Jon Rounce-Sue
New Zealand's Jon Rounce-Sue took down the inaugural APTC Taipei 2025 TWD 93,000 (~USD 3,000) Natural8 Cup Championship event for an impressive TWD 7,538,480 (~USD 243,180) and claimed the exclusive Pewter Lion APT Trophy.
The four-day event drew in a huge field of 490 players, creating a total prize pool of TWD 39,372,480 (~USD 1,270,089), smashing the TWD 31,000,000 guarantee.
Ultimately, only 71 made the money, with the bubble bursting at the close of the second day played, with Taiwan's Wun Long Liu the last player to exit empty handed to conclude the Day 2 action and guarantee all remaining survivors a TWD 148,400 (~USD 4,790) payday.
Many battled through Day 3, with notables such as Natural8 Ambassadors Sparrow Cheung and Kitty Kuo representing the talent in the field.
Suengyeol Kim
Cheong only made it through the first few hands of the day before being eliminated, along with APT Jeju 2025 Main Event Winner, Abraham Ceesvin and epic bubble survivor, Suengyeol Kim, who had made the money holding just a single 1K chip.
Japan’s Shiina Okamoto was also seen on the felt and cashed in 19th place before jumping straight into the Women’s Championship Event, chasing her third Women’s Championship title.
Natural8 Ambassador Kitty Kuo brought the Day 3 action to a close after a gruelling nine hours of play, sending South Korea’s Dohang Na to the rail in tenth place for TWD 484,400 (~USD 15,625) to enter the Final Day with a top three stack.
Final Table Action
BACK (L-R): Christopher Mateo, Jon Rounce-Sue, Bawoo Yun, Hajime Watanabe, Chang Seog Chae.
FRONT (L-R): Adrian State, Kitty Kuo, Julian Warhurst, Rob Hollink
Final Table Results
It was an international final table boasting representatives from nine different countries and regions, with the Netherlands’s Rob Hollink returning with the chip lead holding just under twenty percent of the chips in play.
Action started steady but Philippines's Christopher Mateo was first to show dominance when he took the lead off Hollink after chipping away at the table during a number of consecutive early final-table pots. Rounce-Sue then took the reins and pulled away from the pack, bullying players out of pots.
The table tightened their belts, and a lot of players were making big folds with pocket pairs when pressured, before Australia's Julian Warhurst got short, getting four of his last five big blinds from early position with queen-jack offsuit.
Mateo looked him up with a dominating ace-queen, putting him all in for his final chip after Warhurst checked the flop and then called to discover the bad news; an ace on the turn was the final nail in the Aussie's coffin and he hit the rail in 9th for a TWD 683,600 (~USD 22,050) payday.
Kitty Kuo
It wasn’t long before Taiwan’s Kitty Kuo took a tumble after she went up against Rounce-Sue and missed after three-betting preflop with ace-king offsuit, eventually losing the hand at showdown to Rounce-Sue's pocket fours to drop down the counts.
The Natural8 Ambassador got her final seven big blinds in after facing an open from Christopher Mateo, and ran into his kings holding ace-king offsuit. The pair had battling at the same table for more than half of Day 3 and while Mateo couldn’t seem to hold up against Kuo’s aggression, that all changed today as the Filipino player ultimately ended her run in 8th for TWD 863,300 (~USD 27,850).
Just two hands later, South Korea’s Chang Seog Chae took on Mateo and crumbled his stack down to nine big blinds after Mateo missed his flush draw and Chae took the huge pot with a pair of kings.
Mateo waited for his opportunity and got his remaining stack in under the gun with pocket threes. Unfortunately for him, there were two callers, with Yun coming out on top and knocking him out in 6th place for TWD 1,238,200 (~USD 39,940).
Adrian State
Romania’s Adrian State made an epic come back to secure his place at the final table after going down to his last few big blinds, but spinning back up to make the final table. After seeing a slow bleed of chips on the final table as he didn’t pick up too many hands, State's tournament ended after he open-called a jam by Rounce-Sue who had him covered.
It was a race between State's pocket eights and the New Zealander's ace-king, with the Romanian player getting outdrawn on the river to hit the rail in 5th for TWD 1,644,500 (~USD 53,050).
Japan’s Hajime Watanabe had a great final-day run, laddering from entering the day eighth in chips, but ending the day in 4th place. He steadily upped the pressure on his opponents, chipping up, but got knocked back down by Hollink when he near doubled him up, getting his ace-queen in against Hollink’s ace-king.
It was all to play for heading into the final three. With Hollink holding the most chips, he was able to knock down and steal a fair amount from his opponents.
South Korean’s Bawoo Yun’s stack tumbled after Hollink rivered a straight, taking Yun for a ride after he had flopped a set of three’s. Yun went down to his final four big blinds and lost the battle with ace-seven against Rounce-Sue’s nine-seven after he flopped a nine, eliminating him in 3rd place for TWD 3,402,300 (~USD 109,750).
Heads Up Action
Rob Hollink (left) and Jon Rounce-Sue (right)
Rounce-Sue and Hollink went into heads up relatively evenly stacked, with just over three big blinds separating them, both sitting around fifty big blinds deep. There was just 10 minutes of heads-up action, which contained five hands, before it all came to a close.
Hollink had the lead to start but Rounce-Sue got to work and didn’t let up. After limping the small blind, Rounce-Sue bet into Hollink on the river forcing a fold and taking the chip lead. Rounce-Sue took more in the next hand as Hollink limped and gave up on the river after sticking around for most of the streets.
It was Rounce-Sue who emerged victorious, taking the crown after the final had of the day saw Hollink tank-call with pocket sevens against Rouce-Sue’s pocket tens. Rounce-Sue improved, and Hollink was drawing dead by the turn, ending his epic run in the tournament and sending him home with a second-place cash worth TWD 4,749,900 (~USD 153,220).
Winner’s Reaction
Jon Rounce-Sue
Jon Rounce-Sue reflected on his mindset heading into heads-up play, saying, “I thought there was going to be a lot of gameplay because my opponent is very aggressive and a very tough player. I was just very lucky to get a call with tens versus sevens at fifty big blinds, it was standard poker that went my way.”
When asked about his win, he said, “It was basically anyone’s game, and I was lucky to come out the other side. I am very grateful.”
Speaking about playing the 10,000 Main Event after winning a pass, he shared, “Yeah, I’ve played a few 10Ks here and there, it should be a good field. I came to play the Main Event, and this was just a side event that I’m lucky I won.”
He added, “I’m really looking forward to the Main Event. It should be a good mix of players, a big field, and a lot of fun.”
Winning this event sets a new personal best live cash for him, surpassing his previous USD 111,098 score from 2023, when he finished second in the WSOP International Circuit Main Event.
To celebrate, he said, “Me and my friends have all come over from Australia, so I’ll take them out, go out with them, and maybe go on a nice holiday to relax afterwards. But I’ll focus on poker for now — I’ll figure the rest out after.”
This concludes coverage of the APTC Taipei 2025 Natural8 National Cup Championship. Be sure to return to the APT blog tomorrow (Monday 24th Nov.) as the landmark Main Event kicks off at 11am. APT will be on the ground to cover all the key table action live from the Red Space Event Centre in Taipei, so be sure to stay locked into the live updates.
Rob Hollink
Jon Rounce-Sue
Bawoo Yun
Bawoo Yun
Rounce Sue
Rob Hollink
Hajime Watanabe