Rudy Edenata Breezes to Victory for Second Gauntlet; Tomoya Yasukawa Wins Titan Stack Daily at GOP Trials of Wisdom

Day 2 of The Trial of Wisdom has concluded at the Asia Poker Arena and several Gods of Poker trophies have found new (first-time) owners in the capital of Taiwan. Held in cooperation with the local CTP Club, the sixth edition of Asia's newest live poker tour has returned to Taipei City for the second time in 2026 and aims for continued growth in the highly competitive Asian market.

Several Japanese poker enthusiasts arrived yesterday and they were also the most successful in terms of trophies on the second tournament day with two whereas players from South Korea racked up the same tally. However, the biggest cash prize went to a familiar face from Indonesia. Let's dive into some of the action from the tables!

Gauntlet Number Two for Rudy Edenata

The heads-up duel for the first of five GOP gauntlet trophies commenced with an average of 57 big blinds for the conclusion of the NT$ 110,000 Titan Stack High Roller and Rudy Edenata had the edge over Chi Shing Man with two times as many chips. Both had locked up NT$ 216,000 for the efforts whereas the champion was looking forward to a payday of NT$ 360,000. What followed was a tussle of just three hands and Edenata secured the rose gauntlet.

Chi Shin Man

In the first hand, he raised to more than four big blinds on the button and subsequently decimated Man's stack by one third. He lost two big blinds in the next insignificant pot before raising three blinds with Man defending. Man check-raised a 10 ♣️ 5 ♣️ 3 ♦️ flop and they checked the A ♦️ turn. When the flush draw bricked on the 4 ♥️ river, Man jammed with the K ♣️ 3 ♣️ for a pair of treys and missed clubs for Edenata to look him up holding the 5 ♥️ 3 ♥️ for the flopped bottom two pair.

Another GOP gauntlet for Rudy Edenata

Preparing all of the chips for the winner shots took about as much time as the duel lasted and Edenata soon after jumped into the Single Day High Roller to try and chase the next trophy. The Indonesian was the first to bust thereafter, jumping right into the Titan Stack Daily. He busted from there and couldn't run up a stack in the High Roller either.

Tomoya Hasegawa

Rene Von Reden tried to bluff Tomoya Hasegawa but was called down and Chi Chang Chang then busted shortly thereafter to burst the money bubble with NT$ 268,800 to be shared between Hasegawa and Rob Hollink. The player from Japan eventually took it down for NT$ 168,000 to deny Hollink a second title in as many days here in Taipei.

Hollink had another shot at a second title in the NT$ 27,500 Turbo High Roller but had to settle for the runner-up spot once again whereas Ming Che Yang took it down for NT$ 120,000.

Jia Qi Wu won the first Aphrodite's Event

The first Aphrodite's Event of the series brought a victory on home soil for Jia Qi Wu for NT$ 27,000 whereas Hong Kong's Ching Ching Yuen earned NT$ 16,200 for second place.

South Korea's Jaesung Kang claimed victory in the second NLH Midday Mid-Stakes for a top prize of NT$ 108,000 with Japan's Horikoshi Shingo taking second for a consolation prize of NT$ 64,800. Hong Kong appeared on the trophy board with Fuk Tak Lam, the winner of the BIG O Event for NT$ 50,440.

Tomoya Yasukawa

The evening activities concludes with the second flight of the Accumulator Event which gathered a total of 40 entries, boosting the field to 74 entries. Only the top six players advanced to the money stages and will join the five survivors of Flight A with many others to follow throughout the remaining heats in the next few days.

Last but not least, the NT$ 3,500 Hyper Turbo Event drew a field of 23 entries with the top four spots earning a portion of the NT$ 66,240 prize pool. Titan Daily Stack deep-runner Lance Goh min-cashed, Wei Huang collected money next. Young Woo Han held the lead in heads-up and got there with jack-ten to beat the ace-queen of Takeshi Shinohara to claim the trophy and NT$ 28,940 top prize.

Japanese Victory in Second Titan Stack Daily

Some 24 players jumped in during the break at the end of the late registration to boost the field of the NT$ 11,000 Titan Stack Daily to 89 entries and result in just a small overlay for the NT$ 1 Million guarantee for the second day in a row to make this a true value tournament on the festival schedule.

Early casualties included Sing Wen Chen, Wing Cheung Cheng, Anson Choy and Daisuke Futamara. Soon after the registration closed, Rudy Edenata flopped top pair with Q ♥️ J ♥️ but Jui Heng Chang had him out-kicked with the A ♥️ Q ♣️ to end up with queens full of aces for the knockout. Edenata jumped back into the Single Day High Roller whereas Si Yang Phua and Takeshi Shinohara also joined to the rail. By then, the TMT20 Crown Main Event winner Chun Liang Kuo was near the top of the leaderboard despite losing a flip to Lin Wei Kai with pocket nines versus king-queen but ultimately didn't cash in the event.

