I've just taken off from Incheon airport, now flying 40,000 miles in the air, Melbourne-bound, after my first visit to Korea. I've been to a lot of airports over the years and a few have impressed me, but I must say that Incheon Airport blew me away. I was a little reluctant to head to the airport five hours early for my flight, however when I discovered last-minute that many places closed on Monday in Seoul, particularly my destination of choice for my free day -- Dungdaemun Market (a collection of 26 malls, housing over 30,000 retail stores, mostly catering to women's fashion. Also known as heaven on earth, and also known as the place I never got to visit), I decided to give in and join the rest of the team on the early bus to the airport.

I couldn't be more thankful that I did, because I actually ran out of time after exploring everything this place had to offer! From the endless shopping, to the lounges, to the public toilets, massage and nail salons, Incheon Airport is nothing short of awesome.

Anyhow, the appreciation for Seoul certainly doesn't stop the airport. Seoul is a fantastic city, and quite a beautiful one too. The APPT was held at the Paradise Casino Walkerhill, which is set on the edge of a riverside mountain, surrounded by trees, opening up to a stunning view of the intense city.

I did venture out twice during the week, however it was always on a bus headed downtown, so on our last day, fellow PokerNews-er Donnie Peters and I went for a walk down the hill to check out the area that we had been living in for the past six days. We walked in the freezing cold along the eight-lane highway, which every road seemed to be, passing giant building after giant building. Despite being 10km outside of downtown Seoul, a distance that you would usually assume to find yourself in a quiet residential neighborhood, everywhere in sight was still full of skyscrapers. Seoul, like many other big-cities in Asia, is a totally different world to what I'm used to, one where everyone seems to live in the sky.

This was Angel Guillen's first time to ever visit Asia, and my only other city of comparison from personal experience was Macau, which really is a world of its own. So despite the minimal expectations that we had, we were amazed within the first 30 minutes of touching down. Koreans are not only technological geniuses as one would expect, but their warm and gentle natures really make you feel welcome.

At the airport we stopped by a stand that was renting out portable WIFI routers and found the Olleh Egg. This was one of the best finds of the trip, allowing for seven devices to connect at the bargain price of around $8 USD per day. For the first-time ever I was able to tweet to my heart's content while touring around the city.

The city tour began on the subway. If you thought London's Tube was intense, you're in for a shock when you see the underground system Seoul has got going on. Not only was it ginormous, it was outstandingly efficient. Just like the city bus tour that we took - not once was anything ever late. Everything here works on time, to the exact minute.

The city bus tour offered over 30 stops at landmarks throughout the city. With just one afternoon to play, we had to limit our choices. We started at the moving Korean War Memorial where the struggles of the divided country were evident, along with so much hope of reconciliation.

Next was the romantic N Seoul Tower. The tower is positioned on top of Namsan Mountain, a huge mountain in central Seoul. At first, it just looks like any other city tower that has an observation desk, but once you reach the top of the hill, and the base of the tower, you're faced with nothing but love. Hundreds of thousands of couples have declared their everlasting love here, by securing padlocks, together with love notes, to the fences surrounding the tower.

We then went to the quaint, preserved town known as Bukchon Village, for a taste of the true local culture. We sat in a teahouse where I had the most amazing Pumpkin Rice Punch tea. You can see all of these places, plus more, in the following PokerNews video.

Seoul really is a beautiful city. It meshes the bright lights and skyscrapers with the natural beauty of the river and forests so well.

Our second night was spent at Ark Lounge in downtown Seoul for the PokerStars player party. Every table had it's own VIP bottle service with Absolut Vodka flowing freely. As you could imagine it didn't take long to get the dance floor started, which was then overtaken by some serious breakdancing. Let me tell you, Koreans sure can dance!

