Poker News

Qibang Cheung Comes Within One Place of Five APT Incheon Titles

4 hours ago

Samantha Doyle 4 hours ago

Share this article

Qibang 'James' Cheung finished runner-up five times at APT Incheon, missing a ninth title.
Stephen Pang won the Main Event out of 1,393 entries for KRW 411 million.
The festival awarded approx. $11.4 million, surpassing all previous records.

Qibang “James” Cheung arrived in Incheon with eight APT titles already to his name. By the end of the festival, that number was unchanged, despite the British mixed-game specialist reaching heads-up five separate times.

Cheung’s unusual run of near misses became the main UK storyline from a record APT Incheon festival that awarded approximately $11.4 million. Meanwhile, Stephen Pang won the 1,393-entry Main Event and another Brit, Jun Li, reached heads-up in the festival-closing APT High Roller.

Five Runner-Up Finishes for Cheung

Cheung wasted little time getting close to his ninth APT title.

On August 8, he reached heads-up twice. Frank Zhang denied him the Masters Omaha – PL Omaha High title, leaving Cheung with KRW 9.25 million. Later that day, Daniil Shalaev beat him in the Turbo NL Omaha Ultimate Hi-Lo – Cry Me A River, where second place was worth another KRW 2.69 million.

The following day brought the most lucrative of the five near misses. Cheung finished behind Hattori Masato in the PL Omaha High Roller, collecting KRW 18.51 million.

Another second place followed on August 10, this time behind Chak Sum Wong in the Fixed Limit Dealer’s Choice – Seven Card Stud. Cheung earned KRW 5.52 million.

Late in the festival, he reached heads-up once more in the Hyper Turbo Dealer’s Choice 7 Card Stud. Qing Liu took the trophy and Cheung collected KRW 2.24 million. The event-by-event results therefore show five runner-up finishes across the 10-day series.

Qibang Cheung’s APT Incheon Runner-Up Results

Event	Finish	Prize
Masters Omaha – PL Omaha High	2nd	KRW 9,250,000
Turbo NL Omaha Ultimate Hi-Lo	2nd	KRW 2,690,000
PL Omaha High Roller	2nd	KRW 18,510,000
Fixed Limit Dealer’s Choice – 7 Card Stud	2nd	KRW 5,520,000
Hyper Turbo Dealer’s Choice 7 Card Stud	2nd	KRW 2,240,000
Combined	Five runner-ups	KRW 38,210,000

That run came only a few months after Cheung won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud in Las Vegas for $103,185. He then finished runner-up in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship for a career-best $201,308.

Cheung entered Incheon with eight APT titles spread across several mixed-game formats. This time, the ninth remained one position away.

Pang Wins Record Main Event

The biggest title of the festival went to Hong Kong’s Stephen Pang.

The KRW 2.5 million Main Event attracted 1,393 entries and generated KRW 3.008 billion, more than twice its original guarantee. Pang, Shoumin Zhang and Yifu He reached three-handed play before agreeing an ICM deal.

He finished third for KRW 257 million, leaving Pang and Zhang to decide the Gold Lion. Pang eventually closed out the match for KRW 411.18 million, with Zhang earning KRW 366.5 million.

Main Event Final Table

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Stephen Pang	Hong Kong	KRW 411,180,000
2	Shoumin Zhang	China	KRW 366,500,000
3	Yifu He	United States	KRW 257,000,000
4	Tempei Kotani	Japan	KRW 155,650,000
5	Kazuki Koyama	Japan	KRW 121,860,000
6	Shinichiro Kano	Japan	KRW 92,440,000
7	Phachara Wongwichit	Thailand	KRW 70,740,000
8	Takeru Endo	Japan	KRW 50,130,000
9	Ryo Fujita	Japan	KRW 38,580,000