TMT20 Crown Main Event champ Chun Liang Kuo

Down to the final four tables, the aforementioned Chang notched up another knockout with queens versus 10 ♥️ 9 ♥️ preflop and I Chung Chen followed suit when his pocket sevens turned a full house to reduce the field in style. With just over a third still in the mix, Malaysia's Lance Goh and Chun Wei Chang were leading the pack on more than half a million in chips – good enough for three times the average. They were joined by Chi Hao Yang when the latter jammed a queen-high river with four clubs and showed pocket aces with the club even though his opponent got away from the flush to the queen.

Jc Ann Sotelo missed out on the Aphrodite's Event and grinded a short stack to the final three tables before bowing out. The action slowed down with an average of just under 30 big blinds and Yuh Jiun Chuang ran with K ♠️ Q ♦️ into the A ♠️ Q ♣️ of Yuan Hsu Lee to fall shy of the money. Wen Chi Wang three-bet jammed A ♣️ J ♣️ into the J ♠️ J ♦️ of Tomoya Yasukawa, who held on a ten-high board. Soon after the final two tables were set with Yasukawa in the driver's seat ahead of Goh, but the momentum changed when the Japanese and Jui Heng Chang both hit trips jacks with the latter calling the river shove with the ace-kicker to take the lead.

A few minutes later, the stone bubble was reached with three eliminations in a hot minute. It then took three hands to secure a cash payout and Chang was the one to jam with Q ♥️ 8 ♥️ as table chip leader to do so. Chi Hao Yang called with J ♥️ J ♦️ but saw his hopes vanish when two eights appeared right on the flop. Once the bubble burst, Yasukawa bounced back when his 8 ♣️ 8 ♦️ held against the J ♠️ 10 ♠️ of Ting Hsu Hsieh as he re-joined the chip leaders. On the same table, I Chung Chen went runner-runner to the nut flush with A ♥️ J ♥️ to bust Yuan Hsu Lee and Malaysia's Goh then bubbled the final table.

The nine finalists of the Titan Stack Daily on September 19

Following a roller coaster ride for Steven Benjamin, it was Accumulator Flight A chip leader Takahiro Baba who bowed out with Q ♥️ J ♥️ against the A ♦️ J ♠️ of fellow Japanese Yasukawa for the last three blinds. The action thereafter became incredibly tense and the average dropped to only 13 big blinds. Yasukawa raise-called an all-in for nine blinds with J ♦️ 7 ♠️ for half his stack and ran into kings. Jui Heng Chang was the one to benefit, but lost a flip with A ♣️ Q ♣️ to 10 ♠️ 10 ♣️ right after. Benjamin then bowed out with A ♥️ Q ♥️ when the 7 ♠️ 7 ♦️ of Tsung Wei Lee rivered a set for good measure.

Chun Wei Chang then lost a flip to Lee, who cemented his lead with six left. Fellow Chang was the next casualty with Q ♣️ J ♥️ versus A ♠️ J ♠️ preflop and they were down to five. Lee conceded the top spot to Yasukawa who won several showdowns in quick succession before knocking out serial short stack survivor Hyunjun Kim much to the delight of his Japanese rail. I Chung Chen lost most of his chips to Lee and Yasukawa earned the remaining fumes to make it three in a row.

Jui Heng Chang

Those became four when Sul Bum Kim jammed K ♣️ 7 ♣️ into his K ♥️ Q ♠️ and a queen on the turn locked it up. Heads-up play only lasted three hands and the Japanese rail had reason to celebrate vividly when A ♠️ J ♥️ held up versus K ♦️ 5 ♣️ to seal the victory of Yasukawa in dominating fashion by knocking out the last five opponents in a row.

What is Happening on Day 3?

The Titan Stack Daily continues with the new NT$ 11,000 buy-in and retains the higher NT$ 1 Million guarantee with the cards going in the air at half past noon local time, the late registration is open until 3.45 p.m. local time with an extended third level of 90 minutes. This will also be the same format going forward with another five editions to follow throughout the remainder of the festival.

Titan Stack Daily Boosted Guarantees

Running alongside to kick off the daily schedule is a NT$ 7,700 PLO Bounty Event while the two flights of the GOP High Roller are listed for 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time starts.

Flight C of the NT$ 5,500 Accumulator provides the third chance for players to run up a stack and secure a portion of the NT$ 3 Million guarantee with a 7 p.m. start and 9.45 p.m. local time end of registration.

The NT$ 16,500 Midday Mid Stakes and NT$ 5,500 Aphrodite's Event both return, as do the two Hyper Turbo Events to conclude the activities for the late night poker enthusiasts.