'One of the sickest hands ever' - Drama at APT Championship Main Event

Actually, maybe it has everything to do with poker?

One thing’s for sure, though, if you were in the market for an exciting poker tournament with over a million dollars up top, the best action today was made in Taiwan.

It was there, at Red Space in Taipei, that the Asian Poker Tour Championship Main Event crowned its first winner. Nishant Sharma of India pulled off the incredible feat of leading the final table from start to finish, never once dropping from first place over 12 hours of intense play against some of the best players in the field.

For his win, Sharma banks a record-busting top prize of over $1.1 million, but to do so he had to work his way through a tough line-up, including several WSOP bracelet winners and super high rollers.

Cimbolas gets Finger trapped

The shortest stack of the 9 players returning to contest the final day belonged to German high roller Martin Finger, and the opening level saw him put his stack in the middle numerous times to get the ball rolling on a recovery.

High roller Finger hit the final table with the shortest stack.

Each time he tried it, it worked. Until it didn’t. He went down swinging, holding a hand too good to let go, as he picked up in the small blind to come over the top of Matas Cimbolas’ early position open.

There aren’t many hands that have A-K dominated, but will do it almost every time, and that’s exactly what Lithuania’s Cimbolas had. It would take a miracle, but one didn’t arrive, and Finger was the first casualty of the day. He’ll take a little over $97K back to Europe for his deep run.

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‘One of the sickest hands we’ve ever seen on the APT’

With stacks deep and the levels long — 90 minutes — play was cagey.

Mostly.

John Costiniano of The Philippines, a quiet, smiling presence pulled off the move of the tournament when he pulled the trigger on a huge bluff against Taiwan’s Hau Chuang.

John Costiniano made a name for himself with the move of the series.

With blinds at 50K/100K, Costiniano opened for a min-raise with from late position and found a caller in Chuang in the small blind, who had . The flop came , Chuang checked then raised Costiniano’s 150K bet to 410K. Costiniano called to see the fall on the turn, then called 760K more from Chuang.

The on the river finally put Chuang ahead in the hand with a king-high straight, and he put 1.8M in the middle, leaving himself around 1.6M behind. Costiniano effectively turned his two pair into a bluff and shoved for his last 2.8M, just 1M more, putting Chuang deep in the tank.

Chuang couldn't find the call.

After burning through a mountain of timebanks, Chaung folded the best hand, and the quiet, inscrutable Costiniano showed the bluff, for what the livestream commentators called ‘one of the sickest hands’ the tour has ever witnessed.

With that, the man from The Philippines shot up to second in the chip counts, behind only the longtime leader Nishant Sharma.

Watch the hand below. 

Three-way all-in sees off Chuang

Cimbolas had been slowly leaking chips since scoring the first elimination, and eventually found himself in a spot, with a hand, that was worth risking his last million chips. Hao Shan Huang of Taiwan put him in, holding , and Cimbolas called off with the best hand he’d seen all day, . An ace on the flop proved to be the killer, and the Lithuanian hit the road with ~$123K.

Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania's all-time number two.

Next out was Huang’s fellow Taiwanese Hau Chuang, who came out the worst of it in a three-way all-in versus Australia’s Neng Zhao and high-rolling German Dominik Nitsche. The chips went in preflop, with Zhao and Huang both covered by Nitsche.

Zhao:
Chuang:
Nitsche:

The flop brought immediate relief for the at-risk Zhao, who flopped a boat when came down. The runout of changed nothing, Zhao tripled-up, Nitsche took a hit, and Chuang hit the bricks with a payout of ~$180K.

Huang flips out to a two-outer

Next to exit was the former Magic: The Gathering professional Hao Shan Huang who, ICM be damned, made a move from the middle of the pack and raised with from late position. Runaway leader Sharma, in the big blind, set him in holding . Huang found his big slick too good to lay down, and got his stack in the middle for the big-money flip.

The flop was kind to Huang, and the turn even kinder. But it’s not over til the fat lady sings — Sharma had precisely two outs, with only the two remaining deuces giving him the win.

Lo and behold, the river was the , and six became five. Huang banked ~$247K for his deep run, as Sharma extended his lead yet further.

The magic ran out for Hao Shan Huang.

With so many of the chips in front of Sharma, the ICM pressure for the rest of the field was palpable, given the major payjumps at stake. Romanian number one Alexandru Papazian, Dominik Nitsche and Neng Zhao fought to keep their heads above water, while Sharma — and Costiniano behind him — watched on from the top of the chip counts.

Zhao lost a big hand against Nitsche when he 3-bet bluffed the German’s small preflop open holding . Nitsche snap-called for all his 200bb with , neither player connected with the board, and Nitsche chipped up nicely.

It was a risk, given that Papazian had barely 10bb, but it paid off handsomely and propelled Nitsche back into contention, while Zhao was left short.

Zhao put his chips to work, shoving preflop to steal blinds wherever he could in a bid to build back. Ultimately, though, he would run out of luck.

Zhao made a career-best score for his final table finish.

With under 3bb, and under the gun, Zhao shoved with . Sharma had the chips to isolate, and did so holding . The flop delivered the bad news for Zhao and left him drawing thin. The runout brought no help, and that was it for Zhao, who took over $317K — around 6x his previous best tournament score.

