Kuan Yu Chen

After two intense starting flights, the field is narrowing in the TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,200) APTC Taipei 2025 Mini Main Championship Event at the Red Space Event Centre in Taipei. A staggering 725 players entered into the second flight of the event, but only 102 remain and will return tomorrow with the rest of the remaining flights.

Flight A witnessed 245 entries (202 unique), with only 35 seeing it through to Day 2. Leading the pack was Mixed-Game Championship winner Wei Kai Lin from Taiwan, who took through 831,000.

There are still two more flights which followed, with Turbo Flight D still in play at time of writing.

With each flight playing down to 14% of the field, and stopping once the bubble burst, all players that return will have locked up at least a minimum cash, which is determined after the registration closes on all starting flights.

Early Eliminations

Apicha Dechacharoensiri was one of the early eliminations after his kings were cracked by Myunghwan Han.

Notables such as Michael Wang and David Sommer jumped in during Flight B, but didn’t make it to the money. Sommer was eliminated just before the bubble getting in tens vs kings and not finding any help.

The event also saw some of the deep runners from the main event jump across having busted earlier this morning in Day 3. That included Oliver Lirio, Joris Michl and Sukhrat Massimov – none of whom saw a bag into Day 2 in the mini main.

The Bubble

The eliminations came quickly as levels were just 35 minutes long, and there was a lot of movement of chips, players and tables throughout the day.

The bubble only took four rounds of hand-for-hand before one player was eliminated.

Sergej Schuhmacher

Sergej Schuhmacher was the unlucky bubble boy, after risking his remaining chips in a spot against Lia Koon Lim(814,000) which ultimately didn’t go his way. He got in his pocket queens against Lim’s ace-jack with Lim seeing an ace on the flop.

Top Counts and Survivors

Taiwan's Kuan Yu Chen tops the counts of Flight B, very closely followed by Lee Hyundong from South Korea. Chen quietly made his way up the ranks throughout the day, but Hyundong showed his presence in a number of levels before the end of the day, and was seen applying the pressure throughout the bubble.

Top Ten Counts of Flight B

South Korea's Minjeong Kim (791,000) took a stack off Tien Viet Nguyen (352,000) and climbed her way up the ranks in the later stages of the day after piling on the pressure.

Minjeong Kim

Julian-Andrew Warhurt (774,000) also bagged a healthy stack and will return to the felt tomorrow after an already successful APT having final tabled the Natrural8 Cup. Sumit Sapra (435,000) had a roller coaster of a day but found a bag. This was after rebuying having first being eliminated by Nadav Cohen’s kings.

All survivors from the four opening flights will return on Thursday November 27 at 11:15 AM, where the field combine and play down to crown an APT Mini Main Event champion.

Be sure to return to the APT blog tomorrow to see who will take the title and top payout.

The remaining 102 players have bagged and progress to the final day tomorrow.

The full day recap will be posted shortly.

Sergej Schuhmacher

After just four rounds of hand-for-hand, action folded around to Sergej Schuhmacher on the button.

He moved all in for his remaining 102,000 and Lia Koon Lim was in the big blind with around 700,000 to his name.

Lim used a time bank before making the call, and the players flipped their cards once the floor confirmed there were no other all-in and calls.

Sergej Schuhmacher: Q Q

Lia Koon Lim: A J

Schuhmacher was ahead, but Lim found an ace on the 5 A T flop, to put him in front.

With the other players gathering around the table, the 2 turn was sweated along with 4 river.

There was no help for Schuhmacher, and he burst the mini main money bubble, ending the day in 103rd place.

Andres Vasquez has a good reason to smile !

With his headphones firmly in place, Andres Vasquez was lightly bouncing in his seat to the rhythm of his music. He looked completely relaxed and almost unconcerned about the approaching money bubble. And understandably so — the Spaniard held the biggest stack at the table, and there wasn’t much that could put him in danger. The pressure was squarely on his opponents, not on him.

On a board 3 8 K 4 , Vasquez slid 19,000 forward. Wan Hung made the call to see a river Q .

Vasquez then put maximum pressure on Wan with a 57,000 bet — bluff or value? Hung decided to check the Spaniard’s credentials, only to see K J turned over. It was pure value with top pair, and Hung paid the price.

The Canadian Vincent Wong, not to be confused with his Singaporean namesake, put his tournament at risk against Ka Cheuk Koo.

The two players went heads-up all-in preflop.

Vincent Wong: A Q

Ka Cheuk Koo: 9 9

Nothing changed on the flop 4 2 6 , but Wong took the lead on the turn with Q .

The 3 on the river completed the board.

Wong doubled his stack with this lifesaving pair of queens.

With just two players until the money is reached, the floor have announced that hand-for-hand is imminent.

David Sommer

David Sommer was all in and at risk from under the gun for around 100,000 and Thi Xoa Nguyen covered him from an early position.

David Sommer: T T

Thi Xoa Nguyen: K K

It was an uneventful runout for Sommer, as he saw no help on the 5 7 9 2 J runout.

Another player at the table remarked "Eight more to go", as another elimination meant they were a step closer to the money.

The remaining 112 players take a short 15-minute break.

With just 10 more to bust before play stop and the field reach the money, play is slowing down.

Cards will be back in the air at 11.30pm.

Shixiang Khoo

Shixiang Khoo, a well-known figure on the APT circuit and 2023 APT Summer Series Danang Main Event champion, opened for 12,000 from the hijack and was called by Ta Wei Wei in middle position.

The two players checked the flop 5 J 7 and the turn T .

On the river 5 , Wei shoved 26,000 chips. Unsure about Wei’s move, Khoo took a moment to think before calling. His instinct proved wrong as Wei revealed A T , and Khoo mucked his hand without a reaction. Khoo lost a few thousand chips but still maintains a comfortable stack.

Minjeong Kim

Players were already heads-up and on the 4 7 A 2 7 board with a huge pot of around 375,000.

Minjeong Kim had moved all in from the small blind, for her remaining 250,000 and action was on Tien Viet Nguyen in the big blind.

Nguyen was stood at the table and the dealer was removing his time banks one by one.

Eventually, Nguyen threw his hand into the muck and the table went into a discussion about the hand.

Kim was asked what she had, and she shared, "I had ace-queen suited.". Nguyen implied that he had a flush, which sparked more discussion.

The table talk continued well into the next hand, and another player at the table said, "I don't believe anybody, it doesn't make sense."

Kim left the hand as the new table chip lead, sitting comfortably as the bubble loomed.