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Photo Credits: Asian Poker Tour
Chun Shing “Walter” Lau arrived in Taipei mainly because friends were there. He left with the Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy, TWD 16,640,100, and a seat in the APT Championship 2026 Main Event.
Good to Know
The story of APT Taipei 2026 did not start with a full-time pro planning a perfect campaign. Lau, a 31-year-old real estate agent from Hong Kong, said he made the trip on impulse after friends headed to the festival.
He had about USD 75,000 in live tournament results before the series. Then he beat one of the deepest Asian Poker Tour Main Event fields of the year and took the second largest first-place prize in APT Main Event history.
Lau defeated Australia player Joshua McCully heads-up. The final duel began with Lau holding a 4-to-1 chip lead, and he used it to finish a run that also went through Global Poker Index No. 1 Tony Ren Lin, Thailand No. 6 ranked tournament player Pakinai Lisawad, Taiwan player Ching En Chen, Belgium player Kristof Segers, and Japan players Kazuma Ishihara and Miki Shiraishi.
Lau said:
“I don’t feel like I’m anything special just because I won—a lot of it is luck, as anyone who plays tournaments knows—but this is an opportunity for me to pursue things in life that I wanted to do but couldn’t before. I’m thankful to God for this chance, which opens up more possibilities to explore different goals,”
APT Taipei ran in partnership with Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club across Red Space 多元商務空間 and Asia Poker Arena APA. By the end, APT had its seventh straight record festival for entries and unique entries, with 26,009 total tournament entries, 3,890 unique entries, and more than TWD 598,932,533, around USD 19.13 million, in total prize pools.
Lau has played cash games with friends in Hong Kong since 2018, but tournament poker only entered his routine in 2023. He had shown stronger results in side events than Main Events before Taipei changed that. He said:
“I’ve played several APT events since then; although I hadn’t seen results in the Main Events, I’ve done quite well in the side events. I didn’t actually plan this trip specifically; it was an impulsive decision to come because many of my friends were here. I just wanted to hang out and play, so I feel very lucky to have made it this far.”
Along with the title, Lau now has a route into the APT Championship 2026 Main Event, a USD 5 million guaranteed event scheduled for November 13 to 29 in Taipei. The top six Main Event finishers received seats, so Lau, McCully, Ching En Chen, Kristof Segers, Kazuma Ishihara, and Miki Shiraishi all booked places.
That seat changed Lau’s schedule. He said:
“I hadn’t originally planned to play the APT Championships because a $10,000 USD buy-in is too expensive given my current situation. But now that I have this ticket, I want to give it a try.
“Between now and November, I need to study more and increase my knowledge because the field will be full of experts. Since it’s a freezeout with no rebuys, I have to stay calm and handle things better to give myself a chance. I’m approaching it with a balanced mindset.”
Even after the biggest result of his poker life, Lau kept his plans measured and said:
“While I want to learn and play well, I want to maintain the mindset of a recreational player. I see too many professional poker friends around me working far too hard. I’ve never wanted to be a full-time pro. Life needs balance and different hobbies. Poker is one of those interests—one that can earn some money—but I think I’m much happier staying recreational than going professional.”