Abraham Ceesvin Punches Ticket to APT Championship with Jeju Main Event Victory
Table Of Contents
Abraham Ceesvin has won the APT Jeju Main Event, defeating a field of 1,693 players — the largest field in Korean poker history — to win $460,850.
He defeated China's Lili Tang heads-up, denying Tang the chance at being the first female Asian Poker Tour champion in the New Era.
Ceesvin, along with Tang and third-place finisher Shuang Qiu, have also locked up $10,000 seats to the $5m GTD 2025 APT Championship in Taiwan this November.
The APT Jeju Main Event was the third-largest APT Main Event of all-time and boasted the third-largest APT Main Event first-place prize ever awarded in a festival that shattered records.
APT Jeju Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abraham Ceesvin | Singapore | $460,850 |
| 2 | Lili Tang | China | $258,470 |
| 3 | Shuang Qiu | China | $181,110 |
| 4 | Hao Zhang | China | $131,495 |
| 5 | Yayun Liu | China | $104,030 |
| 6 | Haiyang Yang | China | $82,420 |
| 7 | Bizhen Li | China | $63,005 |
| 8 | Yita Choong | Australia | $44,495 |
| 9 | Peng Zhou | China | $34,035 |
Winner's Reaction
Up until this month, the biggest result of Ceesvin's poker career was a runner-up finish in the APT Taipei Poker Classic last September for $251,163. Taipei was Ceesvin's third APT Main Event final table, with the others coming in Incheon (2023) and Manila (2016), and he said that the second-place weighed on his mind ahead of APT Jeju.
"When I got second [in Taepei], it really hurt," Ceesvin explained after his victory. "Maybe due to my inexperience. Sometimes you don’t get a chance again, but I kept trying.
"I really wanted to win the [APT Championship] ticket. Now I can tell my wife I need to go Taipei!".
The APT Championship runs from November 24 to 28 in Taipei, Taiwan, with a $5m guaranteed prize pool, with Ceesvin not expecting an easy ride.
"It’s going to be tough. There are definitely players who will have studied and prepared themselves for the Championship because it’s going to be big money."
Other APT Jeju Winners
Across the festival, there were a total of 11,821 entries across 99 trophy events and four satellites. Among the winners was Joseph Cheong, defeated a 449-player field to win the Zodiac Classic - Sponsored by Natural8 for $173,465, and Poseidon Ho who enjoyed success with four final table performances including a Hyper Turbo win for $4,195.
In addition to Ho, Danny Tang was among the Triton SHRS regulars who stuck around for the APT festival, and he was rewarded with two titles. The largest came in the Superstar Challenge, where he won $316,445.
There were also doubles for Xixiang Luo, who won two Pot-Limit Omaha events. The first was a Big O event, while the second was the unique "Lazy Rivers" event, where each player's individual river card was dealt face up.
Lastly, there was huge success for Hanh Tran who won five titles at APT Jeju, the largest of which came in the 9 Game High Roller.
APT Jeju Multiple Event Winners
| Player | Country | Titles | Winnings (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanh Tran | Austria | 5 | $23,620 |
| Danny Tang | Hong Kong | 2 | $330,630 |
| Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | 2 | $134,205 |
| Siarhei Narozhny | Belarus | 2 | $12,975 |
| Ohta Ami | Japan | 2 | $11,765 |
| Dong Li | China | 2 | $11,590 |
| Xixiang Luo | China | 2 | $10,650 |
| Ziwen Liu | China | 2 | $6,475 |
| Zehao Li | China | 2 | $6,215 |
