally added the APT championship to his resume.
WSOP gold bracelet winner Renji Mao took second place and:
47,040,000 Korean Won
That's about $34,716.
Dutch star Robertus Hendrikus Bernardus Hollink won 30,240,000 won for finishing third.
Yih Ming Hsu wins again, bringing his total to 4 wins at this year's Jeju Station.
Taiwanese player Yih Ming Hsu once again became the focus of the mixed game.
He had previously won Event #4, #13 and #75 in this series, and now he has won the Event #119 Big O Six Cards event with 20 participants.
Champion Prize Money:
5,230,240 Korean won
That's about $3,860.
This brings Hsu's total number of wins at this year's APT Jeju to:
4 seats
His total number of APT championships in his career reached:
5 seats。
Chao Ting Cheng took second place, while Japanese athlete Koyo Moriki came in third.
Zehao Li's Jeju triple crown brings his career APT title count to 5.
Another multi-time champion in this tournament, Zehao Li, also added another title on the eve of Day 12.
He had previously won Event #2 and Event #102, and now he has topped the charts again in Event #126 NL Triple Draw Mix Hyper Turbo, achieving:
2,834,230 Korean won
That's about $2,092.
Zehao Li thus completed:
Third title in this series
At the same time, the total number of career APT championships will be increased to:
5 seats
Chinese athlete Yang Lu won the silver medal, while Japanese athlete Tomohiro Yamada ranked third.
Scott Margereson wins back-to-back titles
British poker player Scott Margereson had just won the APT High Roller title the day before, and the very next day he took the top spot in Event #124 NL Courchevel Hi-Lo 5 Card Hyper Turbo.
He achieved:
3,790,352 Korean won
That's about $2,797.
Abhinav Iyer, the Indian WSOP gold bracelet winner, took second place, while Chinese player Xuan Zhou ranked third.
This means that Margereson has won the APT title for two consecutive days, achieving a rare back-to-back victory.
Mikhail Fedotov wins his third title of the tournament, continuing his strong performance in the mixed events.
Russian athlete Mikhail Fedotov won his third title of the tournament in Event #122 Fixed Limit 7-Card Stud Mixed.
He had previously won Event #89 and Event #107. In this event, which had 13 participants, he ultimately took the top spot again.
During the Heads-Up phase, Fedotov and Pavel Platonov reached an ICM agreement.
Platonov locks in higher-quality:
3,882,656 Korean won
Fedotov won the championship, the trophy, and:
2,590,000 Korean won
Chinese player Zong Jin Sui won the bronze medal. This brings Fedotov's career APT title count to four.
Junqiang Lyu and Weiye Jiang win their first APT title.
Chinese player Junqiang Lyu won the Event #118 NLH Freezeout, a competition with 55 participants, achieving the following results:
10,030,000 Korean Won
He won his first APT championship, which is worth approximately $7,402.
Fei Han finished third.
In another event, Event #127 Super Sonic, Chinese player Weiye Jiang was crowned champion.
He won from the 20-man roster, gaining:
2,020,384 Korean won
It is worth approximately $1,491, and he also won his first APT title.
More noteworthy is that Chinese athletes swept the top three spots in this competition:
| Ranking | player | bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weiye Jiang | 2,020,384 Korean won |
| 2 | Chao Jiang | 1,340,000 Korean won |
| 3 | Xiaobang Xu | 860,000 Korean won |
The APT Jeju Station enters its final day, with the historic first-ever victory becoming the biggest focus before Day 12.
With the tournament concluding on October 6th, the 2026 APT Jeju Station officially entered its final day of competition.
Berhanu Kassa emerged victorious from a field of 173 entries at the Micro Main Event, earning 27,980,000 KRW and his first career title. He also became the first Ethiopian champion in the APT’s 20-year history, making it the most historic result of the penultimate day.
Chinese players also achieved results on multiple fronts: Ziyang Wang won third place in the Micro Main Event and set a new career best; Hang Xu ranked fifth in the Extreme Deepstack High Roller event; Yixi Tang won his first APT title; Zehao Li completed his third series title; Junqiang Lyu and Weiye Jiang also won their first APT title.
On the final day of competition, five players, including Sebastian Henao and Jieming Xu, will compete for the Traveler's Journey Championship and the last Silver Lion trophy of this series, officially concluding the 2026 APT Jeju Station.
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