APT Jeju Station | Korea National Cup Opens with 474 Attendance, Zu You Wang Leads 67 Players in Final Round with 602,000 Chips

On September 25, 2026, the penultimate stop of the 20th anniversary season of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) – the APT Jeju Station – officially kicked off in Jeju Island, South Korea.

This is the 128th APT series, the 19th time the tour has come to South Korea, and the 7th time it has landed on Jeju Island. The event is co-organized by APT and Landing Entertainment Korea, and the venue is the LES A Casino within the Jeju Shinhwa World Resort. The entire series will last for 13 days, ending on October 7th.

The first day's focus was kicked off with the Korea National Cup, with a buy-in of 900,000 won. The three starting combinations attracted a total of 474 entries from 262 different players, with 67 ultimately advancing to the final round.

Chinese player Zu You Wang became the chip leader with 602,000 chips, while Bin Li led the pack with 525,000 chips. Several other Chinese players, including Haidi Feng, Xiaoyu Ye, Peng Deng, Xinyan He, and Sun Yue, also made it through the round.

135 matches over 13 days, with a total guaranteed prize pool exceeding 5.2 billion Korean won.

The 2026 APT Jeju Station will run from September 25 to October 7, featuring 135 events with a total guaranteed prize pool of over 5.2 billion Korean won, approximately US$3.5 million.

Buy-ins range from 200,000 to 37,000,000 Korean won, and the tournament includes 88 international poker events, including 11 women's events, 3 Heads-Up events, and 47 non-traditional NLHE events, including mixed formats such as Omaha, Stud, and Draw.

2026 APT Jeju Station Core Data

Among them, the core project of the series, APT Main Event, offers a guaranteed prize pool of 2.2 billion Korean won, equivalent to approximately US$1.6 million, with a buy-in of 2.7 million Korean won.

The other two Lion King Trophy key events are the APT Super High Roller with a buy-in of 15 million Korean won and the APT High Roller with a buy-in of 5 million Korean won.

12 APTC Main Event tickets will be given away simultaneously.

In addition to prize money for each event, this year's APT Jeju will also be giving away 12 tickets to the 2026 APT Championship (APTC) Main Event.

APTC is the APT's key year-end event, scheduled to be held in Taipei in November, with a guaranteed main event prize pool of $5 million.

The top five finishers in the APT Jeju Main Event will each receive a ticket to the APTC Main Event.

In addition, the champions of the APT Super High Roller, APT High Roller, Mystery Bounty Hunter, Superstar Challenge, Zodiac Classic, and the designated Deepstack High Roller will each receive a spot.

The Korea National Cup saw 474 entries, with the total prize pool exceeding 358 million won.

The main draw for the opening day's South Korean national cup was:

900,000 Korean won

The competition is divided into three starting groups: A, B, and C. The top 141 players with 3 points each from each group advance to the final round.

The final combined score for the three groups was:

474 participants

Actual participants:

262 people

Total prize pool reached:

358,344,000 Korean Won

This amounts to approximately US$264,460, significantly exceeding the original guaranteed minimum of 200 million Korean won.

A total of 67 players qualified for the final round, and all qualifiers were guaranteed a prize of at least 1,380,000 Korean won; the champion will receive 70,334,000 Korean won, which is approximately US$51,900.

Three sets of data from the South Korean national cup

Zu You Wang leads with 602,000 chips, ahead of 67 players.

Group A had the most participants among the three starting groups, with a total of 191 entries.

After 18 30-minute rounds, 27 contestants successfully advanced.

Ultimately, Chinese contestant Zu You Wang won with:

602,000 Scoreboard

He became the chip leader in Group A and also the chip leader in total after all three groups were completed.

He is the only player among all 67 who advanced to the next round to break the 600,000-point mark.

Zu You Wang previously made it to the Final Table at the 2026 APT Jeju Classic Main Event, and now he has once again taken the lead at the Jeju station.

Kuo Yuan Hung is second, Bin Li is third, and Chinese athletes dominate the leading group.

The second place in Group A went to Kuo Yuan Hung from Taiwan, China.

He said:

531,000 Scoreboard

After sealing the bag, we are currently ranked second out of 67 people.

In Group B, Chinese athlete Bin Li is leading the pack.

He said:

525,000 Scoreboard

He became the only player in Group B to break 500,000 points and ranked third in the total scoreboard of the final round.

Japanese player John Matsuda is now the other leader with 464,000 chips.

The scoreboard for the final round has been confirmed.

Abraham Ceesvin advances again, the defending champion remains in contention.

Another familiar face worth noting appeared in Group A:

Abraham Ceesvin

The 2025 APT Jeju Main Event champion advanced with 204,000 chips.

Another defending champion, 2025 Korea National Cup champion Zhi Yi Wang, also qualified for the final round.

