To give everyone a chance to play the APT Incheon Main Event, even if their bankroll can’t quite stretch to the KRW 2.3 million buy-in, the APT hosted a satellite where players could win their way into the Main Event for just KRW 400,000. Better yet, they guaranteed five seats as part of the prize pool, giving players extra incentive to join.
Satellite Structure
One of the cool things about this APT Main Event satellite is its unique format. Most satellites play out like a regular tournament, where you have to get to the last few players to have a chance at winning the seat. Once the number of players matches the number of seats, the tournament ends, and everyone is awarded their prize.
However, they do things a little differently here at the APT. Rather than creating a nit-fest where everyone tries to fold into the money, they’ve come up with a novel idea. Players who accumulate 100,000 chips or more are automatically given a seat in the Main Event - without having to outlast the rest of the field.
This type of structure incentivises action and makes the tournament a lot more enjoyable for the average player.
Event #28 APT Incheon Satellite to APT Main Event - 5 Seat GTD Final Table Results
A total of 52 players entered the satellite, creating a prize pool of KRW 18,158,400. This meant that there were seven seats up for grabs, as well as a cash prize of KRW 2,058,400 to play for - so there was plenty on the line!
Taiwan’s Jing Jie Chen was the first player to be awarded their Main Event seat, as they hit the 100,000 chip mark early in the tournament. Chen will be hoping to turn this Main Event seat into their first APT cash, and if they can accumulate chips as quickly as they did in this event, they’ll be in with a great chance of doing so!
Chen was the only player who managed to accumulate 100,000 chips, which meant that the players had to play down to a group of winners. With six tickets left, the final seven players would get paid, with 7th place taking the KRW 2,058,400 cash prize and the top six taking the Main Event seats.
Thailand’s Sakchai Nuekaew was the ticket bubble boy, as they finished in 7th place, but we’re sure we’ll see them in an APT event soon enough.
For a full list of the satellite winners, take a look at our table below.
| Place | Name | Country | Prize (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olivier Lucien Robert Ziegler | France | Main Event Seat |
| 2 | Bannawich Thongwigitr | Thailand | Main Event Seat |
| 3 | Sergey Odintsov | Kazakhstan | Main Event Seat |
| 4 | Shunsuke Nishimoto | Japan | Main Event Seat |
| 5 | Jo Kyung Jang Lee | Spain | Main Event Seat |
| 6 | Constantin Emil Alexandru | Romania | Main Event Seat |
| 7 | Sakchai Nuekaew | Thailand | 2,058,400 |
| 40 | Jing Jie Chen | Taiwan | Main Event Seat* |
*Won seat by accumulating 100,000 chips
Do you think that any of our satellite winners can make a deep run at this year’s APT Incheon Main Event? Who are you backing to go all the way? Let us know on social media and stay tuned for all the latest poker news and events.
Image Source: The Asian Poker Tour
