Japan’s Yuki Ko has won the championship title in this year’s Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) series in South Korea. Along with the APPT Korea National Championship trophy and a top prize of $31,800, Ko has also earned the Platinum Pass for the PokerStars Players NLH Championship in the Bahamas.
Running at Paradise City Hotel & Casino, the APPT series has been drawing some of the top pros and players from various parts of the world. Among its major events, we saw the intriguing APPT Korea National Championship, which ran from April 8 to April 11. The KRW700,000 buy-in event drew 226 players and reached the initial guarantee of KRW80,000,000, collecting $128,440 prizepool.
The 9-handed final table of the event featured several familiar faces such as 2017 PokerStars Festival Korea Champion Taehoon Han and WPT Korea title holder Pete Chen (Taiwan). It was China’s Sheng Li, who started FT as the chip lead with 1,110,000 chips, followed by Han with his 995,000 chips. The others on the final table included Japan’s Genki Nakano, Yuki Ko, Masakazu Okamoto, and Kunimaro Kojo, UK’s Simon Burns, and Korea’s only representative, Jaebok Ryu.
The first elimination of the final table came in Japan’s Genki Nakano whose A-9 lost to Burn’s A-K. He was followed by his fellow countryman Masakazu Okamoto in 8th place. After the most players got eliminated from the final table, UK’s Burns hit the rail in third place (KRW14,225,000), leaving Taehoon Han and Yuki Ko in the heads-up battle for the National Championship title.
After an interesting battle in heads-up, Ko eventually managed to take down the title, banking a hefty KRW33,835,000 ($31,800) and taking home the coveted PSPC Platinum Pass. Taehoon Han finished second and was given a consolation prize of KRW22,100,000 or $20,775.
Diego Palma Wins APPT Kickoff Event Title 
Running from April 6 to April 8 was the APPT Kickoff (#event 2). It found a winner in Diego Palma, a 30-year-old player from Chile. He defeated Hong Kong’s Ting Shum Kwok in heads-up. The Kickoff saw 377 players and doubled-up the guaranteed. Top 47 players made money in this tournament. Along with the top prize money of ₩21,110,000 (around $19,720), Palma also took home the coveted $30,000 Platinum Pass for the PokerStars Players NLH Championship in the Bahamas.