The PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea series has been dominated by players from Japan.
The series started on Sept. 3 and runs through Sept. 14 at Paradise Hotel & Resort Incheon. Thus far, we have results from 29 completed events, 16 won from a player who hails from Japan. China has also produced some solid results during the series with four champions.
Two Americans Win in Korea
Action began last week with the KRW 600,000 NLH Paradise City Kickoff, a tournament that had 171 entries and was conquered by Tomohiro Kawada from, you guessed it, Japan. Kawada defeated Dong Yan, a Canadian, to capture the victory for USD $11,051, just his second-ever live tournament cash.
Kaiwen Wei, a pro with over $840,000 in live tournament cashes, is one of two Americans to secure titles thus far. Wei took down the KRW 1,800,000 Mini High Roller for $13,410, beating out 30 entrants.
Seunghyun Michael Nam is the second American APPT Korea winner, having won the KRW 3,500,000 Knockout High Roller for $11,927. Nam, like Wei, is an experienced tournament pro and has over $1.3 million in live tournament earnings, including three cashes during the current series in Incheon.
But, as previously mentioned, the series has been dominated by the Japanese players. Some of the champions claimed their first-ever poker tournament wins, including Takahiro Ichikawa, champion of the KRW 450,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $2,069. That might not seem like a massive score, but when it’s your first tournament win ever, it’s a big deal.
The biggest tournaments are still yet to be decided (or haven’t even begun). We’ll have a complete recap of the series after it concludes on Monday.
Current APPT Korea Series Results
| Event | Entrants | Winner | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| KRW 600,000 No Limit Hold’em – Paradise City Kickoff | 171 | Tomohiro Kawada | $11,051 |
| KRW 1,500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Warm-up High Roller | 10 | Toshiro Kurihara | $4,881 |
| KRW 1,500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Warm-up High Roller | 36 | Hyung Soo Lim | $1,931 |
| KRW 900,000 No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Bounty | 246 | Shion Sakamoto | $21,378 |
| KRW 1,800,000 No Limit Hold’em – Mini High Roller | 30 | Kaiwen Wei | $13,410 |
| KRW 500,000 Pot Limit Omaha 4/5/6 | 20 | Eetu Porkka | $2,688 |
| KRW 350,000 No Limit Hold’em – Turbo | 94 | Ruka Yamauchi | $5,485 |
| KRW 700,000 Pot Limit Omaha | 23 | Hiroyuki Noda | $3,863 |
| KRW 500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Deepstack Turbo | 67 | Tatsuo Kureishi | $6,303 |
| KRW 2,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – 6-Handed High Roller – Turbo | 25 | Naoki Maeyama | $12,596 |
| KRW 350,000 No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo | 68 | Shota Morikawa | $4,480 |
| KRW 500,000 No Limit Hold’em – 20/15/10 Multi Flight Challenge | 148 | Selim Oulmekki | $10,491 |
| KRW 600,000 Big O | 19 | Martin Schamaun | $3,076 |
| KRW 2,000,000 + 1,500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Knockout High Roller | 23 | Seunghyun Michael Nam | $11,927 |
| KRW 350,000 No Limit Hold’em – 7 Handed – Turbo | 63 | Abdullah Akbarpoor | $3,652 |
| KRW 450,000 No Limit Hold’em – SuperStack | 78 | Dong Yan | $5,636 |
| KRW 3,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – Single Day High Roller | 8 | Hayate Utsumi | $7,959 |
| KRW 500,000 + 200,000 Pot Limit Omaha – KO | 11 | Selim Oulmekki | $1,601 |
| KRW 500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Megastack – Turbo | 67 | Shunichi Shirakami | $6,319 |
| KRW 450,000 Pot Limit Omaha – Double Stack | 17 | Takahiro Ichikawa | $2,069 |
| KRW 700,000 No Limit Hold’em – Shot Clock | 45 | Nagano Takahiro | $6,825 |
| KRW 450,000 Pot Limit Omaha – Double Board – Bomb Pot Turbo | 22 | Xiongwei Huang | $2,493 |
| KRW 1,000,000 + 1,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super Knockout Super Hyper | 13 | Ko Okubo | $3,604 |
| KRW 3,500,000 No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Bounty High Roller | 20 | Kenji Arai | $13,653 |
| KRW 2,500,000 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Turbo | 23 | Linda Lahdenpää | $16,499 |
| KRW 350,000 Pot Limit Omaha – Hyper Turbo | 31 | Weidong Guo | $2,599 |
| KRW 450,000 No Limit Hold’em – 6-Handed | 87 | Yoichi Hayashi | $6,902 |
| KRW 700,000 Pot Limit Omaha – Double Board – Bomb Pot | 18 | Xixiang Luo | $3,390 |
| KRW 350,000 No Limit Hold’em – SuperStack Turbo | 143 | Junichi Onimaru | $5,114 |
