Thi Xoa Nguyen

After ten one-hour levels of play, just 52 remain in the TWD466,000 Asian Poker Tour High Roller Championship at the 2025 APTC series inside Red Space, Taipei. Day 1 drew a total of 108 entries (87 unique) to the felt, but with this tournament featuring double re-entry, and late registration being open for another level on Day 2, that number is expected to increase significantly.

Topping the counts is Vietnam’s Thi Xoa Nguyen, who bagged a huge stack of 646,000 at the day's end. Canada’s Gabriel Le Jossec follows in second with 517,500, while Toby Joyce, Samuel Mullur, and Quang Minh Nguyen are all tied for third on 384,500.

Thi elevated herself into the chip lead during the final level of the night after slowplaying pocket aces preflop against Friedl Siegfried, who fired every street with pocket kings. While that cooler certainly helped, she also chipped up steadily throughout the day, putting opponents in tough spots and dragging in plenty of pots without showdown.

APT High Roller Championship Top Ten Chip Counts

Once the cards were in the air, it didn't take long for the chips to start flying. Not even half an hour in, Seunghyun Nam found himself on the right side of a brutal cooler against Poseidon Ho after both players flopped a set. Ho was left with just crumbs and ended up becoming the first casualty of the day shortly after.

Seunghyun Nam

A familiar face on the high stakes scene around the world, Mullur saw his stack dip early, but as a seasoned pro he stayed patient and picked the right spot to bounce back. He flopped a set against Seonguk Huh and managed to get his entire stack in by the river. The double up sent him moving in the right direction, eventually helping him close out the day as one of the bigger stacks in the room.

Making it through with a slightly lower than average stack was Thailand’s Punnat Punsri, who bagged 160,500. Punsri didn’t get off to the best start, stacking off with pocket tens versus Alex Wice’s queens. But, with a new seat and when the final seven hands were called, he came up with what might end up being the best call of APTC 2025 series.

Punnat Punsri

Erik Eilsen completed from the small blind and then called Punsri’s raise out of the big blind. After a low flop checked through, Eilsen led the turn and then shoved the river, putting Punsri to the test for his stack. Punsri tank-called, and Eilsen could only table six-high, losing to Punsri’s king-high. The pot didn’t launch Punsri anywhere near the top of the leaderboard, but it definitely gave the 2023 APT Taiwan Main Event Champion a nice confidence boost heading into Day 2.

Some other notable players returning to the felt tomorrow include Ranno Sootla (332,500) and Chin Wei Lim (158,000), who stayed alive after making the correct call for his tournament life with an underpair to the board. Superstar Championship winner Calvin Lee (198,000) and Super High Roller Championship winner Roman Hrabec (116,000) also advanced, with both eyeing the chance to add another one of those goliath-sized Lion trophies to their luggage before the end of the series.

Roamn Hrabec

A few other recognizable names to bag chips include Axel Hallay (114,000), Danny Tang (107,000), Florencio Campomanes (83,000), Paul Hong (48,500), Ho (48,000), and Gytis Lazauninkas (44,000). Lazauninkas sits near the bottom of the counts, but with two re-entries available per player, he still has the chance to either spin it up or jump back in and start fresh.

Day 2 gets underway at 11:15 AM on Level 11 with blinds at 1,500/3,000 and a 3,000 big blind ante. Late registration will remain open until the start of Level 12 at approximately 12:30 PM, after which the official prize pool and payouts will be announced.

For a full Day 1 list of APT Super High Roller survivors, CLICK HERE

Be sure to tune back into the APT blog for continuous coverage direct from the tournament floor, as the High Roller Championship rolls on.

The remaining players have bagged up their chips and play has concluded for Day 1. Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action.

Tung Nguyen Thanh

The tournament floor had stopped the clock, and one of the last hands of Day 1 of the High Roller Championship was being played when Tung Nguyen Thanh in the small blind opened for 2,500, only to be three-bet to 12,000 by the big blind Ranno Sootla.

Thanh called to see the flop: 5 3 6

Check from Thanh, a bet of 22,500 from Sootla, and Thanh called.