Our second to last night in Seoul was quite a long one, with Day 2 of the APPT Main Event not finishing until after 1am. On dinner break only around 30 players were left in the Main Event, and one of them was Angel's friend from Panama, Jose Severino. So a few of us whisked Jose away for some Korean BBQ on dinner break to Myongwolgwan, a restaurant next door to the casino. It felt like a sauna inside the restaurant with all of the tables each having stoves built into them, but once we adjusted to the heat, we then indulged in one of the best meals I think I've ever had. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to splurge on some of the finest Korean BBQ in the country with one of the best views in the city.

It was then back to work at the APPT Main Event, where Jose went on to make it to the final table the following day. He ended up taking sixth place and it was American Andrew Kim who eventually took the title.

When it comes to tournament reporting, I try to maintain as neutral a stance as possible. I've certainly befriended players over my years on the circuit but I strive not to let my friendships with them affect the coverage that I provide, to favor those players in any way over any other players. That being said, when heads-up play at the 2012 APPT Seoul Main Event started and we were left with only two Americans, I permitted myself one little thing.

"U-S-A! U-S-A!" With a fist pump. (Call me a homer if you must.)

Yes, heads-up play left us with Vincent Rubianes and Andrew Kim. Kim started with a 3-to-2 chip lead and through an hour of heads-up play, the stacks didn't change much. Rubianes shoved on Kim in one or two places but otherwise most of the pots were small, with few bets larger than 200,000 chips.

So of course the final hand was all in pre-flop for more than 40 big blinds each.

Rubianes started with the button and opened for the minimum 80,000. Kim three-bet to 230,000, a not uncommon tactic for him pre-flop. Rubianes frequently backed down from those three-bets but here he opted to four-bet to 505,000. Kim responded by moving all in, with Rubianes calling all in for 2.1 million. It was a flip, with Kim holding [as][kd] and Rubianes a pair of tens. An ace on the flop paired Kim up, a pair which held through the river to crown him champion of the tournament.

It was a long road to the championship for Kim. When play started on Day 3, there were 15 other players left in the tournament. We saw a rash of dominated aces in the first hour of play and lots of big draws in the second. We reached our final nine players in about two hours, an unexpectedly quick pace.

The final nine players included three North Americans, three Europeans, two Asians and a Panamanian. One of the two Asians, 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event runner-up Ken Wong, was the first player eliminated from the final table. The other Asian, Japanese player Daisuke Endo, started the day as chip leader but blew up at the final table to finish in 8th place.

The next three eliminations all came in rapid succession, as Mike Kwon, Jose Severino and Sasa Zorc all knuckled under. Zorc has to be especially disappointed. He started the final table 2nd in chips but never made very much noise.

The final four players agreed to modify the payouts, leaving KRW 35,000,000 to the champion but otherwise agreeing to take between 90,000,000 and 110,000,000 each. With that deal in place, Moritz Ortmann and Rafael Sans each took their chances all in and busted out.

That left Rubianes and Kim to duke it out heads-up. In his winner's interview, Kim noted that the APPT Seoul Main Event was his first major live tournament and that he only played because some friends talked him into it. His goal from the beginning was just to take things one step at a time. By the time he got down to heads-up play, he claimed that he believed the skill component of the game didn't mean much.

"It's all luck at that point," he said.

That's some modesty right there. Kim displayed some masterful aggression and tactical skill to capture a deserving championship. For America, no less.

Photo credit: Ken and Long from Kenneth Lim Photography - http://www.kennethlimphotography.com

Following some lengthy discussions over a few slices of pizza, the final four players have worked out the following deal, based loosely on chip counts with a little negotiation thrown in.

Andrew Kim: KRW 110,000,000
Moritz Ortmann: KRW 106,000,000
Rafael Sans: KRW 94,500,000
Vincent Rubianes: KRW 90,500,000

In addition, the winner will receive another KRW 35,000,000 on top, as well as the title and a shiny new trophy.

When play resumed we were hoping for some fireworks due to the "winner takes all" deal, but the players continued to jockey for position. First, Andrew Kim extended his advantage when he flopped a straight to devastate the stack of Rafael Sans, before Sans got some back with a double up through Moritz Ortmann.

