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APT Online (APTO) returns in 2026 as the Asian Poker Tour (APT) and Natural8 once again bring Asia’s premier live tournament experience to the virtual felt. This year's edition comes with a monster USD 40,000,000 in prize pool guarantees (up 60 percent from APTO 2025) and continues to deliver the full spirit of APT competition directly to players’ screens, allowing poker enthusiasts from across the region—and worldwide—to battle for major titles, sought-after trophies, and multi-million-dollar prize pools without leaving home.
Headlining the festival is the USD 5,000,000 GTD APT Online Main Event; with a sizable 66 percent increase in the guarantee from the 2025 edition this is set to be one of the largest and most anticipated events in the series’ history.
Across the schedule players will find 20 Trophy Events with buy-ins ranging from USD 56 to USD 5,000 – each of which will award a real-life APTO trophy to the respective winner. There are also three exclusive APT Online Lion Trophy Events, celebrating the champions who rise above the field in the most elite online arenas:
Action begins on 18 October at 9:05 p.m. (HKT) with the USD 1,050 APT Online High Roller, boasting a USD 600,000 GTD.
The challenge escalates on 1 November at 9:00 p.m. (HKT) with the USD 3,000 APT Online Super High Roller, featuring an impressive USD 1,000,000 GTD.
The spotlight then shifts to the pinnacle of the festival — the USD 800 APT Online Main Event, with Day 1s playing out from 11 October and the final Day 2 concluding 1 November at 9:05 p.m. (HKT) with players chasing the prestigious Black Lion Trophy and a share of its USD 5,000,000 GTD prize pool.
In addition to the flagship events, players will have the chance to secure their seat to the season ending showpiece USD 5M GTD APT Championship (APTC) Main Event Freezeout—running 23-27 November in Taipei, Taiwan—with the winners of the 20 APTO Trophy Events receiving a USD 10,000 seat.
You don’t even have to win to be in with a chance of claiming a ticket to Taipei – any player competing in an APT Online 2026 event will receive a ticket to the $100K Freeroll to APT Championship playing out on 7 November which offers a seat to the APT Championship Main Event and APTC satellite tickets.
Satellites to the APT Championship are running throughout the APT Online 2026 series from 11 October to 23 November and you can win your APTC Main Event seat from as little as USD 12.
A Record-Breaking Start
The first two Trophy Events of the APTO 2026 are in the books, and both proved to be record-breakers for the third series in a row.
The $108 Event #1: Bounty Kickoff eclipsed the record set during the APTO 2025 drawing its largest-ever field and generating its richest-ever prize pool— both up over 17 percent (17.23%)—with Georgia’s PostBloom claiming the biggest top prize this event has ever awarded.
The record-breaking trend continued with the $5,000 Event #2: Superstar Challenge drawing its largest-ever field, with some of poker's elite online players competing for the richest prize pool this tournament has ever generated, with the Austria-based "Avdi_2000" claiming the biggest top prize this event has ever awarded.
So far, the opening two events have seen 4,472 combined entries compete for $1,588,395 in prize money – an impressive 16 percent (16.79%) increase in entries, and an 11 percent (11.69%) increase in prize money over the 2025 edition of the festival.
Upcoming highlights include the THB 2,000 (*$60) Event #3: Thailand National Cup 6-Max (THB 5M / $148,967 GTD), running Tuesday, 13 October, and the $525 Event #4: Single Day High Roller – Bounty Freezeout ($300,000 GTD), running Thursday, 15 October.
Event #1: Bounty Kickoff
The opening salvo of APT Online 2026 sounded the starting pistol with a bang with the Event #1: Bounty Kickoff drawing a massive 4,226 entries to power past its $300,000 guarantee and amass an impressive $419,895.36 prize pool, surpassing the record set during APT Online 2025 by over 17 percent in both metrics.
With a $108 ($49.36+$50+$8.64) buy-in, players piled into the festival’s first trophy event chasing progressive bounties worth at least $25 for every elimination with the high-octane action wrapping up in just over nine hours (9:21:49).
After a hard-fought final table, it was Georgia’s “PostBloom” who clinched the opening title of the series after cutting a deal with runner-up “TheGrinder19” of Slovenia with both players banking over $20,000.
“PostBloom” earned the richest top prize this event has ever awarded – $20,034.80 plus a commanding $15,202.68 in bounties, while “TheGrinder19” collected $20,033.64 plus an additional $1,343.77 in bounties.
China’s “CryptoPerry” rounded out the last of the podium places, finishing third for $15,918.69 and $3,934.44 in bounties.
BOUNTY KICKOFF FINAL TABLE RESULTS
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PostBloom | Georgia | $15,202.68 | $20,034.80 + $15,202.68 |
| 2 | TheGrinder19 | Slovenia | $1,343.77 | $20,033.64 + $1,343.77 |
| 3 | CryptoPerry | China | $3,934.44 | $15,918.69 + $3,934.44 |
| 4 | TucoTight | Ukraine | $5,776.08 | $12,648.94 + $5,776.08 |
| 5 | sebesQuee | Romania | $971.69 | $10,050.82 + $971.69 |
| 6 | DonkersMcDonks | Finland | $1,791.21 | $7,986.36 + $1,791.21 |
| 7 | Ranges Mutaveis | Brazil | $2,559.79 | $6,345.93 + $2,559.79 |
| 8 | Qn Dulguun | Mongolia | $2,696.69 | $5,042.45 + $2,696.69 |
| 9 | David Gilbert | Canada | $2,007.93 | $4,006.72 + $2,007.93 |
Event #2: Superstar Challenge
The stakes escalated for the $5,000 ($4750+$250) buy-in Event #2: Superstar Challenge, a prestigious two-day high-stakes battle that attracted 246 elite entrants who duked it out at the virtual felt for a mammoth $1,168,500 prize pool.
This was over 55 percent (55.8%) larger than the sizable $750,000 guarantee and up almost 10 percent (9.82%) from APTO 2025 in both entry and prize pool metrics, making this the second consecutive edition of the tournament to break the $1 million prize pool mark.
In addition to setting a new APT Online record for both field size and prize pool for the tournament, this marquee event drew some of the biggest names in the online and live arena, who competed over a gruelling 26:53:33 of play.
Austria’s “Avdi_2000” emerged victorious, securing the title and a commanding $205,727.91 top prize – over a six percent (6.72%) increase over APTO 2025, making this the largest first-place prize this event has ever awarded.
Russia’s “V Buldygin” delivered a strong performance to finish runner-up for $158,637.74, with Serbia’s “Andrija Robovic” rounding out the winner’s podium in third place for $122,326.47.
SUPERSTAR CHALLENGE FINAL TABLE RESULTS
| Place | Player | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avdi_2000 | Austria | $205,727.91 |
| 2 | V Buldygin | Russia | $158,637.74 |
| 3 | Andrija Robovic | Serbia | $122,326.47 |
| 4 | Tom Fuchs | Germany | $94,326.57 |
| 5 | Elias Suhonen | Finland | $72,735.78 |
| 6 | Max Buschmann | Austria | $56,086.90 |
| 7 | Lothar Weis | China | $43,248.91 |
| 8 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | $33,349.47 |
| 9 | E Narmontas | Norway | $25,715.99 |
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Shane C
Shane is a content writer with over 10 years of writing experience. He specializes in poker and casino games and has been chasing the ultimate poker dream and the excitement of hero calls for the last 15 years! Admittedly, he has yet to win any APT nor WSOP title, but he's not giving up!
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