Japan’s Tomoyuki Maeda has completed the biggest breakthrough of his live poker career, winning the APT Jeju Zodiac Classic for KRW 228,656,400, approximately $170,640.
The victory brought Maeda his first Asian Poker Tour title, a Silver Lion trophy and a $10,000 seat into the APT Championship Main Event in Taipei this November.
The KRW 3.7 million buy-in event attracted 373 entries from 273 unique players at LES A Casino, generating a KRW 1,192,406,400 prize pool, roughly $890,000. That was more than double the original KRW 500 million guarantee and provided another big number for an APT Jeju festival featuring 135 events.
Maeda’s route to the title makes the victory considerably more interesting than the payout alone. He started the final day with 277,000 chips while fellow Japanese player Tetsuya Tsujisaka returned as the commanding leader with 806,000.
Maeda Started With Barely a Third of the Chip Leader’s Stack
Sixty-five players returned for the final day with the blinds at 3,000/6,000. Maeda therefore had a perfectly playable stack of around 46 big blinds, but his 277,000 represented only 34% of Tsujisaka’s stack and left him well outside the leading group.
Japan had several players in dangerous positions. Tsujisaka led the field, Kento Nasu returned with 437,000 and Maeda was among a wider group attempting to turn a competitive stack into something capable of challenging for the title.
The overnight leader would not get particularly close to converting his advantage. Tsujisaka eventually departed in 12th after running top pair into Qingtian Qian’s flopped trips, with the APT live reporting recording his surprised reaction when the hands were revealed: “King four!? From under the gun?”
Maeda was heading in the opposite direction. Instead of simply hanging around while shorter stacks disappeared, he accumulated enough chips to arrive at the final table as one of the players capable of taking control.
Two Hands Against Wenchao Liu Changed the Tournament
One of Maeda’s most important stretches came shortly before the final table and involved two confrontations with Wenchao Liu. Maeda opened from the cutoff in the first before Liu pushed all-in from the small blind, with Maeda quickly calling holding pocket tens against ace-nine.
The board produced no ace, allowing Maeda to double to around 1.7 million. It was the sort of pot that transformed his position from contender to genuine threat after he had started the day with fewer than 300,000 chips.
The pair clashed again shortly afterwards. Liu shoved for just under one million over another Maeda raise, only to discover his king-ten was dominated by Maeda’s ace-king.
Liu failed to improve and was eliminated in tenth place, while Maeda moved to approximately 2.7 million. By then, his stack had increased almost tenfold from its starting point and the final table had not even officially begun.
Qingtian Qian Led the Final Nine
Maeda reached the final table with 2.79 million, good enough for one of the biggest stacks but not the chip lead. China’s Qingtian Qian held 3.585 million, while Zhuoqun Zhang had 2.81 million and Maeda sat just behind him.
The stacks showed how dramatically the Japanese player’s tournament had changed:
| Seat | Player | Country | Final Table Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Toro | Colombia | 880,000 |
| 2 | Tomoyuki Maeda | Japan | 2,790,000 |
| 3 | Yongliang Li | China | 1,820,000 |
| 4 | Zhuoqun Zhang | China | 2,810,000 |
| 5 | Chun Ting Lo | Taiwan | 905,000 |
| 6 | Qingtian Qian | China | 3,585,000 |
| 7 | Wang Sum Li | Hong Kong | 870,000 |
| 8 | You Zeng | China | 325,000 |
| 9 | Kento Nasu | Japan | 845,000 |
Kento Nasu ensured there would be two Japanese players deep into the final table, eventually finishing fourth for KRW 84,770,000, approximately $63,000. Maeda survived even longer and reached three-handed play against Qian and Yongliang Li.
Maeda Survives a Huge Three-Handed All-In
Maeda’s title run still required some help from the deck. During three-handed play he found himself all-in with king-queen against Qian’s ace-queen, leaving the Japanese player dominated and at risk of elimination.
A king on the flop changed everything.
Maeda survived and climbed beyond 10 million chips before Qian was eliminated in third place. Qian later moved all-in holding pocket sevens against Maeda’s nine-eight, but an eight on the turn followed by a nine on the river sent the Chinese player out for KRW 104,810,000.
Maeda consequently entered heads-up play against Yongliang Li with a substantial chip advantage. After starting the day with 277,000, he was now playing for a six-figure first prize with more than 10 million chips in front of him.
Pocket Aces Finish the Job
The final hand delivered none of the uncertainty Maeda had faced earlier in the tournament. He limped the button, Li raised from the big blind and Maeda moved all-in.
Li called for just under four million with pocket jacks and immediately saw the bad news. Maeda had pocket aces.
“Wow,” was Li’s reaction, according to the APT’s live reporting.
An ace on the turn made Maeda a set and left Li drawing dead before the river. Li collected KRW 145,020,000 for second place, while Maeda claimed KRW 228,656,400, the trophy and the APT Championship Main Event seat.
A Career-Changing Score for Maeda
Maeda had already been appearing regularly on the Asian tournament circuit during 2026, but nothing he had previously achieved approached the size of his Jeju result. Smaller final tables and tournament victories had shown that he was capable of going deep, yet the Zodiac Classic moved him into an entirely different earnings bracket.
His approximately $170,640 first prize was more than 50 times the value of some of the smaller tournament wins he had recorded earlier in the year. More importantly, the APT officially describes the Jeju result as the largest cash of Maeda’s career and his first title on the tour.
The $10,000 APT Championship seat could also make the story considerably bigger. The Championship Main Event in Taipei carries a $5 million guarantee, giving Maeda an immediate opportunity to follow the biggest result of his career with another major score.
Another Japanese Player Breaks Through in Asia
Maeda’s victory arrives during a period in which Japanese players are becoming increasingly visible at major international poker festivals. Poker Type has previously looked at how Japan and China are contributing to poker’s international growth, including Japan sending 222 players to the 2026 WSOP Main Event.
There is an intriguing contrast between those international results and the situation within Japan itself. WPT Tokyo was cancelled for 2026 amid regulatory uncertainty, yet Japanese players continue travelling throughout Asia and regularly appearing at the business end of major events.
Jeju offered another example. A Japanese player began the final day as chip leader, another reached fourth place and Maeda ultimately walked away with the title.
What makes Maeda’s performance particularly notable is where he started. He returned with 277,000 chips, barely a third of the overnight leader’s stack, multiplied that figure almost tenfold before the final table and eventually collected every chip in play.
The result is worth around $170,000 today. The $10,000 ticket sitting alongside Maeda’s new Silver Lion means his breakthrough may not be finished yet.