Therefore, when the Korean Cup reaches the 67-man final, the previous champions still have the opportunity to defend their title.

Other notable qualifiers from Group A include Phachara Wongwichit with 205,000 and Maxim Lykov with 197,000.

Haidi Feng advanced with 416,000 votes, and Renji Mao also broke through.

Group B attracted a total of 171 participants.

Halfway through the match, the 200 million won minimum guarantee for the Korean National Cup had already been exceeded.

Ultimately, 24 contestants advanced from Group B.

Besides chip leader Bin Li, Mongolian player Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar is ranked second with 433,000 chips, and Chinese player Haidi Feng is ranked third with 416,000 chips.

Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Renji Mao also made it through, entering the finals with 124,000 chips.

American player Gary Moon advanced with 350,000 chips, while Indian player Rishi Mehra retained 111,000 chips.

Group C Quick Match: Xiaoyu Ye and Peng Deng ranked second and third respectively.

Group C, which was the last to appear, used a quick match format.

After 20 15-minute rounds, 16 out of 112 participants qualified for the next round.

American player Dillon Najor:

407,000 Scoreboard

Become the chip leader in Group C.

Chinese athletes once again occupied the top positions.

Xiaoyu Ye ranked second in Group C with 318,000, and Peng Deng ranked third with 306,000.

Top three in Group C

Five female players advanced, Sun Yue will compete again in the later stages of the APT.

Five female players will continue to compete in the final round of the Korea National Cup.

Two Chinese female players from Group C successfully advanced:

Xinyan He: 215,000

Sun Yue: 195,000

Sun Yue is also one of the outstanding players in the APT New Era Women's Tournament.

In Group A, Ting Liu advanced with 77,000 chips and Menglan Lai with 5,000 chips.

Wing Yin Lee from Hong Kong, China, entered the finals with 50,000 chips in Group B.

Female contestants who advanced

The final round of the Korea National Cup will resume at 11:15 a.m. (Korean time) on September 26, with 67 players competing directly to determine the champion.

Yi Ye wins the Single Day High Roller title; Chinese players sweep the top four positions.

Besides the Korea National Cup, several tournaments in the APT Jeju Station opening phase have already produced champions.

Event #3 High Roller Day was won by Chinese player Yi Ye.

This is her first APT championship trophy in her career.

An ICM Deal was reached late in the tournament, and Yi Ye, who held a chip lead at the time, ultimately won the championship.

40,530,000 Korean Won

That's about $29,911.

Chinese athletes swept the top four spots in this competition, with Zhuogun Zhang taking second place and earning 37,226,000 Korean won, and Yaoyu He taking third place and earning 20,220,000 Korean won.

Zehao Li wins his third APT championship.

Event #2 Big O was also won by a Chinese player.

Zehao Li won the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Five-Card Poker tournament, earning:

4,967,728 Korean Won

That's about $3,666.

This is also his third APT championship.

Russian athlete Pavel Platonov won the silver medal, while American athlete Taylor Atchison ranked third.

Yuan Lei, Bo Dou, and Yongliang Li all won their first APT title.

Chinese players also dominated many of the fast-paced matches on the first day.

Yuan Lei won the TP5T5 High Roller event, earning 6,358,000 KRW and his first APT title.

In Event #6 Speed Race, Bo Dou took the top spot with a prize of 4,700,496 Korean Won; Zhenghao Zhou and Zhijian Shen finished second and third respectively, with Chinese players taking the top three positions.

Event #8 Supersonic Race was also won by Chinese athlete Yongliang Li, who earned 2,420,460 Korean won. Yixi Tang and Dapeng Chen finished second and third respectively, once again resulting in Chinese athletes taking the top three spots.

APT Jeju Station Opening Stage: Some Champions

The Chinese team got off to a strong start, and the main event will begin on September 27th.

The 2026 APT Jeju has just kicked off, and Chinese and Chinese-speaking players have already taken the lead in multiple competitions.

In the Korea National Cup, Zu You Wang leads the pack with 602,000 chips, followed by Kuo Yuan Hung and Bin Li in second and third place respectively. Haidi Feng, Xiaoyu Ye, and Peng Deng are also in the top positions.

In the supplementary competitions, Yi Ye, Zehao Li, Yuan Lei, Bo Dou, Houyu Zheng, and Yongliang Li have all won the championships, and in many matches, Chinese players even swept the top three or four spots.

The Korea National Cup will determine its champion on September 26, while the APT Main Event will officially kick off on September 27, with a buy-in of 2,700,000 won and a guaranteed minimum of 2.2 billion won.

With the Super High Roller, Mystery Bounty, Main Event and several other high roller tournaments starting soon, the APT Jeju Station will continue to have many key events to determine champions.

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