Stephen Pang Wiins the 2026 APT Incheon Main Event

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) Incheon festival wrapped up over the weekend and did so in style. Not only did the APT Incheon Main Event set a new attendance record for a mainland Korean poker tournament, but it also paid out a total KRW 15,966,848,834 ($11,404,892) throughout the series, the most ever for an APT Incheon stop.

The KRW 2,500,000 ($1,700) buy-in APT Incheon 2026 Main Event attracted 1,393 entrants, an increase of almost 9% from last year. That bumper crowd created a guarantee-busting KRW 3,008,880,000 ($2,148,960) prize pool, which included a trio of $10,000 seats to the APR Championship Main Event.

By the time the nine-handed final table was set, the least anyone could take home was the equivalent of $27,560.

Stephen Pang led the finalists back into battle as the chip leader. His 13,550,000 stack being the equivalent of 85 big blinds. Shoumin Zhang (10,585,000) and Tempei Kotani (6,935,000) made up the podium places, while Ryo Fujita (2,130,000) brought up the rear, with 17 big blinds in his arsenal.

APT Incheon Main Event Final Table Results

_{*reflects a three-handed deal
Top three finishers also won a $10,000 APT Championship seat}

Ryo Fujita, making his first APT Main Event, was the first player eliminated. Fujita three-bet with pocket nines after an opening raise and a call from Tempei Kotani. The initial raiser folded, but Kotani called. Fujita’s last 100,000, less than a 160,000 big blind, went into the middle on a jack-three-king flop, and Kotani called with ace-jack. No eights appeared on the turn or river, and Fujita was gone.

The next elimination occurred 26 hands after Fujita bit the dust. According to the APT live reporting team, Takeru Endo open-shoved 15 big blinds with pocket tens from late position, and Shoumin Zhang called in the small blind. Zhang flipped over pocket jacks, which held on a queen-high board.

The final seven became six after Phachara Wongwichit, playing at his 33rd APT final table, clashed with Zhang. Yifu He min-raised on the button, Wongwicht three-bet all-in for 16 big blinds from the small blind holding ace-ten, only for Zhang to come over the top from the big blind with ace-queen. He folded, and an eight-high board failed to come to Wongwicht’s rescue.

Shinichiro Kano’s tournament ended 58 hands into the final table’s action. Kazuki Koyama looked down at pocket aces and min-raised from under the gun. Kano moved all-in from the cutoff with king-queen of diamonds for his last seven big blinds, and Koyama called. Two diamonds on the flop gave Kano outs to a flush, but he crashed out when the turn bricked, and the river made him a second-best pair of kings.

Despite winning that pot, Koyama was the next player relieved of their stack. Koyama, who only had $750 in recorded live earnings before this event, moved all-in from the button for 10 big blinds with pocket tens. Such a play would ordinarily have won the blinds and antes. However, He woke up with pocket queens in the big blind, and He instantly called. He’s ladies held firm to send Koyama home with a new career-best $87,040 prize.

Mixed game specialist Kotani was the fourth-place finisher. Pang min-raised under the gun with pocket queens, Kotani three-bet to 1,500,000 on the button with ace-king of spades, leading to Pang moving all-in. Kotani called off the 10,000,000 chips he had behind, and it was off to the races. Kotani turned a flush draw but couldn’t hit his myriad of outs on the river, resigning him to a still impressive $111,180 payout.

Having discussed a deal when play was four-handed, the final three re-entered negotiations. This time, a deal was struck and play resumed with the APT Gold Lion Trophy, the equivalent of $29,060, and the $10,000 APT Championship seat left to play for.

He, the shortest stack at the start of three-handed play, busted at the hands of Zhang. After min-raising with pocket eights, Zhang called He’s 12 big blind shove, made with ace-deuce of diamonds. An eight on the flop left He drawing thin, with another eight on the turn leaving him dead in the water.

It took 85 hands to reach heads up, but then another 64 to crown a champion. Everyone thought it was all over on the 119th hand, when all the chips went into the middle on a six-three-deuce-three board showing two clubs. Zhang held pocket fours, and Pang king-jack of clubs. The river was the queen of clubs, gifting Pang a flush and what he thought was the victory.

Pang ran to his rail to celebrate, only for the dealer and floor staff to call him back because Zhang still had 750,000 chips, or less than 1.5x the 600,000 big blind.

Zhang doubled up four times in a row, and an epic comeback was now a possibility. However, Zhang’s dreams were curtailed when he moved all-in for a shade under 10 big blinds with king-ten, and Pang looked him up with pocket nines. A few moments later, a jack-high board had not changed anything, and Pang became the APT Incheon Main Event champion.

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.