Nitsche’s bunch of fives gets KO’d by cowboys

That left Papazian dangerously short stacked, but he managed to rebuild, overtaking Nitsche, though still a mile away from chipleader Sharma.

That lead over Nitsche would prove to be key when the pair clashed soon after the dinner break. With the blinds at 100K/200K and just 14bb remaining, Nitsche found a pocket pair — — and opened to 2M from under the gun.

Unfortunately for Nitsche, Papazian woke up with pocket kings in the big blind and wasn’t going anywhere, putting Nitsche to a decision for the rest of his chips. Pot commited, Nitsche called only to see the bad news.

The news stayed bad for the German on the runout, and Nitsche was out in 4th for just over $400K.

With 4 WSOP bracelets, Nitsche was the most accomplished player at the final table.

Papazian, who had been circling the drain for some time, suddenly had a stack worth reckoning with, and had laddered up significantly given the dire state of his stack for much of the past few hours.

The Romanian couldn’t spin it up forever, though, and after running into Sharma’s pocket pairs several hands in a row found himself in a decisively costly blind-versus-blind clash with Costiniano.

With blinds still at 100K/200K, Papazian limp-called Costiniano’s big blind shove, putting his last 10bb in the middle holding . The Romanian was pleased to see he was ahead against Costiniano’s , and stayed ahead on the flop of .

Things took a turn — is that why they call it that? — on 4th street when the put Costiniano in front, leaving Papazian needing a king or a jack for an overpair or a backdoor straight. The on the river was the brick that sent Papazian packing.

“I promised you fireworks,” he said to us as he left, to hearty cheers from his rowdy Romanian rail. With $523K in winnings he can afford to set off a few rockets in celebration.

Papazian laddered up nicely.

A dramatic end to a dramatic day

That left two; Sharma, who’d held the chip lead for the entire final table, and Costiniano who had pulled off the move of the day, if not the series, with his inspired bluff against Chuang during 8-handed play.

A chop was discussed, but ultimately rejected, and after a brief pause the two sat down to settle the matter of who would walk away with the golden Lion trophy — and a cool million dollars.

Sharma held a chip lead of 5-1, and it was almost over in a couple of hands when he put his opponent all-in from the button holding . Constiniano had the smallest of pairs, , but it held up to give him a little more room to maneuver.

But not quite enough room to turn the tide. When the final hand came later that level (still 100K/200K) it would prove to be a suitably dramatic end to this epic main event.

Constiniano, left, and Sharma square off for the finale.

Sharma limped the button, and Costiniano checked his option. The flop came , Costiniano led out with a small 200K bet and Sharma called. The on the turn brought a 500K bet from Costiniano and a raise to 1.2M from Sharma. Costiniano shoved for his last 4.1M and Sharma called.

Costiniano had for flopped trips. Sharma had slowplayed to set a trap, which now seemed to have backfired. A king or a heart would end the tournament. The on the river did just that.

With prize money of around $732K, Costiniano not only recorded his biggest ever payout, but almost triples his lifetime career tournament earnings. For Sharma, the $1.1M payday makes him one of only a few Indian players to have ever recorded a seven-figure result.

‘These players are sickos!’

PokerOrg spoke with Sharma following his impressive final table performance, during which he held the chip lead for every single hand.

“I've been playing for 12 years or so, and it's very rare to be the chip leader for the entire final table, it happens once in a blue moon. I'm just grateful that it happened to me today at the biggest stakes.

“Did I have any tough moments? I would say every moment! I was playing with Dominik and Papazian, and these players are sickos! The guy who came second, that bluff… these guys have balls!"

Sharma and his soon-to-be trophy, the golden Lion.

“It wasn't easy, every single hand was a battle. But today it was on my side, and I did well, but I can't say I was way better than them, it was just that it was my day.”

While Sharma has had some deep runs at the WSOP, including several top 20 finishes, his best results have come in Asia. He’s understandably happy to see a major prizepool such as this one contested on the continent.

“Nobody ever thought there would be a tournament in Asia with $1M up top,” said the million dollar man “but not only did they put up such a big guarantee, they surpassed it. I know it takes a lot of effort so kudos to the team for promoting it like they did. I was at the WSOP and I saw so much promotion for the APT, I hope it keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

The bluff of the Championship

While Sharma’s performance was a dominating one, a hat must be tipped to John Constiniano for running Sharma closer than anyone — not to mention his jawdropping bluff.

“There was so much happening before that, prior to that hand that I thought it'd be very credible for me to have a really, really good hand in that spot,” explained the man from The Philippines. ”I just felt like he didn’t have enough to call me with.”

Costiniano did not have a tournament record comparable to some of the more accomplished live players at the final table, but that doesn’t mean he got there by accident. He has a decade of professional experience under his belt, though much of it has been spent playing online.

Constiniano played throughout with a smile on his face.

“I started playing in 2011, but around 2015 is when I started playing professionally. Then I started transitioning to playing live, and it took a while for me to adjust because it's a really different game, to be honest, but right now everything's just coming to fruition, I guess.

“I got third [at APT Manila in 2024], now second… Next time, next time…we know what's next.”

Given his performance here today, it’s surely only a matter of time.

TWD 311K ($10K) APT Championship Main Event — final table results

^{Images courtesy of the APT.}