The same scenario unfolded on the turn Q , except that Sootla had increased his bet to 40,000.

The dealer then revealed the fifth and final board card, a T

Having invested a lot without connecting with the board, both players checked, and it was Thanh, with ace high A 8 , who scooped the 150,000-chip pot. A nice haul for a hand that hadn’t improved at all.

Punnat Punsri

On one of the last hands of the day, Erik Eisen completed from the small blind and Punnat Punsri made it 9,000 from the big blind. Eisen stuck in the call.

Check-check came after the 2 7 9 flop to see the 4 appear on the turn. Eisen bet 19,000, which Punsri called.

The 4 landed on the river, and after not too much time, Eisen shoved, covering Punsri.

Punsri, with 51,400 in his stack, went deep into the tank, and occasionally looked over at Eisen, who was seated on his direct right. After using two of his time banks, Punsri made the call.

Eisen flipped over 6 5 for just six-high after missing his draw, and lost the pot to Punsri's king-high with K Q .

Florencio Campomanes, who was stunned by what he had witnessed, let out a "Wooooow!", while Punsri remained cool, calm, and collected as if it was nothing.

The floor staff have announced that their will be seven more hands before play concludes for the night.

Brian Battistone

With the board showing T K 6 5 , Brian Battistone fired a bet of 30,000 from the small blind and Neel Joshi made the call from middle position.

The 3 completed the board and using one of his time banks, Battistone shoved for 128,900, sending Joshi into the tank.

While Joshi was thinking what to do, Battistone leaned back in chair to look at the tournament clock, let out a big sigh, and put his wireless earphones back in their case. Ulitmately Joshi folded, prompting Battistone to smile and remark to his tablemate,

"I had it, I had it", and showed just the A .

Wai Kiat Lee

Stanislav Zegal opened the action from the button with 6,500.

Wai Kiat Lee called to defend his big blind and saw the flop: A A 3 . Zegal fired a continuation bet of 3,500, and Lee called.

No action followed on the turn J .

When the dealer revealed the river 7 , Lee took the initiative with a small bet of 3,200. Zegal tried to represent a strong hand and raised to 24,000, but Lee didn’t believe him and called. There was nothing to see, however, as Zegal folded his bluff and Lee scooped the pot.

Vamerdino Magsakay

Ranno Sootla raised to 6,500 under the gun and was three-bet by Vamerdino Magsakay to 17,500 from middle position. Sootla just called when it got back to him.

Both players checked the J 5 8 flop to see the A appear on the turn. Sootla checked and Magsakay fired out a bet of 25,000. Sootla opted to call.

The T river checked through and Sootla turned over J 9 for a pair of jacks. Magsakay had the winner with A K for a pair of aces and he was awarded the pot.

Friedl Siegfried

Friedl Siegfried raised to 6,000 from the cutoff and Xoa Nguyen Thi three-bet the button to 17,000. When it got back to Siegfried, he four-bet to 42,000. Thi opted to just call.

A flop of 6 Q 3 came down and Siegfried decided to bet 16,000, which Thi called.

When the board-pairing 6 came on the turn, Siegfried fired a second barrel of 30,000. Thi took a few moments, and then called.

The river came the 4 and after doing some inventory of his stack, that amounted to about 50,000, Siegfried jammed. Thi instantly called.

Siegfried turned over K K for a pair of kings, but lost the pot to Thi's A A for a higher pocket pair.

Gabriel Le Jossec-Amar

Two players seated side by side, Ranno Sootla and Gabriel Le Jossec-Amar, found themselves heads-up on a highly dangerous board: 7 7 9 7 6 a layout that offered every kind of possibility — quads, full houses, flushes, or even a straight flush.

The pot had climbed to 140,000 chips.

Le Jossec-Amar pushed forward a large bet worth 51,000.

Sootla studied his opponent from the corner of his eye, but Le Jossec-Amar maintained a perfect poker face, revealing nothing.

The Estonian player burned through his remaining clock and two time banks — a full 90 seconds — before painfully sliding one card, then the other, toward the dealer. Clearly shaken, he surrendered the pot, leaving the massive 140,000-chip haul to Le Jossec-Amar.