Dumitru Pora

The post-dinner stretch proved difficult for Tobias Schwecht, who had finished the previous level as the chip leader just before the long break.

He first lost a sizeable pot when his 9 T and Dumitru Pora’s K T both connected with top pair on a flop of T 4 7 . Schwecht, who also held a gutshot, called Pora’s shove after the 6 appeared on the turn.

Nothing changed on the river 7 , and Pora dragged a massive pot.

On the very next hand, Schwecht called Wayne Lam’s preflop shove, and once again variance worked against him. He did not improve his hand.

Wayne Lam: 8 8

Tobias Schwecht: A 8

The board ran K 7 J 2 K .

Lam climbed almost even with Schwecht, whose stack had melted by more than half in just a few minutes.

Michael Wang

We missed the complete action, but according to Malaysia's Wai Kiat Lee - Michael Wang risked his last chips on a preflop shove, which Lee called, seated right next to Wang.

Wai Kiat Lee: A Q

Michael Wang: A 7

Board ran 6 Q 7 Q 6

Wang and Lee both paired the flop, but Lee earned trip queens on the turn, leaving Wang drawing dead and up from his seat before the dealer dealt the river card.

The total amount of Wang's chips wasn't counted as Lee was already stacking them up.

Wang exited with a 20th place payout of TWD 464,300 (~USD 14,880).

Tobias Schwecht

The action resumed after the dinner break, and for now, German Tobias Schwecht led the chip counts in the APT Mini Main Event Championship 2025 at Red Space in Taipei. He is closely followed by Lithuanian Paulius Plausinaitis and Australian Michael Egan.

Sung Jin Yun

South Korea's Sung Jin Yun was eliminated a few hands before the dinner break, claiming a 21st place finish for TWD 425,600 (~USD 13,640).

Sung Jin "Sky" Yun marks this as his 7th cash of the series. Yun has cashed in almost a lot of multi-day events of the series. He also has an APT title from winning a Single Day High Roller event during APT Manila Classic 2025.

Paulius Plausinaitis

Trong Hieu Ngo was on the small blind and was heads-up against Paulius Plausinaitis on the hi-jack.

Before them was a pot of 320,000 with a board that showed 7 7 T 3

Ngo check-called the 130,000 bet of Plausinaitis.

The dealer opened a 2 on the river.

This time, Ngo led out for 175,000.

Plausinaitis threw in a time bank token and counted off 600,000 to push beyond the betting line for a raise.

Ngo examined his own stack, assessing the damage he might lose, took a good look at the juicy pot and the even juicier bet, then pushed a chip to call.

Plausinaitis peeled A 7 for trip sevens while Ngo mucked his hand back to the dealer in slow motion.

A total of 20 players remain and they will head for an hour-long dinner break.

Charlie Chiu

Following the bubble burst, the other short stacks fell to their demise with the likes of Taiwan's Yuan Hsu Lee (27th), Japan's Ryota Shinde (26th), Taiwan's Charlie Chiu (25th) and Australia's Martin Kozlov (24th) .

Each player was awarded the minimum share of TWD 386,900 (~USD 12,400).

Meanwhile, and India's Srihasha Doddapaneni (23rd) and Taiwan's Hsin-Kai Huang (22nd) earned a payout of TWD 425,600 (~USD 13,640).

Axel Hallay

Axel Hallay, who finished 4th in last week’s APT Super High Roller Championship for TWD 5,920,900 (~USD 190,000), became the bubble boy of this APT Mini High Roller Championship.

The blame fell on Tobias Schwecht, on bad luck, and on poker itself.

Schwecht opened to 48,000 from the button, and Hallay three-bet to 653,000 from the small blind, keeping 50,000 chips in reserve. Schwecht then announced all in, and Hallay had no choice but to push his last chips into the pot.

Axel Hallay: 8 8

Tobias Schwecht: A Q

The dealer revealed the board Q K 2 7 K , immediately giving Schwecht the advantage, which he maintained through to the end of the hand.

Hallay left the table as quickly as a comet, while Schwecht took his time enjoying the growing pile of chips.

Stephen O'Dwyer

The pot was around 135,000 beside a flop that showed Q 7 9

In the hand was Stephen O'Dwyer on the big blind and Anthony Hu under the gun.

O'Dwyer check-called the 20,000 bet of Hu to see a 9 turn.

This time around, O'Dwyer led for 20,000 and was re-raised with a massive stack, covering O'Dwyer.

O'Dwyer made the all-in call for his remaining 135,000.

O'Dwyer peeled open Q 6 for a pair of queens and a flush draw.

Hu tabled A Q for the same pair but with an ace kicker.

The river threw a 4 and O'Dwyer was sent to the rail as the soft bubble.

Ryota Shinde

Japan's Ryota Shinde endured for what seemed like an eternity during Level 19. The tournament short stack waited for a decent hand to shove, while his stack was melting from the blinds.

But everything comes to those who wait, and the fateful moment finally arrived.

Romania's Dumitru Pora opened to 50,000, and Shinde just called, keeping his last 2,000 chips in front of him.

The dealer peeled a flop of J Q 9 that seemed perfect for Shinde, who flopped a set of jacks. What he did not know however was that Pora had flopped a straight.

Ryota Shinde: J J

Dumitru Pora: K T

Pora checked the flop, and Shinde, thrilled, shoved in his last 2,000 chips. Pora snap called of course.

Two more cards remained, and the first one was magical: the 9 on the turn gave Shinde a full house, immediately leaving Pora drawing dead.

The A that completed the board on the river was only anecdotal.

Shinde could raise his arms to the sky next to his chair and savour a moment he would remember for a very, very long time.