Thailand’s Teeraphat Rangkatekarn won the APT Jeju 2026 Super High Roller on September 28, beating a 99-entry field at LES A Casino for KRW 355,667,500 (about USD 265,425). The KRW 15 million event almost tripled its KRW 500 million guarantee, building a KRW 1.37 billion prize pool, and Rangkatekarn also picked up a seat worth about USD 10,000 in the APT Championship Main Event in Taipei.
It is the largest live score of the Thai player’s career. According to Somuchpoker’s figures, the win takes Rangkatekarn’s lifetime earnings from about USD 279,000 to roughly USD 544,000, and moves the player from 22nd to 11th on Thailand’s all-time money list. Speaking after the win, Rangkatekarn called it “the biggest tournament, the biggest catch.”
A 5:1 lead that nearly slipped away
Rangkatekarn started heads-up against Calvin Lee (USA) with a big chip lead, about five to one. It did not stay that way. Lee chipped back, then hit a diamond flush on the river and took the lead for a short time. Rangkatekarn slowly rebuilt the stack, and the final hand saw Lee’s A-J offsuit all in against pocket jacks. The jacks held.
Lee took KRW 249,330,000 (about USD 186,070) for second. American pro Christian Harder finished third for KRW 164,640,000.
Five Asia-Pacific players at the final table
The final table was mostly regional. Along with the Thai winner, it featured the Philippines, Singapore, China, Australia and Malaysia:
- 1st – Teeraphat Rangkatekarn (Thailand) – KRW 355,667,500
- 2nd – Calvin Lee (USA) – KRW 249,330,000
- 3rd – Christian Harder (USA) – KRW 164,640,000
- 4th – James Mendoza (Philippines) – KRW 129,410,000
- 5th – Abraham Ceesvin (Singapore) – KRW 104,340,000
- 6th – Jingyao Yan (China) – KRW 81,300,000
- 7th – Yita Choong (Australia) – KRW 64,360,000
- 8th – Dillon Najor (USA) – KRW 50,140,000
- 9th – Yee Yan Wen (Malaysia) – KRW 37,940,000
The 99 entries came from 67 unique players, so many players fired more than one bullet. Thirteen places were paid. For a KRW 15 million buy-in (about USD 11,000) at a stop that is not a championship leg, that is a strong turnout. It shows how much high-roller money now travels around the Asian circuit between Jeju, Manila and Taipei.
Still to come in Jeju
The Super High Roller is only one of more than 135 events on a festival schedule that runs until October 7 and carries over KRW 5.2 billion in guarantees. The KRW 2.7 million Main Event, which has a KRW 2.2 billion guarantee, had 520 combined entries after Flight A. That count includes 297 live entries and 223 through Natural8‘s OnLive format, and China’s Xiubo Li bagged the Flight A chip lead with 381,000. More starting flights are still to run before registration closes, so the field is likely to grow a lot.
Rangkatekarn’s Taipei seat is worth noting too. The APT Championship is the tour’s flagship USD 10,000 event, and this win means at least one Thai player will already have a seat when the tour gets there. For the costs and qualifying routes, see our APT Championship 2026 Taipei guide. For the rest of the season’s stops, see the Asian Poker Tour 2026 overview.
Source: Somuchpoker tournament reporting from APT Jeju 2026.