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The sun in Tokyo is back out and shining a bright light on the bustling city, which is perhaps a good sign for the penultimate day of the 2026 RGPS Passport Japan at Belle Salle Takadanobaba in the heart of Japan's capital. It marks yet another busy day for the 2026 Japan Poker Open Tour (JOPT) Grand Final in Tokyo and poker enthusiasts from near and far are expected to join the various tournaments scheduled today.
Among them are also two flights for the tournament officially dubbed NLH Colossus Sponsored by RunGood Passport, which features a buy-in of ¥15,000 (~$95). It is the second time RunGood and the JOPT have teamed up in this unique cooperation outside of the United States and there is still a chance that last year's attendance of 1,585 entries may be surpassed.
The far strongest starting day thus far was the opening heat this past Sunday which attracted a staggering 548 entries whereas the rainy Monday produced another 307 entries across the next two flights. Today's schedule mirrors the previous day with a morning and afternoon flight scheduled to take place, during which it will be determined how many hopefuls join the 130 qualifiers for Day 2 so far.
Top 10 Chip Counts So Far
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | BB Day 2 | Flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KNT | Japan | 807,000 | 101 | 1a |
| 2 | nakaji04 | Japan | 805,000 | 101 | 1a |
| 3 | tact | Japan | 585,000 | 73 | 1a |
| 4 | SIN | Japan | 502,000 | 63 | 1c |
| 5 | Wareme-chan | Japan | 450,000 | 56 | 1a |
| 6 | kazuki1 | Japan | 445,000 | 56 | 1a |
| 7 | ranponokage | Japan | 420,000 | 53 | 1a |
| 8 | Morisho | Japan | 405,000 | 51 | 1c |
| 9 | toshiya1017 | Japan | 402,000 | 50 | 1b |
| 10 | TKC25 | Japan | 384,000 | 48 | 1c |
The gargantuan opening flight produced the three largest stacks so far with KNT and nakaji04 both holding more than 100 big blinds for Day 2. Another two players have surpassed more than half a million in chips including the Day 1c chip leader SIN, who advanced with 502,000 last night. Day 1b toshiya1017 also made it into the overall top ten so far with a stack of 402,000 with all players hailing from Japan.
There are however some local foreign residents who showcased their talents at the tables so far including Daniel Shearer (322,000), Julian (233,000) and Jonas Wallendorf (147,000) as they all bagged up chips already as well.
| Flight | Entries | Survivors |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | 548 | 82 |
| Day 1b | 127 | 20 |
| Day 1c | 180 | 28 |
| Total | 855 | 130 |
Whether or not defending champion Jun "Misawa" Obara will be participating in the tournament to defend hi title remains to be seen. He has been spotted in other Side Events throughout the last two days, being his usual bubbly smiling self, but hasn't entered any of the 2026 RGPS Passport Japan starting flights yet.
Day 1d kicks off at 11 a.m. local time and will be followed by Day 1e as of 4 p.m. local time. Both flights will play a total of 13 levels of 30 minutes each with a starting stack of 30,000 and the late registration closes at the end of level nine. There will be two short 10-minute breaks and each heat wraps up in under seven hours.
Today's PokerNews updates will focus on the early flight with the full chip counts of all evening heat survivors as well as the Day 2 seat draw to be published later in the evening as well as on the social media accounts of the JOPT. Furthermore, there is also a turbo heat 1f at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, April 29 with all survivors jumping straight into the final day thereafter.
