Heng Je Hu Claims First Lion Trophy as APT Championship Opens in Taipei
Hu won the industry-only Event #0 for about $7,720 before the 209-tournament festival formally began.
- Heng Je Hu beat a 102-entry field to win Event #0 and the first Lion trophy of the 2026 APT Championship.
- The industry-only event generated a prize pool of about $33,560 and was 34.2% larger than its 2025 debut.
- The Nov. 13-29 Taipei festival has 209 tournaments and about $8.1 million in guarantees.
- The $5 million guaranteed Main Event begins Nov. 23 and concludes Nov. 27.
Taiwan’s Heng Je Hu has won the first Lion trophy of the 2026 APT Championship after taking down Event #0, the Asia Gaming Industry Championship Freezeout, before the festival’s formal opening in Taipei. Hu earned TWD 279,562, about $7,720, after beating a 102-entry field, the biggest recorded payout of his career.
The single-day industry event drew casino staff, poker operators, organizers, media, influencers and other poker personalities for a TWD 13,000, roughly $400, buy-in. Hu defeated Wei Chun Lin heads-up, while Lin collected TWD 192,500, about $5,320, for second place.
The event produced a TWD 1.1 million, or roughly $33,560, prize pool and paid 15 players after 25 levels of 20 minutes. Its turnout and prize pool were each 34.2% higher than the inaugural 2025 edition, according to the Asian Poker Tour.
Hu described himself as both a player and agent for online poker platforms. He said he was grateful not to have given up on the game, and thanked friends after the win.
The APT Championship officially begins Friday at the Red Space venue in Taipei, in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club. The Nov. 13-29 festival has 209 tournaments: 23 Championship Events, whose winners receive the new Lion trophies, plus 186 side events and satellites.
More than TWD 256 million, about $8.1 million, is guaranteed across the schedule. The series is the Asian Poker Tour’s 20th-anniversary finale, following a 2025 APT Championship that recorded more than 28,000 entries and awarded more than $34 million in prize money.
Event #0 also included charitable commitments from APT owners and Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club executives. Daren Yoon and Victor Chong pledged at least TWD 500,000, about $13,800, to the Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association, while David Tai and Raymond Wong pledged TWD 100,000 and any payouts they earned. Chong’s ninth-place finish added TWD 28,400, about $785, to the charitable total.
The opening National Cup Championship carries a $600,000 guarantee, with starting flights on Nov. 13 and 14, a late-night turbo flight and a Nov. 15 final. The Main Event starts Nov. 23 as a TWD 330,000, about $10,100, freezeout with a TWD 165 million, roughly $5 million, guarantee; its final day is Nov. 27.
