Ferlyn Cabaling won the TMT Championship Ladies Event on Sunday. Husband Lester Edoc followed up by taking down the 1,418-entry Main Event on Monday. Two titles in two days, a combined NT$4,819,400 in prize money, and a good reason to make room in the trophy cabinet.
Here is the best part: the Filipino couple have done almost exactly the same thing before. And Ferlyn’s latest victory was a repeat performance at the very same Taiwan festival.
Ferlyn Cabaling Makes It Back-to-Back TMT Ladies Titles
Competing under her registered name, Ferlyn Olsim Cabaling, Ferlyn won the NT$4,000 Ladies Event at Taipei’s CTP Asia Poker Arena on 25 October. The tournament attracted 58 entries, generated an NT$189,312 prize pool and paid her NT$62,000 (around US$1,900).
It was familiar territory. On 26 October 2025, Cabaling won the equivalent TMT Championship Ladies Event for NT$45,600, beating a 37-entry field. A year later, the field was bigger and the trophy went back to the same player.
Anyone who follows Asian live poker knows she is no occasional tournament tourist. The Asian Poker Tour credits Cabaling with eight APT Women’s Event victories, a record recognised by the tour. Her eighth came at APT Phu Quoc in March 2023, when she beat a 35-entry field and collected VND62.8 million. The Global Poker Index lists roughly US$56,800 in recorded live cashes for her ahead of this week’s result. As with all tournament earnings databases, that is gross prize money, not profit.
They Pulled Off a Family Double in 2023, Too
For anyone thinking this is a once-in-a-lifetime result, look back to APT Hanoi in February 2023. On 7 February, Lester won the 61-entry Single Day High Roller for VND689,930,000. On 8 February, Ferlyn won the 24-entry Women’s Event for VND39,120,000.
Same couple. Same one-day gap. Another pair of trophies. Taipei isn’t their first family double; it is a particularly profitable sequel.
Lester Edoc Beats Record Field and Seals a Three-Way Deal
Lester’s latest victory came in the NT$35,000 TMT Championship Main Event, which drew a record 1,418 entries. The NT$42,880,320 prize pool comfortably cleared the NT$30 million guarantee, with 215 places paid. The 2025 event drew 1,076 entries, so the field has grown by nearly 32% in a year.
Edoc started the nine-handed final table in pole position with 14,825,000 chips. The biggest swing came against Sangjun Jung: Edoc held pocket aces, Jung flopped a set of eights, and Edoc ran out a flush on the turn and river. Jung went out seventh instead of taking a huge chunk of the chip leader’s stack.
After Edoc eliminated Taiwan’s Hao Che Cheng in fourth, he struck an ICM deal with India’s Aditya Agarwal and South Korea’s Sunho Yoo. The agreement guaranteed all three six-figure US-dollar payouts. Rather than grind for the trophy, they agreed to shove blind before the flop every hand. Five hands later, Edoc was champion.
Edoc’s payout was NT$4,757,400 (about US$146,400), down from the original NT$5,763,000 first-place prize before the deal. Agarwal and Yoo secured more than the originally scheduled payouts for their eventual finishing positions. That is what an ICM deal can do: trade some upside for a guaranteed score.
TMT Championship 2026 Main Event Final Table
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (NT$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lester Edoc* | Philippines | 4,757,400 |
| 2 | Aditya Agarwal* | India | 4,162,400 |
| 3 | Sunho Yoo* | South Korea | 3,643,200 |
| 4 | Hao Che Cheng | Taiwan | 2,178,000 |
| 5 | Ronald Haverkamp | Netherlands | 1,653,000 |
| 6 | Injae Jeong | South Korea | 1,270,000 |
| 7 | Sangjun Jung | South Korea | 985,000 |
| 8 | Kuan Ying Chen | Taiwan | 774,000 |
| 9 | Feng Hsien Ching | Taiwan | 615,000 |
Who Is Lester Edoc?
This is no breakout win for the Filipino veteran. The Hendon Mob lists more than US$3.4 million in recorded live tournament earnings and a career-best cash of US$265,645, putting him fourth on the Philippines’ all-time money list in its latest published figures. His lengthy results sheet stretches back to 2009.
His recent form is solid, too. Edoc finished 181st in the 2026 WSOP Main Event for US$57,500 and ran deep in the APT Jeju Superstar Challenge. He placed 11th in the latter event, which was ultimately won by Nevan Chang for his tenth APT title.
Speaking to on-site reporters after his Taipei win, Edoc said: “I’m very happy, it’s been a while since I won a main event.” He also shouted “PUSO!”, the Filipino rallying cry for heart.
The husband-and-wife result is the headline, but the numbers behind it matter. Ferlyn has now won the same TMT Ladies tournament in consecutive years, while Lester has turned a record field into one of his biggest scores. Their 2023 APT double proves they have form for this particular trick. If they’re both registered at a festival, the rest of the field might want to check the family calendar.
