February 2-3
Days between Lin's two tournament victories in Jeju.
-
1ST
Tony Ren Lin
$321,364
-
2ND
Quang Minh Nguyen
$236,828
-
3RD
Fendy Kosasih
$158,445
-
4TH
Khoa Anh Ngo
$119,517
-
5TH
Lester Edoc
$85,041
-
6TH
Paulius Plausinaitis
$63,366
-
7TH
Joseph Cheong
$50,578
-
8TH
Huu Dung Nguyen
$41,129
-
9TH
Ryuta Nakai
$35,571
In Jeju, Korea, the Asian Poker Tour is currently running its first series of 2026 — the year of the APT 20-Year Anniversary.
And in what is a standout year for the tour, a standout performance has seized the headlines, as China’s Ren Lin has gone back-to-back in consecutive tournaments for close to $600K in prize money in just a couple of days.
Fresh from his come-from-behind victory in the APT Jeju Classic Super High Roller — in which he spun up a stack of just 2 big blinds, three-handed, to claim the title — Lin has won the $25K Superstar Challenge on Tuesday in one of the most impressive feats ever seen at the APT.
With registration open in the series’ $1,500 Main Event until the second level of Wednesday’s Day 2, can Lin’s hottest of hot streaks continue?
The latest twist in Lin’s crazy tale
It’s been an interesting few months for high-rolling pro Ren Lin, to put it mildly.
The smiley and affable man from China hit the headlines back in October when he was banned from GGPoker — his sponsor at the time — for providing real-time coaching to another player at the final table of the GGMillion$ online event.
As a result Lin was barred from playing on the site, eventually lost his sponsorship, and told he would also be banned from WSOP live events. This was enforced in dramatic fashion when his stack was removed from play during Day 2 of the WSOP Super Circuit Cyprus Main Event.
However, Lin was back in action at WSOP Paradise in December, gained a new sponsor in WPT Global in January, and kicked off February with victory in the APT Jeju Classic Super High Roller for $275,220.
How do you top that?
Lin’s answer was emphatic, after he went straight from the SHR winner’s circle into the $25K APT Jeju Classic 2026 Superstar Challenge.
The outcome was his second tournament win in a row, for another $323K in prize money and the beautiful Black ‘Stealth’ Lion trophy.
While his appointment as a WPT Global ambassador raised some eyebrows (and had a fallout all of its own), his new sponsors will no doubt be thrilled to see their new man taking down yet another major title in Korea.
Over $1 million for Superstars to play for
With a buy-in of around $25K and 49 entries, the final prizepool for the APT Jeju Classic Superstar Challenge topped $1.1 million, and it was Lin who started the day in pole position to take down the lion’s share.
16 potential superstars survived the first day of play and Lin led them all heading into the final day with a stack just shy of 1.5M, ahead of the USA’s Joseph Cheong in second with 1.2M.
A big chunk of Lin’s chips came about as a result of a huge Day 1 preflop flip against Jun Obara, whose A-K couldn’t catch up with Lin’s pocket fours. Four may be considered an unlucky number in China, but it would take more than superstition to slow down Lin on his current form.
By the time the 16 survivors had been reduced to the final table of nine, Lin’s stack had taken a few blows and he found himself in the middle of the pack with 1.1M chips. Lester Edoc of The Philippines led the way with 2.8M, with Vietnam’s Huu Dung Nguyen bringing up the rear with just 380K.
Nguyen-Nguyen situation
Nguyen would manage to ladder up a little, however, after Japan’s Ryuta Nakai hit the door in 9th (approx. $35K). For outlasting Nakai, Nguyen earned an extra $6K when he suffered a bad beat at the hands of his countryman Quang Minh Nguyen.
Holding 
on a flop of 
, Huu Dung Nguyen got the last of his chips in with a flush draw against Quang Minh Nguyen’s 
, and was happy to see the turn 
give him top pair and put him firmly in the driving seat.
Only a non-spade ten would fill Quang Minh Nguyen’s runner-runner straight, but that’s exactly what happened as the river brought the killer 
. Huu Dung Nguyen took $41K for his final table run.
Next out would be Joseph Cheong ($50K), who also fell to Quang Minh Nguyen after both players got their chips in preflop with big cards and neither hit, Nguyen’s 
holding against Cheong’s 
.
‘Lady Gagas’ deliver
The departures of Lithuania’s Paulius Plausinaitis in 6th ($63K) and Lester Edoc in 5th ($85K) left the final four, and it was at this point that Lin leapt into the chip lead.
With blinds at 50K/100K/100K and holding pocket queens — or ‘Lady Gagas’, as he is famous for calling them — Lin 3-bet Nguyen’s 200K open to 700K, then called for the rest of his chips when Nguyen set him all-in holding .
A nervy runout of 
gave Nguyen hope but gave Lin the double-up, not to mention the biggest stack at the table.
Soon enough Vietnam’s Khoa Anh Ngo shoved into Lin’s big blind holding , only to find Lin with a dominating hand of 
. A king gave both players a pair, but Lin’s kicker booted Ngo out in 4th ($120K).
The pattern was repeated when Fendy Kosasih of Indonesia jammed from the button with 
, and Lin once again found himself holding the identical big slick, , in the big blind. Neither player connected with the board, leaving Lin and Nguyen heads-up for the Superstar title.
Lin wins
Heads-up play began with blinds of 50K/100K/100K, and Lin holding a chip advantage of 7.9M to Nguyen’s 4.3M.
The man from China wouldn’t get it all his own way, however, and Nguyen managed to wrestle back the chip lead after chasing a flush draw with and spiking a queen on the river.
Lin would fight back, however, regaining the chip lead before a crucial hand pushed the bulk of the chips his way.
With Nguyen the aggressor throughout a hand that ended with the board showing 
, the man from Vietnam continued to push with a 850K river bet. Lin raised to 2.5M, Nguyen took his time calling, and Lin revealed the 
for the Broadway straight. Nguyen mucked, and was left with around 10bb.
Lin soon swept those up too, but the final hand kept Nguyen’s hopes alive until the very end.
Opening with a shove from the button, Lin held . Nguyen called off the last of his chips with the superior . Lin went ahead on the flop, but Nguyen had the open-ended straight draw. The on the turn brought a flush draw to go with it, but the 
on the river sealed the deal and delivered a second win for Lin in just a couple of days.
Nguyen collected $236,828 for his impressive run to second place.
2026 is already off to a flying start for Lin, who closed out 2025 with three cashes at WSOP Paradise for almost $600K. His most recent win comes with approximately $321,364 in prize money, plus a $10K pass to the APT Championship Main Event in Taipei later this year (or to be accurate, another pass after picking up his first courtesy of his win in the High Roller).
A packed week of events remains at APT Jeju Classic, with multiple tournaments running daily until Sunday, February 8.
You can catch the action live from Day 2 of the Main Event, Wednesday from 11am local time, at the APT YouTube channel.
Note that dollar amounts mentioned in this article have been converted from Korean Won, are approximate and correct at time of writing.
UPDATE: This article has been corrected to more accurately reflect Quang Minh Nguyen’s career tournament earnings.
Images courtesy of the Asian Poker Tour.
