Daniel Benor

Flight C of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Mini Main Event Championship concluded after a swift eight-hour session at Red Space in Taipei City. The flight drew 323 entries (257 unique) across ten levels of late registration to push the cumulative total to 1,293, with one flight still underway. The 20-minute turbo blinds ensured rapid play all day, leading to the bubble bursting quickly and 46 players bagging up for the night.

Israeli Daniel Benor emerged as the heat's chip leader with 822,000 in chips, continuing his already strong festival showing after finishing second at one of the Hyper Turbo High Roller events. Benor’s late-day surge included a massive double up through Sean Ooi, with overpair crushing top pair.

Flight C Top 10 Chip Counts

Yi Shing Yiu

Also making his presence felt was Hong Kong’s Yi Shing Shiu who made a strong late-stage push, finishing with the second largest stack of 773,000 and securing his first-ever APTC cash.

Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss

Not far behind in third rank was USA’s Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss with 696,000 in chips. At one point, Nemeskeri-Kiss held the largest stack but took a slight dip. While he is already guaranteed to money, he is in prime shape to surpass his earlier winnings at the Ultra Stack Championship.

Joshua Gebissa

Other notable players that secured a top-ten finish were Dhanesh Chainani with 498,000 and Triton One champion / APT newcomer Joshua Gebissa with 457,000. For the latter, he delivered the bubble by knocking out Waris Soontorn on a flip.

Jie Zhang

Hong Kong’s Jie Zhang also earned a spot in the news after surviving a near-elimination with fewer than eight big blinds. His timely double-up sparked a full resurgence, and he continued to climb, ultimately sealing the day in sixth rank with a very healthy 463,000 in chips.

Further down the rung were some of the region's biggest names: Soobum Kim who finished runner-up at the first-ever APT Taipei new era, APT decorated champion Jinho Hong, and Malaysia's Sean Ooi who is still seeking his first APT major title. Ooi ran into a cooler late in the day that in turn sent Benor to the top of the counts.

The survivors from all four starting flights will combine on Thursday, November 27 at 11:15 AM for the decisive Final Day. From there, it becomes a straight sprint to the finish, with players battling until the APT Mini Main Event Championship ultimately crowns its champion.

Stay locked into the APT blog for full coverage of the APT Mini Main Event Championship with fresh updates provided all the way to the finish line.

Meanwhile at Flight D, Seungmook "7high" Jung says, "I don't know who that Romanian guy is (referring to Adrian Pora at seat 4) but I am going to rip him off!" And gets a laugh from everyone at the table.

The remaining 46 players are bagging up their stacks and play has concluded. Stay tuned for a full recap of the day's action.

Waris Soontorn

An intense bubble round with three players at three separated tables all-in. While one of them was uncalled, the other led to a double up for the short stack and the third was the downfall of Waris Soontorn on the bubble.

Action opened with Joshua Gebissa raising 32,000 from middle position then Soontorn jammed from the big blind. Gebissa asked for the count and could easily afford it. He called and they flipped them over.

Waris Soontorn: K J

Joshua Gebissa: 9 9

Soontorn had hope with overcards but when the flop ran 5 8 A it was looking bleak. With the turn 9 , it was all over for him as he was drawing dead to the set. The river J completed the board.

With 47 players remaining and 46 spots available on Day 2, the tournament has now entered the hand-for-hand stage with the next player eliminated walking away with nothing.

Jie Zhang

Sechariah Sheng min-raised from middle position and Jie Zhang jammed out of the small blind for 95,000. Sheng made the call to try and eliminate Zhang.

Jie Zhang J J

Sechariah Sheng A 8

Zhang was ahead with jacks but Sheng had an ace he could hit to eliminate him.

It was not to be as Zhang had Sheng drawing dead by the turn, on the Q 7 2 J A runout, as he had hit a set.

Sheng was down to around 200,000 and Zhang looked much more likely to make it into Day 2.

As retold by Sean Ooi, he opened from under the gun for 32,000 and button Daniel Benor three-bet to 85,000. Ooi defended to go post flop.

When the dealer spread the board Q 9 7 , both players tapped felt for a free turn card of 8 . No more friendliness followed with Ooi firing it all in for a total of 240,000.

Benor called and showed his K K overpair. Ooi had A Q and was in trouble.

The river 6 was no help to Ooi, who proceeded to pay a costly double up.

Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar

With the bubble looming, play has not slowed down in the least with shoves still taking place, most of which were uncalled.

At Table 19, it was not the case with Paul Esau going all-in, Daniel Benor repopping to 51,000, then Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar going over the top for everything behind. Benor barely gave it thought and called.

Paul Esau: A Q

Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar: A K

Daniel Benor: A Q

Munkhbaatar was looking good with his kicker and it held throughout a board of 8 5 9 7 T for the sweep and a bust.

Daniel Benor

Vincent Li Kwun raised to 25,000 under the gun with Kim Soobum calling from the next seat, and Daniel Benor defending his big blind.

Three checks followed the 5 6 5 flop to see the Q hit the turn. Benor and Kwun checked again, but Soobum bet 20,000. Benor went for a check-raise to around 75,000, which was enough to get two folds from his opponents.

As retold by the winner, Seongsu Kong kicked off the action with a raise from middle position and got called by Daniel Benor plus two others for four-way to the flop.

After the flop ran 3 7 8 , Kong continued and everyone called for the four-way to continue to the turn Q .

Two checks opened then Benor fired a 30,000 bet. Only Kong called to complete the board with a river 2 .

Kong checked once more, Benor fired a 98,000 bet, Kong punched back with a shove of around 200,000 and Benor remained staunch, calling for his tournament life.

Daniel Benor: A A

Seongsu Kong: A K

Kong was semi-bluffing with just ace-high which was far behind Benor's aces. Shortly after, Kong risked his last eight big blinds and busted.