Friday night in Korea and the sun has set on the beautiful island of Jeju, but not yet on the showpiece event of the Asian Poker Tour’s most recent festival.
The $2K APT Jeju Main Event has drawn the crowds, as it always does, but over the course of four days the 1,375 entries have been slowly but surely whittled down to just 8 survivors. They’ll be back on Saturday to play for the golden mega lion and the biggest prize of the series.
Each of them is guaranteed at least $39K, but at this point that will feel like a loss. Because all 8 of them are in with a fighting chance of scooping the $415K up top — along with free entry into the $10K APT Championship Main Event in Taipei next month.
Those tickets will be awarded to the final three in this event, following a random prize draw at the start of Friday’s play which saw Xiang Chen awarded a golden ticket of his own. It was like a scene out of Willy Wonka — if children were strictly prohibited from entering the chocolate factory, that is.
So which of those 1,375 hopefuls are still hoping? With a double bust-out occurring on the final hand on Day 4, this final table will start with just 8 players.
From the biggest to the smallest stacks, let’s take a look at who they are.
The final 8
Jianfeng Sun — 12.06M (76bb)
Chinese pro Sun almost got his hands on an APT lion trophy earlier this week, but had to settle for the runner-up spot in the KRW 1.2M Mystery Bounty Hunter sponsored by Natural8.
That result was worth $62K, one of the top scores for a player who has accumulated over $850K in winnings over the past 8 years. In terms of outright victories he’s picked up three in Vietnam and five in Korea — all in Jeju.
He enters the final day with the chip lead: this Sun is hot.
Steve Ng — 9.05M (57bb)
Ng, of Sinagpore, has spent the past few years notching up live results everywhere from The Philippines to Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam. The best of those results — $113K as a runner-up — came in the Baby Superstar Challenge at APT Taipei in 2025.
That event is happening in Jeju at the moment, but Ng is far too busy to play it. He has his sights set on the life-changing $415K up top in this Main Event.
To win it would be a significant step in his poker career — to date he’s yet to register a tournament victory worth more than $6K. With a healthy stack of chips to play with, this could be his time.
Toby Joyce — 8.79M (55bb)
The sole European at the final table, Joyce originally hails from Ireland but has made a home on the international live poker circuit.
Since his first recorded tournament result back in 2012, a €300 win in his native Galway, Joyce has racked up a tapestry of international flags on his Hendon Mob profile, scoring everywhere from Australia to Spain, Cyprus, Prague and Las Vegas.
He has over $3.8M in lifetime earnings and has experienced a million-dollar payout, scooping $1.1M for 2nd place in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2019.
Joyce final-tabled a PLO bracelet event at the 2026 WSOP, and came 2nd in the PLO high roller at APT Jeju this week.
This time round he only has two cards to think about. Easy, right?
Kwang Chung Tan — 6.75M (43bb)
Tan of Singapore, has already set a new personal best in the APT Jeju Main Event, whatever transpires.
His biggest live cash to date is around the $18K mark, picked up earlier ths year in the APT Taipei Main Event where he finished 22nd. Even if he crashes out first on the final day here, he will comfortably eclipse that.
And with lifetime earnings of $96K, a fifth place finish here will double that too.
Tan has time, and chips on his side, but as one of the less experienced players at the final table might be forgiven for keeping one eye on the pay-jumps.
Shuang Qiu — 5.75M (36bb)
Prior to a year ago, Qiu of China had recorded a couple of small results on the tournament circuit, but nothing to get too excited about.
Then, in September 2025, he finished 3rd in the APT Jeju Main Event for $181K and truly kickstarted his poker career.
That career has been focused on poker in Jeju, meaning he’s essentially playing on home turf, and in a tournament in which he should be feeling extremely comfortable. He’s made the APT Jeju final table before, and incredibly is back again just a year later.
Going back-to-back is never easy. Can he finish even higher than he did last year?
Weimin Chen — 5.4M (34bb)
An APT final table often throws up a curveball: a player whose experience — or apparent lack of it — belies the canny moves they’ve made to reach the sharp end and the big money.
In the 2026 APT Jeju Main Event, Chen is that curveball. Look him up and you’ll find just a handful of results, all from Jeju. Less than $10K in lifetime earnings, and a best-ever score of just over $3K.
Is there more to this man than meets the eye? We’ll be watching closely on Saturday for the secrets to his success.
Jiawei Wan — 2.87M (18bb)
Did we just say there’s often one curveball? Make that two.
China’s Wan has a similarly small number of tournament results to his name, but has even less lifetime winnings than his countryman Chen with under $6K in earnings to his name.
A couple of results from a series in Jeju in July 2025, and a couple from a series in Malaysia a month later. Is he a living example of that mythical creature: the successful poker tourist?
A win for Wan on Saturday would be a new career-best... by a factor of 200x.
Erdun Xu — 2.59M (17bb)
Xu first started picking up decent tournament results just three years ago, but since then has amassed earnings of over $350K. Impressive given the bulk of his results fall in the four-figure category — he won a high roller at an event in Jeju in 2025 that paid out over $100K, but that’s an outlier on his tournament resume.
But it may not be for long: a fourth place finish (worth $124K) would set a new high score for the man from China. As the shortie at the table, however, Xu may have his work cut out for him.
Cards are in the air for the finale of the APT Jeju Main Event from 11:15am on Saturday.
