The Asian Poker Tour’s Jeju series begins on Friday, September 25, with 135 different poker events on a packed tournament schedule.
For those of us more used to playing our poker outside Asia, it may be difficult to imagine what to expect. But if you’ve attended any APT stops over the past few years, you’ll know the answer: tournaments of every type, games of every stake, and a crowd of players and staff whose enthusiasm for the game is surely unrivalled in 2026.
As a result, it’s become something of a running joke that everywhere the APT goes over the past few years, it breaks records for attendance and/or prize money.
It was only this year that the APT set a new country record in Korea for the biggest live tourney ever held, and now it’s back for more.
Will that record fall once again? Chances are good. Let’s take a look at three big reasons why.
The venue
Over the past 15 years, the island of Jeju in South Korea has rapidly become one of the most talked about poker destinations in the world.
Since the LES A Casino in Jeju’s Shinhwa World resort opened in 2018, it’s been the location of $10M buy-in cash games and $200K tournaments. High rollers like Bryn Kenney and Nick Schulman have made headlines, and millions of dollars, within its opulent surroundings.
Staff are professional, the surroundings are lush and the schedule is packed. What more could you want?But the history of tournament poker on the island goes back further than the LES A. The first recorded tournament series to take place in Jeju was at the Royal Palace Casino, in 2013, and was run by — you guessed it — the APT.
The main event that year drew a field of 166. When the APT returned to Jeju earlier this year that number was multiplied more than 10 times, as 1,718 entries made it the largest international live poker tournament ever held in the country.
Now the tour is back to do more of what it does so well, in a comfortable and lavish environment tailor-made for high-level poker.
Events at the LES A Casino kick off from 11am on Friday.
The schedule
Speaking of events, anyone decrying the paucity of mixed games in modern poker series has not been paying attention to the APT.
Not only will you find the likes of PLO, stud and triple draw, but also OFC (open-face Chinese poker), Double Board Bomb Pots, single draw and a whole range of dealer’s choice and mixed tournaments.
ROSET is a twist on HORSE that throws together razz, PLO8, stud, stud8 and 2-7 triple draw. The dealer’s choice games offer a range of 25 different variants. Special mixes of stud, big bet variants, triple draw and more mean the APT has fast become a home from home for players who thrive on variety.
If you like playing more than just hold'em, the APT has you covered.All of which is not to say there aren’t some excellent opportunities to play no-limit hold’em for big money.
The $2K Main Event has a guarantee of $1.6M, the $11K Super High Roller will pay out at least $365K, and more high roller tournaments are scheduled for literally every day of the series — from hyper turbos to single-day events to women-only tournaments.
But the lower end of the buy-in spectrum is also busy. $500 to play with will give you a choice of up to 9 different tournaments a day.
Perhaps more so than any other live poker series, if you’re looking for a particular game, you’re likely to find it. Here’s exactly where to look.
The players
In my own experience, I’ve never encountered a poker tour that drives such enthusiasm and appetite within its player base. Tables are full, the registration process is quick, and it needs to be. Players on the APT want to play.
It doesn’t hurt that the prizepools are juicy and the much-admired and endlessly photographed trophies are some of the coolest ever created. Who wouldn’t want one of these lions on their shelf?
Ren Lin kept his eyes on the prize to win in Jeju earlier this year.And then there’s the added sweetener of a $10K ticket into the APT’s big end-of-season blowout: The APT Championship.
With a $5M GTD freezeout Main Event, the Championship will return to Taipei from November 13-29 for its second annual outing. The first edition in 2025 awarded over a million dollars to its winner, Nishant Sharma.
And during APT Jeju there will be 12 seats to the 2026 APT Championship Main Event awarded. To bag a ticket, finish in the top 3 in the APT Jeju Main Event, or win one of the following events:
- High Roller
- APT High Roller
- High Roller — Ultra Stack
- APT Super High Roller
- Superstar Challenge
- Zodiac Classic — Sponsored by Natural8
- Mini Main Event
And don’t worry if that seems too tough; two $10K seats will also be awarded in a random prize draw, given out to lucky players still in on Days 3 and 4 of the Jeju Main Event.
Attendance and prize records may well be broken in Jeju over the next week, but that’s not the real story going on. What really matters is what this series offers you, the experiences you can have and the opportunities you can take.
But only if you go.
See you in Jeju.
APT Jeju 2026 runs September 25 to October 7 at the LES A Casino in Jeju Shinhwa World, South Korea.
PokerOrg will be reporting from the tournament floor — stay tuned for all the action.
Note that all dollar amounts mentioned in this article have been converted from Korean won, are approximate and correct at time of writing.
Images courtesy of the APT.