It left Ortmann as the short stack, and found one double up through Vincent Rubianes, but couldn't make it two in a row. Ortmann shoved all in from under the gun for 685,000 and Rubianes thought for a few moments before quietly announcing a call.

Ortmann tabled a vulnerable [2d][2h] as Rubianes opened [kh][qh]. The board ran out [5h][3c][qd][ks][7h] to smack the American twice and eliminate the German PokerStars qualifier in 4th place.

Ortmann will be disappointed to be the first of this quartet to go, but at the same time, he's the biggest benefactor of the deal.

It didn't take much longer for Rafael Sans' resistance to end as he shoved his [kh][5c] into the [as][kc] of Andrew Kim in a battle of the blinds. Sans needed a five but it wasn't to be as the [8s][3c][9s][8d][6h] board left him headed to the rail in third.

And just like that, we're heads up for the crown! Andrew Kim holds the chip lead with 3,005,000 to Vincent Rubianes' 2,120,000. Interestingly Kim proposed a secondary deal to chop the remaining prize money but Rubianes was having none of it. Game on!

There's lots of emotions a player can run through during the course of a poker tournament. Satisfaction at knocking out a tough opponent. Elation at a critical double-up. Boredom through long stretches of inactivity. And of course, disappointment and resignation when the moment of your elimination seems all but assured.

Sasa Zorc has some fresh experience with that last emotion. He opened all in for about 350,000 with [kh][qh] and got snap-called by big blind Moritz Ortmann with the aces. No help on the flop or turn for Zorc, leaving him drawing dead before the river even came down.

Zorc had a quiet final table. He started as the second-place stack but never seemed to get much going, and was often played back at by the two Americans on his left, Andrew Kim and Vincent Rubianes. He took his elimination just as quietly and stoically, resigned as soon as he saw Ortmann's black aces hit the felt. He shook everyone's hand and departed to collect his cash.

The remaining four players, meanwhile, have asked for a short break so they can negotiate some kind of four-way deal. I can't recall the last time a four-way deal happened in a live tournament, but this discussion was pre-ordained when there were seven players left. At that time, the remaining seven players all agreed to discuss a deal when the tournament went four-handed.

These types of multi-way deals are tricky to accomplish. In addition to the usual wrangling over whether the players will chop by chip equity, ICM, or some other metric, there are tax implications to consider. A further wrinkle is that some players will want Korean Won and some will want money added to their PokerStars accounts (not an option for the two remaining Americans, obviously).

There's no guarantee our final four players will reach a deal. We could just be burning a little time on break here before they resume trying to knock each other out and trying to move up the pay ladder.

For Zorc, though, the tournament ends here in 5th place.

After a lengthy period of a whole lot of nothing, the deadlock has finally been broken with the recent elimination of Jose Severino in sixth place.

It was a tough final table for Severino who battled long periods on the short stack. It seemed that he won the small pots but lost the big ones, as evident by almost eleven stacks of blue 1,000-denomination chips that comprised of his stack of 280,000 before his final hand.

After doubling up Rafael Sans with ace-jack versus ace-queen, Severino was forced into short-stacked ninja mode. He was able to pick up the blinds on a couple of occasions, but his timing was astray when he moved all in from the cutoff with [ac][qh]. Moritz Ortmann was sitting on the button with [ah][kh] and quickly announced a call as the blinds got out of the way.

Severino cringed when he saw the bad news and as he would need a queen to survive. The speedy dealer flopped [3d][th][9c] onto the table, and seemed eager to deliver Severino's fate as final table announcer Dom Choi had to put the brakes on her to attempt to build up a little suspense for our railbirds. Only a queen could save the Panamanian PokerStars qualifier but it wasn't to be as the [7d] turn and [3s] completed the board.

Severino shook hands with his opponents and left the poker room to collect 34 million Korean Won for a great tournament run.

Meanwhile Ortmann was left to walk to the other end of the table to collect the towers of chips that he'd just earned, padding his stack to 1.3 million and narrowing the gap on the lead of Andrew Kim who currently sits with 1.9 million with five players remaining.

