A heater for the ages as APT Jeju Super High Roller is won for $265K

Then there’s his playing style, which leans heavily towards the relentlessly aggressive. He seized the chip lead early on Day 1, kept it throughout and ended the day with a massive chip lead. Of the 26 players who survived through to the final day Rangkatekarn had almost double that of his nearest rival, holding 3.4M to Calvin Lee’s 1.9M.

The second day ran much like the first. His grip on the game was unrelenting. Fellow players at the final table joked they were playing for second place long before the final levels were hit. He wielded his stack like a meat cleaver, and even when he had the worst of it he often managed a canny maneuver or a lucky river to stay ahead of the pack.

Rangkatekarn was unflappable en route to victory.

And then there are the tattoos which cover his formarms and hands. ‘Self Made’ on his left hand, a reminder of his origin story and a little higher up his arm the word ‘Police’, a tribute to his father who wore the badge, and a nickname at the poker table.

On the right arm, a royal flush in spades, an illustration of his passion for the game. On his right hand, the words ‘Meat Processing’ — a nod to his business, but on this occasion a reminder of the butchery with which he cut through the field.

And then there’s an omen, above the elbow on his right arm, invisible to the livestream viewers but proudly revealed as he waited to collect the pewter lion trophy: a roaring lion.

“It’s been waiting for me for a long time,” Rangkatekarn told me, gesturing at the trophy, “now I bring it home.”

He may need to pay for some extra luggage allowance to bring it back to Thailand — these mega lions are heavy.

But with the $265K first-place prize money in his pocket, that shouldn’t be a problem.

A victory written in the stars (and on his arms).

A hot start

99 entries pushed this APT Super High Roller over the $1 million mark when it came to the prizepool, close to triple the $365K that was originally guaranteed.

Day 1 cut the field down to 26, which was distilled to a final table halfway through Sunday’s Day 2. While the winds blowing Rangkatekarn to victory felt like an irresistible force, there were plenty of seemingly immovable objects attempting to stand in his way.

From the USA there was Christian Harder, Calvin Lee, James Mendoza and Dillon Najor. Joining them were Yota Choong of Australia, China’s Jingyao Yan, Wen Yee Yan of Malaysia and Singapore’s Abraham Ceesvin, searching for a second mega lion to go with his first (won in the Main Event at the 2025 edition of this very festival).

Rangkatekarn’s chip lead was intact when final table play began, and it would not relent for almost all of it. Yee Wee Wen was first out in 9th ($28K), a victim of dwindling stacks as the chip leader kept accumulating. Next out would be Dillon Najor ($37K), whose exit seemed to underline just how hot Rangkatekarn was running.

Najor took a costly bad beat with grace.

Holding , Najor 3-bet the chip-leader’s early open. Rangkatekarn called, with a dominated .

The flop came , Rangkatekarn checked, then called a 1/3-pot bet from Najor. The on the turn was a brick; the Thai checked once more, and Najor moved all-in for the rest of his chips.

After some thought, Rangkatekarn made the call, then winced as he saw how thin he was drawing. Only one of the three 9s left in the deck would deliver him the pot.

You can guess what happened next.

The river was taken with grace by the departing Najor, while the rest of the table braced themselves for an even steeper climb.

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Sun running

Yita Choong was next out in 7th ($48K), busting with a preflop jam holding versus Abraham’s . Yan Jingyao followed in 6th ($60K), calling off the last of his chips preflop with and losing when Lee paired a jack on the flop.

Then came another moment for Rangkatekarn’s scrap book.

In a blind-vs-blind clash, Rangkatekarn open-shoved from the small blind with to put Ceesvin all-in. Ceesvin was ahead, holding , but you could tell he felt it might not matter, such was the run the man from Thailand was on.

He was right, but even so it was a painful exit.

The flop of kept Ceesvin in front, where he stayed on the turn. Rangkatekarn needed a king or six in order to pair up, but any spade would give his opponent the flush. That left the chip-leader with only four outs.

River: . Bingo. Exit Ceesvin in 5th ($77K).

Ceesvin, right, will be back to try and win a second mega lion.

Such was the feeling in the room that Rangkatekarn could do no wrong, Christian Harder soon laid down the nut straight in the face of overwhelming pressure from the big stack.

Holding with the board showing , Harder’s straight was vulnerable to better hands, but Rangkatekarn didn’t have one — only for an inferior straight. Harder bet the river, Rangkatekarn raised and the American folded.

The duo would clash again soon after, with Harder holding versus Rangkatekarn’s .

Harder flopped top set and slow-played, eventually inciting his opponent to jam on the turn with the board showing . Ahead, but vulnerable to both a flush and a straight, Harder didn’t look confident of outrunning what felt like fate. On this occasion he did, as the brought him safety and a double-up.

If Harder had the feeling Rangkatekarn would crack his aces, he was right. He’d just have to wait a few minutes more.

Harder, left, was another victim of Rangkatekarn's hot streak.

Shortly after James Mendoza hit the rail in 4th (96K), Harder opened from the button holding , Rangkatekarn 3-bet with , and Harder went all-in. Rangkatekarnn snap-called with confidence.

Two more diamonds on the flop saw that confidence grow, and a third on the turn meant Harder’s tournament was over in 3rd ($122K). The American was already saying his goodbyes as the dropped on the river.

Heads-up play began with Rangkatekarn holding 20M of the 24M chips in play.

Calvin Lee is a highly talented player who is more than capable of mounting a comeback, even in the face of a 5:1 deficit, but sometimes capability is not enough. Not when things appear to be written in the stars.

Rangkatekarn rides his luck all the way home

It came a lot closer than anyone might have thought, given the state of play up to that point. Lee would end up clawing back to even before taking a lead and coming within a card of taking down the whole thing. But once again, Rangkatekarn's escape act was too well honed.

Calvin Lee came within a river card of winning the tourney.

With blinds at 200K/400K with a 400K big blind ante, Rangkatekarn called from the button with . Lee, with and by this point a significant lead, raised it to 1.3M — around a quarter of Rangkatekarn’s remaining stack. He called.

The flop of gave Lee a set, Rangkatekarn an open-ended straight draw, and ensured we’d see some fireworks.

Lee bet 1M and Rangkatekarn, with just 4.3M remaining, made the call. The changed nothing, and Lee set his opponent all-in. It didn’t take long for Rangkatekarn to call.

Facing elimination and with just 8 outs in the deck, Rangkatekarn was a 4-to-1 underdog but remained calm. As the crowd gathered he repeatedly held out four fingers, and uttered the word ‘four’, willing the river card he needed.

Rangkatekarn called for the four.

The magic worked. The rolled off the deck to give him the pot and bring the match back to parity.

Rangkatekarn would build his lead again until, over two hours into heads-up play, it all came down to something of a cooler. And if anyone was in form to win a hand like that, it was him.

With two black jacks on the button, he open-shoved. Lee found and called for his stack.

The board ran out , and a long day ended as it had started: with Rangkatekarn in charge.

With the $265K prize money, Rangkatekarn has almost doubled his career tournament earnings, but perhaps we should not be as surprised as we are: a glance at his Hendon Mob reveals a hot streak.

His five most recent recorded cashes, going back to July, read as follows: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st.

As part of his prize package for winning the Super High Roller he’ll be playing the $5M freezeout APT Championship Main Event in Taipei this November, with the $10K buy-in all taken care of.

The question is: can he stay this hot until then? Or perhaps the better question should be: can anyone?

Note that dollar amounts have been converted to Korean won, are approximate and correct at time of writing.

^{Images courtesy of the APT.}