APT Jeju 2026 Opens With Two Big Winners

The Asian Poker Tour's Jeju 2026 festival opened at the LES A Casino resort with two headline results: a dominant Super High Roller run by Thai professional Teeraphat Rangkatekarn and a Korea National Cup victory for Malaysian player Lee Wee Liew.

Teeraphat Rangkatekarn Controls the Super High Roller

The opening Super High Roller carried a buy-in of 15,000,000 KRW, roughly $11,000 at prevailing exchange rates. The event drew 99 entries and built a prize pool of 1,368,427,500 KRW, about $1,021,215, comfortably clearing the 500 million KRW guarantee.

Rangkatekarn set the pace from the opening day and carried the chip lead into the final table. The closing heads-up match against American professional Calvin Lee stretched beyond two and a half hours. Lee erased a deficit of roughly five to one and briefly moved ahead, but Rangkatekarn reclaimed the advantage.

On the final hand, Lee moved all-in with A-J offsuit and Rangkatekarn called holding pocket jacks. The board ran out 5-5-T-T-8, confirming the title for the Thai player. Along with the Pewter Mega Lion trophy, he collected 355,667,500 KRW, approximately $265,425, and a $10,000 seat to the APT Championship in Taipei.

Super High Roller Final Table Results

• 1. Teeraphat Rangkatekarn, Thailand — 355,667,500 KRW (~$265,425)
• 2. Calvin Lee, USA — 249,330,000 KRW (~$186,070)
• 3. Christian Harder, USA — 164,640,000 KRW (~$122,865)
• 4. James Mendoza, Philippines — 129,410,000 KRW (~$96,575)
• 5. Abraham Ceesvin, Singapore — 104,340,000 KRW (~$77,865)
• 6. Yan Jingyao, China — 81,300,000 KRW (~$60,670)
• 7. Yita Choong, Australia — 64,360,000 KRW (~$48,030)
• 8. Dillon Najor, USA — 50,140,000 KRW (~$37,420)
• 9. Yee Yan Wen, Malaysia — 37,940,000 KRW (~$28,310)

Lee Wee Liew Denies a Title Defense

The Korea National Cup, priced at 900,000 KRW to enter, attracted 474 entries and generated a prize pool of 358,344,000 KRW, roughly $264,460, well above the 200 million KRW guarantee.

Lee Wee Liew came through the field to claim the title, his second on the Asian Poker Tour and his first in a mid-tier APT event. In the heads-up phase he faced China's Zhiyi Wang, the defending champion, who was attempting to become the first player in APT history to defend a title in the same event. Liew prevented that outcome.

In the last hand, Liew called Wang's all-in holding pocket threes against Wang's K-6. The board came J-A-5-J-Q, giving Liew the Silver Lion Silhouette trophy and 70,334,000 KRW, about $51,900.

Korea National Cup Final Table Results

• 1. Lee Wee Liew, Malaysia — 70,334,000 KRW (~$51,900)
• 2. Zhiyi Wang, China — 44,250,000 KRW (~$32,655)
• 3. Furui Wang, China — 31,690,000 KRW (~$23,390)
• 4. Bei Shi, China — 24,960,000 KRW (~$18,420)
• 5. Zu You Wang, China — 19,610,000 KRW (~$14,470)
• 6. Magnus Edengren, Sweden — 15,320,000 KRW (~$11,300)
• 7. Gary Hyemyong Moon, USA — 11,530,000 KRW (~$8,510)
• 8. Hongkun Wang, China — 8,040,000 KRW (~$5,935)
• 9. Hongbiao Huang, China — 6,370,000 KRW (~$4,700)

What the Opening Results Show

Both opening events beat their published guarantees by a wide margin, a pattern that typically reflects strong demand for mid- and high-stakes tournament poker in the region. The Super High Roller field of 99 entries is a typical size for a high-buy-in APT event, where fields are smaller but prize pools are concentrated at the top.

The two final hands also illustrate a common tournament dynamic. In both cases, a player got all the chips in with the best hand and held, which is the standard way short-handed and heads-up pots resolve. Pocket jacks against A-J and pocket threes against K-6 are both ahead when the money goes in, though neither is a lock; the favorite in such spots usually wins somewhere in the range of roughly 55 to 70 percent of the time, depending on suits and dead cards.

For players following the series, the results set an early benchmark. Rangkatekarn adds a Super High Roller title and a Taipei Championship seat to his resume, while Liew secures a second APT title and a first win at the mid-tier level. The defending champion Wang, meanwhile, falls one step short of a rare repeat.

The APT Jeju 2026 festival continues at LES A Casino with the remainder of its schedule.