Things are starting to get a little shove-y at our final table here in Seoul. That usually leads to some blood. Canadian Mike Kwon is the latest victim.

Kwon was ready to depart earlier this afternoon. He wound up all in on the wrong side of a 10s versus 9s battle against Jose Severino. Kwon turned his set of 9s but the board flushed, allowing Severino to chop out half the pot. Still, Kwon acknowledged that a chop was far preferable to a bust-out as he took off his jacket and sat back down.

Kwon's good fortune ended there though. When short stack Rafael Sans shoved for the fourth time in less than two orbits, Kwon picked up kings in the big blind and snap-called. Sans was drawing at an ace with [as][qs] and promptly binked it on the flop, [ac][5s][6d]. The turn and river blanked, sending 324,000 chips from Kwon's stack to that of Sans.

The very next hand Andrew Kim opened to 100,000, four times the big blind. Kwon may have felt good about picking up [ah][jh] in the small blind, but it was another case of ace domination when he shoved for 190,000 total and Kim snap-called with [ad][qc].

Kwon seemed to accept that he was unlikely to escape the noose for a second time. He again stood up, put on his coat, and slung his bag over his shoulder. The flop and turn were all baby blanks, [7d][3c][6d][5c]. Vincent Rubianes grinned and called for a four, hoping to see Kwon chop from the wrong side a second time. No chop here though; the [9s] sent Kwon to the rail in 7th place.

Surely Kwon is disappointed with how his final table turned out. If those kings had held, he'd have knocked out Sans in 7th place and moved up to an average-sized stack with six players left. From there, just about anything could have been possible.

Instead he'll walk off with 27 million Korean Won and wonder, like so many players before him, about what might have been.

The blow up. It's the car crash of a poker tournament. It happens to all of us at one time or another. And when it does, all we can hope for is that it happens on a quiet, dusty road somewhere in the outback, where no one is around and no damage is done.

Unfortunately the final table of a major international poker tournament, with throngs of media watching, isn't the ideal place. Just ask APPT Seoul overnight chip leader Daisuke Endo from Japan.

The Japanese have a word for the move that Endo just pulled - it's called "kamikaze", or roughly translated as a suicidal attack. That's the only explanation we can offer. Either that, or he had a read.

It started preflop with a raise by Mortiz Ortmann. Endo defended his big blind and they saw a flop of [5c][tc][4s]. A check from Endo was followed by a continuation bet of 60,000 by Ortmann. Endo quickly announced himself all in, for what appeared to be about 400,000, but Ortmann was quick to call with [ac][jc] for a flush draw with two overs. And for Endo? Well he had a jack too. Jack-high. His [js][3c] was tabled and we had to do a double take of the board to confirm that Endo indeed had nothing but pure imagination. It was all over when the [ad] turn and [7c] river completed the board.

Ortmann is now our chip leader with 1.25 million in chips as Endo, who does have a WSOP final table result to his credit, sulked off to the rail to contemplate what had just happened. It's lucky that this is one accident he can walk away from but KRW 21,4000,000 for his 8th place finish should help to soothe the wounds a little.

When APPT President Danny McDonagh made the official introductions at the final table, he announced Seat 7 as Ken Wong "with 527,000 chips." A surprised Wong looked down at a much shorter stack of only 115,000.

"Where'd my chips go?" he asked in mock surprise.

"Must be a misprint," said McDonagh. "Just let me know when you get to 527,000."

Unfortunately for Wong he never made it that high. He doubled up on the first hand of the final table to climb about 230,000 but after that it his final table was nothing but a slow bleed. With time running out on Level 21, he three-bet shoved [9s][9d] over the top of an open-raise by Vincent Rubianes to 35,000. Rubianes called with [ah][qh].

The dealer, one of those models of ruthless efficiency that my blogging partner Heath Chick described earlier today, didn't let Wong twist in the wind. He barely had time to celebrate a safe flop of [7s][jd][4h] before the dealer fired out running queens, [qc] and [qd], on the turn and river. Those queens gave Rubianes trips, the pot and the elimination of Wong.

