APT Taipei 2024 Smashes Several Records; Awards Largest Main Event Prize in Taiwanese History
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The Asian Poker Tour (APT) Taipei 2024 festival has wrapped up and it is safe to say it surpassed all expectations. APT Taipei boasted over 100 trophy events, making it one of the busiest schedules in the tour's long and illustrious history, but it is the prize money awarded in some of those events that make APT Taipei 2024 extra special.
Eleven events broke APT and country records, including the Main Event, which raised the bar in terms of the total prize pool and the first-place prize awarded in Taiwan. The TWD 70,000 (US$2,270) buy-in Main Event drew in 737 unique players who purchased 445 re-entries between them, taking the total attendance to 1,182.
Such a bumper crowd resulted in a TWD 72,232,020 (US$2,288,706) prize pool created, and a first-place prize weighing in at TWD 12,944,020 (US$410,137). Both those impressive amounts are APT and Taiwanese records.
Stanley Weng, Kosei Ichinose, Thomas Ward, Sofia Lovgren, Nam Le, David Erquiaga, and Thai Ha were among the in-the-money finishers in the APT Taipei 2024 Main Event.
Event #39: APT Taipei 2024 Main Event Final Table Results
| *Rank | Player | Country | Prize (TWD) | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | $12,944,020 | $410,137 |
| 2 | Guo Zhang Xi | Taiwan | $7,620,000 | $241,443 |
| 3 | Chi-Jen Chu | Taiwan | $5,360,000 | $169,834 |
| 4 | Seungmook Jung | South Korea | $4,016,000 | $127,249 |
| 5 | Li Wei Sun | Taiwan | $3,077,000 | $97,496 |
| 6 | Jung Chuan Liao | Taiwan | $2,275,000 | $72,084 |
| 7 | Pitipong Posri | Thailand | $1,734,000 | $54,943 |
| 8 | Sawane Anwar Bahri | France | $1,236,000 | $39,163 |
| 9 | Steve Ng | Singapore | $959,000 | $30,386 |
The equivalent of US$30,386 was the least any of the nine finalists could win, but there was a record-breaking US$410,137 reserved for the eventual champion.
Singapore's Steve Ng was the first player to bust from the final table, with France's Safwane Anwar Bahri joining the list of eliminated players soon after.
Seventh place and US$54,943 went to Thailand's Pitipong Posri, who evidently loves playing live poker in Taipei. Posri cashed in four events at the APT Taipei 2023 festival, but this Main Event final table finish saw him more than double his lifetime earnings.
Local player Jung Chuan Liao won the US$72,084 sixth-place prize before Li Wei Sun came in fifth for US$97,496.
The final four became three with the demise of South Korean star Seungmook Jung, a finish worth the equivalent of US$127,249. That prize is the third-largest of Jung's career, taking his lifetime earnings north of US$1.57 million and pushing him into the top ten of the South Korean all-time money list.
There was a new career-high for Justin Chin Jen Chu, whose third-place finish came with US$169,834. Chu would later take down a single-day High Roller Mystery Bounty tournament for an additional US$42,500.
Heads-up pitted Japan's Daisuke Ogita against Taiwan's Guo Zhang Xi. Despite a massive difference in the prize money, no deal was struck, meaning whoever came out on top would get their hands on the largest-ever first-place prize awarded in a Taiwanese poker tournament.
Xi had no recorded live cashes on their Hendon Mob page before this event but now has one showing US$241,443, the second-place prize. Xi fought valiantly but could not dislodge Ogita from the top of the chip counts.
Ogita collected the US$410,137 top prize, the largest of his career, plus one of the coolest winner's trophies you will ever see. Ogita is becoming a regular feature in European events, particularly the European Poker Tour. The fact that a player of Ogita's stature ventured out to Taiwan for this incredible tournament speaks volumes about the APT's ability to draw in top-tier poker talent.
Grospellier Briefly Holds a Taiwan Record
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is famous throughout the poker world, especially in Asia, where he used to be a professional StarCraft player. Grospellier thought he had written his name into the poker history books when he came out on top in the Superstars Challenge because first place came with a US$367,793 payout.
The Frenchman's victory meant he had won the largest-ever first-place prize in a Taiwan-based event. However, Grospellier's seat at the top of the tree only lasted a few days until Ogita triumphed in the Main Event!
Only seven places were paid in this high-stakes affair, due to a compact yet stellar 49-strong field. Sweden's Mikael Andersson was the first player to bust inside the money places; Andersson banked a career-high US$61,305.
Super High Roller specialist Danny Tang fell in sixth for US$75,912, with Klemens Roiter finishing fifth for US$99,245. It proved to be a profitable trip for Roiter because he won the Baby Superstar Challenge a couple of days after this fifth-place finish, and reeled in another US$122,130 in prize money.
Biao Ding's latest deep run ended in a fourth-place finish worth US$128,428, with Roman Hrabec collecting the US$169,308 third-place prize. Hrabec then jumped on a plane and headed to the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju, South Korea, where he has enjoyed three cashes, including one worth $441,000.
Grospellier and Philippines' Lestor Edoc were the last two players standing. Edoc had earlier won a Single Day High Roller for US$84,888, so went into this heads-up clash full of confidence. However, Grospellier proved to be a formidable foe, and Edoc had to make do with a US$265,645 consolation prize, leaving Grospellier to add $367,793 to his ever-growing live earnings total.
Event #23: Superstars Challenge Final Table Results
| *Rank | Player | Country | Prize (TWD) | Prize (USD_ |
| 1 | Bertrand Grospellier | France | $11,632,810 | $367,793 |
| 2 | Lestor Edoc | Philippines | $8,402,000 | $265,645 |
| 3 | Roman Hrabec | Czech Republic | $5,355,000 | $169,308 |
| 4 | Biao Ding | Hong Kong | $4,062,000 | $128,428 |
| 5 | Klemens Roiter | Austria | $3,139,000 | $99,245 |
| 6 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | $2,401,000 | $75,912 |
| 7 | Mikael Andersson | Sweden | $1,939,000 | $61,305 |
In total, APT Taipei 2024 drew 13,153 entries and awarded almost TWD 383.5 million, or US$12.19 million, setting a new Taiwan poker record. There are far too many results to display on one PokerNews page, but you can check out each of the results via the APT Taipei 2024 results page, which opens up in Google Docs.
Next Up on the APT
Players do not have long to wait before they can participate in an APT festival. APT Jeju is scheduled for April 26 through May 5 at the Shinhwa Resort in Jeju, South Korea. Of course, PokerNews will have the schedule for you as soon as it is released.
