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Japan’s Hirotaka Fukatsu has secured the biggest cash of his poker career after winning the 2026 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Korea Main Event. The victory earned him $160,788, dwarfing his previous best result of $15,969 from a fourth-place finish at the APT Incheon Ultra Stack event back in August 2026.
The tournament attracted 782 entrants, building a prize pool of roughly $895,160, a sign of the ongoing growth of live poker events across Asia. Fukatsu took the lion’s share of the pool by defeating China’s Xueying Zhao heads-up, handing her a second runner-up finish during the series.
Play resumed for the final day with 14 players remaining at Paradise City Incheon, where Fukatsu sat in ninth position. Early eliminations quickly trimmed the field, with Hiroki Taniguchi departing in tenth to set the official final table.
Andrew Tomoya Matahira was first to fall among the finalists, losing a coinflip to Russia’s Maxim Sorokin. Fukatsu then surged to the chip lead after eliminating Soichiro Hayashi in eighth, turning two pair to crack pocket aces.
Further eliminations followed, including Daijiro Fukuoka in seventh and Chao Ting Cheng in sixth, before three-handed play saw chip leader Tony Mu exit in third after a dramatic all-in clash with Zhao. Fukatsu then closed out the win heads-up, rivering trip tens to eliminate Zhao and complete his career-defining triumph.
The APPT tour now moves to Manila, with the APPT Manila Championship scheduled for October 8-19 at Okada Manila.
