The contenders: 13 players to watch at the APT Championship

The Championship is returning to Red Space in Taipei.

The prizepool will be huge — last year’s event outstripped the $5M guarantee by more than a million dollars — and the field will be large. Who will win it, no one can say.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t give it a go.

Here are some players we think have what it takes to go all the way in Taipei.

The golden ticket winners

To take down the ‘Asian Main Event’ it helps if you’ve tasted that kind of victory before, which means we can’t overlook those who have already won their seats thanks to strong performances earlier in the 2026 season.

And one man who’s done that not once, but twice is Tony ‘Ren’ Lin.

With his constant smiles and table talk, ‘Tony The Tiger’ is one of the most watchable players on the APT. And with more than $20M in tourney earnings, he’s someone who is accustomed to winning.

Ren Lin is rarely seen without a smile.

Omar Sader

In the 2026 season he’s already collected two titles, winning back to back events at the APT Jeju Classic at the start of the year. And those followed directly on the heels of two other tournament wins at the King Poker Cup, making for 4 first-place finishes in the space of 3 weeks for more than $1.25M.

Those APT wins both awarded Lin with a free $10K seat in the APT Championship Main Event, so expect to see him laughing it up soon in Taipei.

Another player with a free seat awaiting them is Thai #1 Punnat Punsri, who picked up his free pass courtesy of his win in the APT Superstar Challenge in Incheon this summer.

“My first APT was probably what ignited my fire for tournament poker,” Punsri told PokerOrg back in the spring, and it’s a fire that has burned brighter than most.

The reigning GPI Player of the Year has since picked up wins everywhere from the Triton Super High Roller Circuit to the PokerGO Tour and the EPT, and a decent run in the APT Championship would push his winnings over the $40M mark.

Also playing in Taipei on a free ticket will be Wai Kiat Lee, the Malaysian high roller who learned his skills in the PlayStation days.

Wai Kiat Lee is 2nd on Malaysia's all-time money list.

A runner-up finish in the Superstar Challenge at APT Taipei last April was followed by victory in the Baby Superstar Challenge at APT Incheon. So far that’s Lee’s only outright win on the APT, but with over $28M in recorded tournament earnings — picked up at multiple Triton stops, the WPT, the WSOP and elsewhere — Lee is the type of player capable of taking on anyone in the world.

These three crushers are just some of those who locked up their APT Championship Main Event seats thanks to strong performances this year. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for:

• John Costiniano of the Philippines, runner-up in last year’s APT Championship Main Event and perpetrator of one of the bluffs of the year. Costiniano won his ticket in the APT Super High Roller at APT Taipei.
• Also at APT Taipei, Phachara Wongwichit of Thailand won the Superstar Challenge to book his APT Championship seat. Wongwichit is not only a fixture near the top of his country’s all-time money list, but the co-founder of the poker strategy site DeepRun.
• Rudy Edenata won his way in via victory in the APT High Roller at the APT Jeju Classic, becoming Indonesia’s first mega lion winner in the process. And he’s in form, winning $250K just a few weeks ago at the APT Jeju Superstar Challenge.

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Big names capable of big things

The 2025 APT Championship Main Event was won by Nishant Sharma of India for over $1.1M, and while going back-to-back in major events like this is all but unheard of, it’s certainly not something we’d rule out.

Especially given that Sharma has not exactly faded away since his breakout win, picking up a WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas this summer for victory in the $800 Deepstack NLH event.

Also present in the 2025 edition of the Championship were the likes of Hall-of-Famer Erik Seidel, high rollers Steve O’Dwyer, Dylan Linde and Dominik Nitsche.

Nitsche has won multiple WSOP bracelets.

The latter, whose $21M in recorded tournament earnings only covers his live results — he’s also done pretty well online — made the final table last year and came within a few spots of the title himself, finishing 4th for close to $400K.

He was back in Taipei for the APT in the spring, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him back next month, and in the winner’s circle.

There are plenty more players who have become regular winners on the APT.

For example, few would be surprised to see Danny Tang lift the gold mega lion in Taipei. Number one on the Hong Kong all-time money list with $45M in recorded live earnings, Tang has become a familiar site at final tables at the APT, the Triton Tour and the WSOP, where he scored a runner-up spot in the Mixed Triple Draw event this summer.

Danny Tang won a WSOP bracelet in the 2019 $50K High Roller.

Then there’s Abraham Ceesvin, a Singaporean top 5 player who rarely misses an APT event — or an ITM finish — with an appetite for events at all ends of the buy-in spectrum and the ability to close things out in style.

Ceesvin has been winning at APT events for over a decade, from side events to high rollers to the Main Event itself, picking up more than $460K for victory at APT Jeju in 2025.

Nevan Chang recently overtook Punnat Punsri as #1 on the APT’s New Era money list, thanks to a $337K win in the APT Jeju Superstar Challenge. The Taiwanese player has run up live earnings of over $4.8M while rarely playing outside Asia, other than visits to the WSOP.

Joseph Cheong spent 15 years in the high-stakes environs of Las Vegas before relocating to Asia, where he has been making himself busy adding to his $21M earnings everywhere from Macau to Korea, Taipei and more.

Cheong has played, and cashed, at every stop of the APT in 2026, and capping the year with a Main Event victory would be a suitable way to end the season.

Last on this list is Daniel Neilson, the top 5 Australian known for a number of eye-catching performances on the APT and beyond — including a recent $1M+ win at the K Poker Cup while, apparently, somewhat inebriated.

Daniel Neilson plays with a style all of his own.

Neilson’s particular brand of black magic is difficult to pin down, and impossible to replicate. A high-stakes buy-in, a field of top opponents and a bottle of Johnnie Walker seem to be common ingredients, though we wouldn’t recommend trying.

But however he does it, it seems to be working. In the past couple of years Neilson has made 5 APT final tables, as well as recording wins at the WPT, the APPT, and another final table at WSOP Paradise.

The freezeout factor

These are just some of the names we’re confident will be challenging for the big money this November when the APT brings the curtain down on its barnstorming 20th anniversary year.

But let’s not forget: last year’s APT Championship Main Event drew a field of 671 entries, awarding a first prize of over a million dollars, and one of the many beauties of poker is that you don’t need a big name or reputation to take on and conquer a tournament field.

And that’s especially true in a freezeout tournament, where everyone gets just one shot: a never-ending bankroll will not help you here. No mulligans, no do-overs, no pay-to-win.

Could one of the above win it all? For sure, but so could anyone.

And that includes you, but only if you take your shot.

We’ll see you there.

The APT Championship series runs November 13-29 at Red Space in Taipei, Taiwan.

The $10K Main Event has a $5M guarantee and runs November 23-27.

^{Additional images courtesy of the APT.}