Masaki Saito
The third starting flight of the 2026 Gods of Poker Taipei II Main Event has been completed with 10 players out of 71 entries securing a cash prize and advancing to Day 2. They will join the 11 survivors of the previous two flights and a large overlay is looming over the flagship tournament of The Trial of Wisdom at the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City.
So far, the NT$ 33,000 crown jewel of the schedule has only collected 145 entries but nearly 600 total entries are needed to reach the NT$ 17 Million guarantee. Plenty of players will be jumping into the action for the final two starting flights on Friday, September 25, 2026, also aided by the Boosted Titan Stack and three satellites with 15 tickets guaranteed each.
However, it will be a challenge to reach the desired tally nonetheless.
Not needing to worry about any of that and actually hoping for some extra value are today's ten players who bagged up chips after midnight. Japan's Masaki Saito topped the leaderboard after he burst the bubble with the turned nut flush to beat Vinay B with two pair, as he made it through with 1,521,000. Vinay B had arrived straight from the airport to max late-register only to became the last casualty without anything to show for.
Another two contenders became chip millionaires in Flight C including Guo Jin Zeng (1,125,000) and Tomo Miyagi (1,008,000) whereas Hayato Kitajima (885,000) and Chi Jen Chen (475,000) are notable survivors.
Japan-based Jung Ho Im (pictured above) was the early chip leader during the registration period but he was down to only three big blinds four away from the bubble. Two double ups later. Im bagged up 553,000 in chips and secured another live poker score during the festival.
Final Chip Counts Flight C:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | BB Day 2 |
| 1 | Masaki Saito | Japan | 1,521,000 | 95 |
| 2 | Guo Jin Zeng | Taiwan | 1,125,000 | 70 |
| 3 | Tomo Miyagi | Japan | 1,008,000 | 63 |
| 4 | Hayato Kitajima | Japan | 885,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Jaegeol Cho | South Korea | 870,000 | 54 |
| 6 | Chaehun Ryu | South Korea | 725,000 | 45 |
| 7 | Jie Zhang | Canada | 720,000 | 45 |
| 8 | Paulus Wijaya | Indonesia | 628,000 | 39 |
| 9 | Jung Ho Im | South Korea | 553,000 | 35 |
| 10 | Chi Jen Chen | Taiwan | 475,000 | 30 |
Notable casualties in Flight C included Hao Ran Li, Hyunsup Kim, Shung Er Sua, Ori Kossonogi, Anton Lu, Lester Edoc and Jaesung Park. They all have another two flights available to enter the fray on September 25.
Flight D starts at the usual 12.30 p.m. time slot and will close the registration at 5 p.m. local time with two 60-minute and one 120-minute levels during the registration period. The levels thereafter will be 30 minutes each until the top 13.5% of the field have been reached.
Flight E follows the same deep Cronus Structure as of 6 p.m. local time and will close at 10.30 p.m. local time - don't be late, because otherwise you will be shut out from entering at the last minute. The levels after will last 20 minutes each and play down to the money.
All survivors of the five flights then combine for Day 2 on Saturday, September 26, when the race towards the final table takes place.