Wong's had a good start to 2012. This is his second final table of the year. He finished runner-up in the Aussie Millions Main Event for AUD 1,000,000. He'll get a significant payout here in Seoul too, although KRW 15,889,600 won't go quite as far as a million Aussie dollars do.

We've now reached the final table here in the APPT Seoul Main Event, and it only took a little over two hours of play today to do so. The players have been willing to get active which has provided some aggressive, entertaining play.

The speed of play today can also attributed to the great work of the dealers here in the Paradise Walkerhill Casino. The dealers are noticeably efficient which is refreshing to see. There are no shuffle machines, but these dealers are more like washing machines! They wash, ruffle, cut and shuffle as good as any dealers that we've ever seen in poker tournaments around the world.

And boy we've seen some bad ones!

Speed is one thing, but accuracy is also important, and I'm yet to recall spotting a dealer error so far in this event.

We found out that there are a number of permanent dealers working the event, but because of the extra tables in action here at this major tournament, the event organizers are also using a number of dealers pulled from the thriving underground poker scene here in South Korea. They're doing a great job so kudos to the Paradise Walkerhill Casino staff for their efforts.

With the final table now formed, the players are heading off on a 30-minute break so that the table can be used to quickly seat the large number of alternates for the KO Bounty side event.

The final table bubble was day one chip leader Jhana Hale. His [ad][7d] flopped a flush draw but Taewook Kwon hit a set with his pocket sixes. By the time the board of [2d][5d][6c][jc][jd] was spread, Hale made his flush but it wasn't enough to better Kwon's full house.

Here's how they will lineup for the APPT Seoul final table:

Seat 1: Andrew Kim - 624,000
Seat 2: Vincent Rubianes - 687,000
Seat 3: Jose Severino - 402,000
Seat 4: Daisuke Endo - 577,000
Seat 5: Taewook Kwon - 973,000
Seat 6: Moritz Ortmann - 650,000
Seat 7: Kenneth Wong - 115,000
Seat 8: Rafael Rodrigo - 362,000
Seat 9: Sasa Zorc - 775,000

Taewook Kwon has taken the chip lead with play set to recommence at 3pm local time.

If the first hour of Day 3 was about dominated aces, the second hour has to be about big draws. They're the kinds of hands that, if you flop them, you're either going broke and hitting the rail or scooting out to a big double-up.

At Table 12, the result for Moritz Ortmann was a big double-up. He took over the chip lead from Daisuke Endo after they took a flop of [6d][8d][9h]. Ortmann stood up from his chair to get a better look at the tournament clock, confirming that he had reached the next pay jump. Even if he hadn't, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have called off his stack with a big straight-and-flush draw, [ad][7d]. Endo showed down pocket jacks, creating a 50-50 situation for both players. The turn blanked, but Ortmann filled his straight with a river 10.

At Table 11, Michael Guzzardi and Vincent Rubianes both flopped huge draws. They got all the chips in on a board of [9d][qs][js], with Guzzardi showing [ad][10s] for a straight-and-ace draw. His draw wasn't as big as he hoped, however, as Rubianes showed down [7s][9s] for a pair and a flush draw that killed two of Guzzardi's outs. Rubianes made his flush with the [as] turn card, leaving Guzzardi's straight-and-ace draw dead but giving him a flush draw. The river blanked out.

But there are plenty of other big draws in the Paradise Casino if Guzzardi is so inclined. There are two side events underway this afternoon - the KRW 6,000,000 High Rollers event is the biggest buy-in ever seen in three seasons of events at APPT Seoul. For those looking for smaller stakes, the KRW 300,000 NLHE Bounty event fits the bill nicely. It's proved an especially big draw today, as it quickly hit its 70-player cap. An additional 34 alternates are waiting on the rail for seats.

The city of Seoul itself has been a big draw for the players. It's been three-and-a-half years since the last APPT event here. Many of the players that played the Main Event and side events this week weren't even on the tour back then.

Seoul, one of the most wired and cosmopolitan cities in the world, has proven irresistible.