165 players entered the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Seoul Main Event, and the sole survivor would be Yoshihiro Tasaka of Japan. Tasaka would finish off another Japanese player, Hidenari Shiono, in heads-up play to capture the tournament ant the $128,216 first prize. Nine players entered the final table, with Brian Kang of Canada holding the chip lead.
Play was very cautious at the beginning of the final table, but Sam Faqiryar of Canada would move all-in from the big blind with his few remaining chips after American Dan Schreiber made a raise before the flop. Faqiryar was only holding [6s][4h], but they were live to Schreiber’s [As][7s]. The flop fell [9h][5d][4c] to give Faqiryar a pair, but the turn of [8s] and the river of [6c] would deliver a straight to Schreiber. Sam Faqiryar exited in ninth place, richer by $8,013.
The eliminations would come swiftly after Faqiryar went out first, with the next victim being Canadian Daniel Williams, who moved all-in with [Ad][7c]. Tasaka and David Horvath of Hungary called the Williams all-in and checked the hand down as the board fell [10c][6c][5s][Kd][Qc] and Tasaka’s pocket eights would win the pot. Williams would return to Canada with $10,020 after his eighth place finish.
David Horvath would be the next to fall, doing so when he was on the button and moved all-in with [10d][9h]. Brian Kang held a dominating [As][10h] which would hold up as the board rolled out [7d][6c][5c][7c][2c]. Horvath would collect $16,027 for his seventh place finish.
Dan Schreiber would end up as the sixth place finish after he got all of his money in on the flop against Brian Kang while holding [10c][7c] and flopping a straight with the [Jd][9h][8c] that fell. Kang showed pocket jacks for top set and his hand would improve to a full house when the [8h] fell on the turn. The [7d] that fell on the river was unnecessary as Schreiber was drawing dead. Schreiber earned $20,033 for his final table performance.
Yuji Masaki of Japan had been struggling to survive and would finally lose the struggle when he moved in with [Qh][6h] only to find himself dominated by Kang’s [Kd][6c]. Masaki flopped a flush draw as the flop fell [10d][7h][4h], but the flush would never materialize as the turn fell [Ac] and the river fell [2d]. Masaki finished in fifth place and collected $26,043.
Almost immediately Fam Yat of Singapore pushed all-in under the gun with [Ad][Ks]. Japanese player Hidenari Shiono called with pocket sixes, and the two were off to the races. Yat would fall as the board fell [8d][8h][3h][9d][8c] to give Shiono a full house. Yat would earn $32,054 for his fourth place finish.
Three-handed play was a marathon lasting more than four hours and when the elimination occurred it would be Brian Kang, the former chip leader, heading to the exits. Kang had been crippled when Tasaka moved all-in but exposed his hole cards, and Kang decided to call anyway. Kang lost the hand to a river ace and found his stack decimated.
With very few chips remaining Kang moved all-in on the next hand with [10c][3c] and Shiono called with [Ks][4s]. Tasaka was sitting out as a penalty for prematurely exposing his cards on the previous hand. The board was no help for Kang as it fell [9d][7c][6d][Kc][7d]. Brian Kang was gone, but with a third place prize of $44,074.
Yoshihiro Tasaka was still being penalized, and had to sit out the first two hands of heads-up play against his fellow countryman Hidenari Shiono. After some preflop raising Shiono moved all-in, still before the flop, and Tasaka called with what he proclaimed was his favorite hand, [9h][2c]. Shiono was holding [As][4c] for a clear advantage, but the flop would fall [9d][8h][6d] to give Tasaka a pair of nines. The [Jd] landed on the turn, but was no help for Shiono, and neither was the [3h] which landed on the river.
Hidenari Shiono would collect a payday of $80,135 for his runner-up performance while Yoshihiro Tasaka won the first price of $128,216.