Go Saito wins the Main Event; Calvin Lee runner-up; Dafabet APT Survivor Nozaki Koichi

A new APT champion was crowned today at Grand Walkerhill Paradise Casino! What started as the Final 8 came down to two players, USA’s Calvin Lee and Japan’s Go Saito.

Heads up: Go Saito and Calvin Lee

Lee carried in a big lead the past two days while Saito was near the bottom of the chip rung entering the Final 8. However, Lee could not close it out. His hot run was stopped in 2nd place by Saito with a straight over a set (hand below). This hand crippled Lee and was eliminated immediately after.  

For his victory, Saito shipped his first-ever major title and the largest live tournament payout of his career of KRW 54,364,000 (~USD 46,000). In addition to the cash prize, Saito was awarded the APT Main Event Golden Lion trophy and the APT Championship Ring. Congratulations to Go Saito for his impressive rise to the top! He has also taken command of the APT Player of the Series race. 

Go Saito – Main Event champion

APT Korea Seoul 2019 – MAIN EVENT – kicked off on May 31. Over the course of registration, 180 ponied up the KRW 1,320,000 buy-in for a guarantee smashing prize pool worth KRW 209,520,000 (~USD 177,000). The money flowed starting at 18th place. Today saw the return of the Final 8 players. 

Final 8 players

Here’s how they tumbled…. 

Final 8 payouts
1st Go Saito – Japan – KRW 54,364,000
2nd Calvin Sungwon Lee – KRW 36,242,000
3rd Koichi Nozaki – Japan – KRW 25,195,000
4th Pak Aleksandr – Uzbekistan – KRW 18,198,000
5th Haruta Koichi – Japan – KRW 13,609,000
6th Jaepil Geoffrey You – USA – KRW 10,503,000
7th Edgar Kim – Hong Kong – KRW 8,341,000
8th Wai Tak Choy – Hong Kong – KRW 6,796,000

Full APT Korea Seoul 2019 results

Dafabet APT Survivor

Nozaki Koichi – Dafabet APT Survivor

The Dafabet APT Survivor contest was won by Japan’s Nozaki Koichi. Koichi was the last man standing at the Main Event wearing the Dafabet patch. He finished 3rd. Koichi was awarded a Main Event seat to the tour’s next stop, APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh 2019.