Ready to deliver another explosive year, Asia’s longest running poker brand Asian Poker Tour (APT), returns to Taipei City, Taiwan to stage its highly-awaited season opener. Taking place from February 28 to March 10, APT Taipei 2024 will be held at two locations, the CTP Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League. In line with offering the richest events in the region, the brand sets its ambitions sky high. The festival boasts NTD 150,000,000 (~USD 4.8M) in combined guarantees highlighted by the brand’s flagship tournament, the APT Main Event, which features NTD 65,000,000 (~USD 2,000,000), the largest starting prize pool in Asia history.
APT’s continued success in Taiwan
Glancing back, in 2023, APT emerged as the region’s most popular brand, as evidenced by its overwhelming turnouts and seven figure prize pools. APT Taipei 2023, in particular, set the wheels in motion. For the first time, the APT Main Event prize pool charged to USD 2 Million, which at the time, was the region’s richest tournament outside of mainland China. Thailand’s #1 player, Punnat Punsri, won it for USD NTD 11,210,400 (~USD 364K), his largest triumph on Asian soil.
Another standout tournament was the APT High Roller 8 Max that witnessed the pot increase to USD 860K. To date, it is the richest APT prize pool for this event. By the end of the ten-day festival, the numbers were astronomical. APT Taipei 2023 paid out a record USD 7.35 Million, crushing the brand’s previous festival record of US 2.1 Million set at the inaugural APT Taiwan in 2019. With APT Taiwan consistently lucrative, it is only befitting that the brand kick off its 17th year at this location.
Punnat Punsri wins record breaking APT Taiwan Main Event for US$ 364,000
What to expect at APT Taipei 2024
With the brand’s incredible surge in popularity and Taiwan just a short flight from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, China, and the Philippines, APT Taipei 2024 is expected to draw a full house daily. As always, there’s plenty in store for everyone. For starters, players have more chances at capturing one of the coveted APT lions with the lineup consisting of 105 trophy events. This is the brand’s most extensive schedule in history, which is one of the main reasons for the two venues.
Browsing the schedule, players will find a wide variety of poker games with buy ins ranging from the affordable NTD 5,000 (~USD 162) to the heftiest APT Superstar Challenge price tag of NTD 800,000 (~USD 25,940).
Affordable buy ins populate the schedule
Tournaments with buy ins from NTD 5,000 (~USD 162) to NTD 15,000 (~USD 486) offer the most options. The festival opener, APT National Cup, falls under this price range with buy in at NTD 10,000 (~USD 324). As seen at last year’s APT Taiwan and APT Hanoi Billions openers, players can expect a massive turnout from the start, especially with a bold NTD 15 Million (~USD 476K) prize pool up for grabs.
A big crowd is also expected at the Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 – with attractive changes advertised. The NTD 15,000 buy in is slightly lower than previous and the guarantee has increased significantly to NTD 10,000,000 (~USD 317K). This figure is even higher than last year’s result.
Additionally, players interested in deviating from the usual Hold’em and Omaha events will find the selection of variants within these affordable price ranges very appealing. Ones to consider are the 8 Game Mix, Dealer’s Choice (19 Games), and Limit Triple Draw Mix.
Richest APT Taiwan Main Event to come
What should interest players the most is of course the APT Main Event which goes head to head with its previous Taiwan record of USD 2 Million. This is the first time a guarantee of this size has been announced in Asia so expect both venues to be packed to the brim. To enter, players will have to dig deep with this year’s buy in raised to NTD 70,000 (~USD 2,270). Event runs from March 3 to 9, 2024. Four entry flights are scheduled with late registration open before the start of Day 2.
Record breaking High Roller events on the horizon
Top tier players will be out in full force at APT Taiwan as indicated by the High Roller Early Bird Special packages that were quickly snatched up. This is also a strong sign of possible record turnouts at these events. In total, there are 13 high roller events with buy ins from NTD 50,000 (~USD 1,621) upwards.
At the highest, the APT Super High Roller and APT Baby Superstar Challenge pack a hefty NTD 300,000 (~USD 9,728) buy in while the APT Superstar Challenge comes in at a premium NTD 800,000 (~USD 25,940) buy in.
Backed by the largest guarantee of NTD 20,000,000 (~USD 635K) is the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 – with buy in at NTD 80,000 (~USD 2,594). Bookending the series is the APT High Roller which features an NTD 11,000,000 (~USD 350K) guarantee. Buy in is NTD 150,000 (~USD4,864).
Among the players to be expected is APT Super High Roller shark Nozomu Shimizu (pictured above) who won both the Super Star Challenge and SHR at APT Hanoi Billions and finished 2nd at APT Incheon SHR.
Big names expected at APT Taipei 2024
An exciting addition has been wedged in the schedule, the APT All Star Showdown, happening on Thursday, February 29, 2024. While details have yet to be revealed, it does suggest that APT past winners, Asian megastars, and other big names will likely be part of this invitational. Last year, some of the world’s most decorated players were seen at the APT felt such as Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Bradley Ruben, and Joseph Cheong.
Stay tuned for more information or head to the APT website.
*All photos by Asian Poker Tour
