APPT Korea: Korean Pro Yuki Ko Wins Back-to-Back Titles, Takes Down APPT National & Single Day High Roller on Same Day, Diego Palma Wins Kickoff Event

APPT Korea got underway last Friday with action set to continue all the way through till April 15. Korean poker pro Yuki Ko has been in sublime form this series having won back-to-back titles already. Ko first defeated Taehoon Han in the APPT National to win his first-ever No Limit Hold’em title and a PSPC Platinum Pass worth $30,000; one of four such passes up for offer at the series. Not content, he went on to Single Day High Roller the very same day!

“I’ve been playing live tournaments for seven years and the APPT National actually brought me my first Hold’em trophy, which I thought was a miracle. However, after that, in the same day, I won another trophy, also from a Hold’em game, which is unbelievable… I feel so lucky! At the same time I’m satisfied with my play in the two tournaments,” said Ko after his second victory.

Chile’s Diego Palma took down the APPT Kickoff event to win the title along with the first PSPC Platinum Pass on offer at the series.

Among our Indian challengers, globe-trotting poker pro Sumit Sapra seems to be the only notable face present at the series. Sapra may have missed his chances at the initial events but he is currently playing Day 1A of the Main Event which has a mammoth KRW 300 Million prize pool guarantee!

APPT National

25-year-old Korean pro Yuki Ko has finally settled his score with Taehoon Han by defeating the latter heads-up in the APPT National. Ko topped a field of 226 players to win the first place prize of ₩33,835,000 along with the coveted PSPC Platinum Pass worth $30,000.

“I’ve never been to the Bahamas as it is so far from Japan, and the $25,000 Main Event buy-in is expensive, if I couldn’t win the Platinum Pass, I might never go there to play a poker event. I’m really looking forward to it!,” said Ko after winning the Platinum Pass.

This may have been Ko’s first No Limit Hold’em title but the Korean has tasted tournament success before. He holds two Pot Limit Omaha titles; the first he won at the 2016 Aussie Millions and his second title came later that year at the ACOP Pot Limit Omaha Championship Event in PokerStars LIVE Macau.

Ko came into the final table as the third largest stack and had to ward off still competition with the likes of UK’s Simon Burns and Taiwan’s Pete Chen, before finding himself heads-up against his nemesis New Zealand`s Taehoon Han.

Ko and Han have battled heads-up for the title before, a little over seven months ago at the 2017 PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event where Han had emerged victorious. Well, Ko ensured that score was settled this time around and took home KRW33,835,000 (~US$31,804) in prize money along with the PSPC Platinum Pass.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Yuki Ko – ₩33,835,000

2. Taehoon Han – ₩22,100,000

3. Simon Burns – ₩14,225,000

4. Pete Chen – ₩11,053,600

5. Sheng Li – ₩8,980,000

6. Jaebok Ryu – ₩7,250,000

7. Kunimaro Kojo – ₩5,870,000

8. Masakazu Okamoto – ₩4,490,000

9. Genki Okamoto – ₩3,455,000

Single Day High Roller

If winning one title was not enough, Korea’s Yuki Ko picked up two – and all of them in just a little over eight hours!

Immediately after winning the APPT National, Ko jumped straight into the Single Day High Roller and well, he went on to win that too for a cool KRW66,400,000 (~US$62,265). In total, Ko pocketed over KRW100 Million for his impressive performance.

It was tough final table with the likes of former Team PokerStars pro Bryan Huang, Canada`s Linh Tran and APPT Macau 2018 fifth place finisher Wenlin Gao in contention but Ko was just unstoppable.

The heads-up battle between Ko and Gao saw the former starting off in the lead and it turned out to be a brief match with Gao once again missing out on the title.

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Yuki Ko – ₩66,400,000

2. Wenling Gao – ₩48,020,000

3. Linh Tran – ₩30,980,200

4. Soichiro Kojiya – ₩23,460,000

5. Jia Tang – ₩18,150,000

6. Shoma Sude – ₩14,165,000

7. Bryan Huang – ₩11,290,000

8. Fumihiro Tomura – ₩8,850,000

APPT Kickoff

Diego Palma, a 30-year-old professional sports bettor from Chile outlasted a field of 377 players and defeated Hong Kong’s Ting Shum Kwok heads-up to win the APPT Kickoff title. Along with the KRW21,110,000 top prize, Palma also got his hands on the first PSPC Pass up for grabs at the series.

Palma, who was on a tour of South East Asia, decided to mix his holiday plans with his love of poker and in the process won his very first career title.

“This is the first live tournament I’ve ever won. In fact, it’s my first live final table in my life! I was thinking I would have to play many more tournaments to win a Platinum Pass, I didn’t think I’d win the first one I played in Korea. It feels very good!,” he said gushing after the win.

“Sports betting has helped me with poker, and poker has helped me with sports betting, but I’m no professional,” he added.

Palma came into the heads-up match with a confortable 2:1 chip lead and despite getting two early doubles, Kwok could not finish the job.

The two decided on an ICM chop after Kwok’s first double up, opting to split the prize money evenly and continue play for the PSPC Platinum Pass. On the final hand, both player went all-in pre-flop with Kwok’s trailing Palma’s . The board ran out to get Palma his largest-ever career score of KRW21,110,000 (~US$19,733)!

Final Table Results (KRW)

1. Diego Palma – ₩21,110,000

2. Ting Shum Kwok – ₩22,000,000

3. Shohei Aoyama – ₩10,345,000

4. Ken Thoo – ₩8,152,350

5. Liang Yongjun – ₩6,025,000

6. Po Jui Wang – ₩4,870,000

7. Teruhisa Aoyama – ₩3,720,000

8. Evgenii Chzhen – ₩3,145,000

9. Andrew An – ₩2,625,000

Keep following the latest updates from APPT Korea right here on PokerGuru!