Teeraphat Rangkatekarn

As always, the National Cup is the event that opens an Asian Poker Tour (APT) festival, and it never fails to draw a huge crowd. What makes this edition different is what everyone is chasing. The APT Championship (APTC) officially got underway today inside Red Space, Taipei, and the stakes are higher than ever with the TWD 15,000 National Cup Championship boasting its biggest buy-in since the tournament began.

It is not a question of whether APTC will set records, but simply when. The benchmark to beat is the all-time APT side event record of 2,305 entries, set right here in Taipei during the APT Taipei 2024 National Cup.

Flight A moved things in the right direction with a total of 461 entries (351 unique). When the final hands were dealt, only 65 players survived the day, and one man finished a long way ahead of the pack. Thailand’s Teeraphat Rangkatekarn bagged 1,092,000 chips, the only player to reach a seven-figure count and well ahead of Chia Hsiang Ko, who closed in second place with 793,000.

National Cup Championship Flight A Top Ten Chip Counts

Rangkatekarn climbed toward the top of the counts in Level 16 after his pocket sixes held in a sizeable flip against the Big Slick of Ka Ling Chui. The runout gave him a brief scare, but the sixes stayed in front and he dragged in a pivotal pot.

From there, the momentum never slowed. He continued stacking pot after pot and even brought the field to the brink of the money when his king-queen out-flopped the ace-jack of Anouk Wimalaratna.

Rounding out the podium places is Gwanu Ju, who played a monstrous four-way all-in pot during Level 17 to leap up the counts. Ju held aces and was up against his opponents' pocket queens, pocket tens, and king-queen. An ace-high flop all but sealed the deal, and sent Ju on his way to the podium.

Gwanu Ju

Also finding a bag is a player that needs no introduction. Abraham Ceesvin, who won the 2025 APT Jeju Main Event just over a month ago, closed the day with 440,000 chips as he sets his sights on another lion trophy. His victory in Jeju, the largest international poker tournament ever held in Korea, earned the Singaporean KRW 649,835,200 (~USD 464,170) along with an APTC Main Event seat.

Liow Only Fires One Bullet

It was all smiles for Gregory “Greg Goes All In” Liow as he danced his way to a bag of 294,000, good for 25th in the counts. Even more surprising, he did it on a single bullet. For a man famous for firing more shells than a battlefield and joking that he provides “rakeback for the community,” this was a rare and glorious sight. Greg knew it too, and he looked very pleased with himself when the bags came out.

“I bagged the National Cup on my first bullet, and the best part was that it was a complete free roll for me. I had won a National Cup seat at APT Jeju during the N8 APT x TAENATAAK Invitational.”

Liow added with a grin, “I bagged shy of 300k for Day 2, and it feels great to not completely be giving rakeback to the players in an event for once!”

Gregory "Greg Goes All In" Liow

Bubble Time

The bubble was a short affair, and in the first all-in-and-call situation, it was over. Caixin Wong, who was a contender for chip leader early on in the day, was the player to deliver the knockout as her king-four flopped a king to crack the pocket eights of the short-stacked Teng Yu.

Some other notables to make it through include Hong Kong's Wai Kit Lo (658,000), bubble-burster Wong (413,000), Patrick Liang (369,000), Ben Underwood (255,000), and Albert Gorelik (105,000).

For a full Flight A National Cup Championship Survivor List: Click here.

Be sure to check back regularly for all the updates from the championship events here at APTC.

The remaining 65 players are now bagging up for the day and will take their chips through to the final day on November 16th.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action and full surviving player chip counts.

Caixin Wong

Action folded to Caixin Wong in the small blind who open jammed all in for 40,000 effective as she had Teng Yu covered, who was sat in the big blind.

Yu went into the tank for a short while and made the call for his tournamnet life.

Teng Yu: 8 8

Caixin Wong: K 4

A nasty flop for Yu of 3 J K fell and he needed to hit an eight to stay alive.

He got no help with the 6 turn nor the 4 river and was sent to the rail as the bubble boy in 66th place.

The field now stands at 66 players, and with 65 spots on offer in Day 2, it means just one more player needs to be eliminated before the survivors can bag up for the night.

Anouk Wimalaratna Sent to the Rail One Off the Bubble

Teeraphat Rangkatekarn raised to 32,000 from under the gun and action folded around to Anouk Wimalaratna in the big blind who moved all in for 120,000. Rangkatekarn went into the tank for a short time before he made the call.

Anouk Wimalaratna: A J

Teeraphat Rangkatekarn: K Q

Not the door card Wimalaratna wanted to see on the Q 8 2 flop and he got no help on the 7 turn nor the 8 river and was sent to the rail as the pre-bubble boy.

Arun Sriram

Arun Sriram had his stack of around 100,000 in the pot preflop, and was put at risk by Pin Cheng Liu, who had a covering stack.

Arun Sriram: A 5

Pin Cheng Liu: A Q

Sriram was looking for a five, but the runout of A 6 T 4 7 didn't contain one, which meant he had his marching orders just six players away from the money.

Cheng Jia raised to 20,000 from the hijack only for Wan Hung to three-bet all for 100,000 from the cut off. Action folded to Hsiang Ko on the button who flat called. Jia exited stage left quickly.

Wan Hung: 7 7

Hsiang Ko: A Q

A dangerous looking flop came for Hung of K 3 J and when the T peeled off on the turn Ko hit his straight to leave Hung drawing dead.

The irrelevant 7 fell on the turn to make the pain even worse for Hung as he was sent to the rail.

Teeraphat Rangkatekarn Pushing Up To One Million Chips

Action folded around to Teeraphat Rangkatekarn who raised to 30,000 from the hijack and found a call from Shjng So on the button.

The flop came 2 6 3 and both players checked to see the T peel off on the turn.

Rangkatekarn checked to So who bet out for 25,000, Rangkatekarn called and the dealer rolled off the 6 as the river. Rangkatekarn moved all in for approximately 520,000 and he easily had So covered.

So went into the tank and the dealer pulled in two time banks before he released his hand sending the pot to Rangkatekarn with no showdown. This pushed Rangkatekarn up close to a million in chips.

Players are on a 15-minute break.

Shun Zheng raised to 16,000 from under the gun and action folded to Kit Lo in the hijack who three-bet to 33,000. Action folded back around to Zheng who made the call.

The flop came K 4 2 and Zheng led out for 25,000, Lo called.

The turn brought the 4 and now Zheng fired out for 100,000, Lo flat called again.

The dealer peeled off the J as the river and the action went check-check.

Zheng tabled 9 9 but was way behind Lo and his A K and Zheng was pushed the monster pot.