Japan’s Tomoya Tsubouchi won the Korea National Cup at APT Incheon 2026 for KRW 78,109,411 (~USD 55,420), topping a record 709-entry field in only the second overseas tournament of his life. The event built a KRW 409,459,411 prize pool (~USD 291,000), more than double its KRW 200 million guarantee, and both the field size and the prize pool are new highs for the Incheon stop.
Tsubouchi came through 101 paid finishers to close it out. Vietnam’s Phuong Ngoc Nguyen took second for KRW 47,710,000 (~USD 33,850), with American Ian Rudolph third (KRW 34,090,000) and two more Japanese players, Ogura Ryushin and Naoki Yamashita, filling out fourth and fifth. That final table is a fair snapshot of the room at Paradise City this week: Japanese volume, Vietnamese pressure, and a scattering of visiting players from outside the region.
868 runners and 32 countries in the Mystery Bounty
The number that says the most about the festival’s health is the Mystery Bounty Hunter. Three starting flights pulled 868 entries from 32 different countries, splitting into a KRW 395,808,000 regular prize pool (~USD 284,140) plus KRW 260,400,000 (~USD 186,935) sitting in the bounty pool. The biggest single envelope in there is worth KRW 30,900,000 (~USD 22,180) — roughly twelve times the Main Event buy-in, available to anyone who knocks out the right opponent.
Hong Kong’s Alex Ip bagged the overall lead with 923,000 chips heading into the final day, with 122 players still alive and a minimum cash of KRW 840,000 (~USD 600). If you want the format explained before you look at the payouts, our guide to how Mystery Bounty payouts actually work covers the maths.
Trophies spread across the region
The side schedule has not belonged to any one country. Khoa Anh Ngo of Vietnam banked the largest non-Cup score so far, taking the Single Day High Roller for KRW 52,870,000 (~USD 37,496). China’s Ziwen Liu won the Dealer’s Choice event for KRW 8,255,763, Frank Zhang took Masters Omaha for KRW 13,428,000, Russia’s Daniil Shalaev won Turbo Omaha Hi-Lo, and Yue Sun of China won the Women’s Event for KRW 4,171,113.
The mixed-game results are worth noting on their own. Incheon has leaned harder into non-hold’em formats than most stops on the Asian circuit, and Dealer’s Choice and Omaha Hi-Lo bracelets going to different nationalities suggests the pool for those games in Asia is now deep enough to fill them without US or European support.
The KRW 1.5 billion Main Event is live now
The centrepiece started Sunday, August 9. The APT Main Event costs KRW 2,500,000 (~USD 1,700) and carries a KRW 1.5 billion guarantee (~USD 1 million), with starting flights running August 9 to 11 and the final table set for August 15. The APT Super High Roller kicked off the same morning at KRW 15,000,000 (~USD 10,600) with KRW 500 million guaranteed.
Given that the National Cup doubled its guarantee, the KRW 1.5 billion Main Event number looks conservative rather than ambitious. Last year’s Incheon Main drew 1,281 entries for roughly USD 2 million, and there is nothing in this week’s traffic to suggest a step backwards. The festival runs at Paradise City through August 16; we previewed the full APT Incheon schedule and its USD 2.7 million in guarantees when it was announced.
Results via Somuchpoker.