Hirotaka Fukatsu Wins the 2026 APPT Korea Main Event

Japan’s Hirotaka Fukatsu is on Cloud 9 today as he basks in the glory of victory, having taken down the 2026 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea Main Event for a career-best score.

Fukatsu’s previous best haul weighed in at $15,969, his reward for a fourth-place finish in the APT Incheon Ultra Stack event in August 2026. He can now boast of a new career-high prize worth $160,788.

The APPT Korea Main Event drew 782 entrants, creating a KRW1.2 billion ($895,160) prize pool, underscoring the continued boom in live poker in Asia. Fakatsu received the largest slice of the prize pool after defeating Xueying Zhao heads-up, resigning the Chinese star to her second runner-up finish of the series.

2026 PokerStars APPT Korea Main Event Final Table Results

The third and final day saw only 14 players return to the card room in Paradise City Incheon, with Fakatsu occupying ninth place. A flurry of early activity ultimately saw Hiroki Taniguchi bust in 10th place, and the final table was set.

Andrew Tomoya Matahira was the first finalist sent to the sidelines. The Japanese grinder committed his stack with ace-king and lost a coinflip against the pocket sevens in the hand of Russia’s Maxim Sorokin. The $14,924 Matahira collected was the second-largest prize of his career.

A key hand resulted in Soichiro Hayashi falling in eighth and Fukatsu climbing to the top of the chip counts. Fukatsu turned two pair with king-queen and cracked Hayashi’s pocket aces.

Another Japanese player, Daijiro Fukuoka, busted in seventh. Fukuoka was left on life support after losing a coinflip against start-of-the-day chip leader Tony Mu, but managed to double several times to claw his way back into contention. However, Lady Luck was not on his side when his pocket tens lost to Fukatsu’s straight, and he had to make do with a seventh-place finish.

Sixth place and $32,796 went to the dangerous Chao Ting Cheng, a player with almost $1.3 million in live poker tournament earnings. Having made an unlikely four-of-a-kind eights with king-eight to earn a brief reprieve, Cheng bowed out at the hands of Sorokin shortly after.

The final five became four when Sorokin lost out to Mu and then three when Taisuke Niina clashed with Fukatsu and came off second-best.

Three-handed play ended with the untimely demise of Mu. First, he doubled up Zhao when the latter’s ace-jack improved to a flush on the river to best Mu’s ace-ten. Mu then four-bet jammed with pocket aces and found himself up against Zhao’s inferior pocket kings. However, a king on the flop flipped the hand on its head, and Mu ultimately finished in third for $71,710.

Fukatsu held a near two-to-one chip lead over Zhao at the start of heads-up, but Zhao almost immediately drew level before Fukatsu forged a lead for himself.

The final hand of the one-on-one battle saw Zhao move all-in with queen-six and Fukatsu call with king-ten. Zhao paired her queen, and Fukatsu paired his ten. Another ten on the turn gifted Fukatsu trips, which held as the river bricked and sent Zhao home in second place for a new career-high $100,571.

APPT Returns to Manila in October

Manila is the next APPT destination on the 2026 schedule. The APPT Manila Championship takes place at the Okada Manila from October 8-19, with the schedule still being fine-tuned. Last year, Minwoong Jeong was crowned APPT Manila champion. He topped a 384-strong field and walked away with $202,981.

Satellites will become available on PokerStars.

_{Live updates from SoMuchPoker were used to create this recap}

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.