APT Taipei 2024 Main Event boasts richest NTD 72 Million (~USD 2.2M) country prize pool, Jia Lee stacks the highest; Pete Chen and Craig Cooper triumph over side events
Cards continue to fall at the Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League with the APT Taipei 2024 counting down the days until a new Main Event champion is crowned. This year’s festivities posted the tour’s largest guarantee of all-time and proudly smashed the record after four qualifying flights. With NTD 72,232,020 (~USD 2,287,160) in prizes to be awarded, Singapore’s Jia Lee sits atop the ranks with a massive 152 big blind stack to start the Day 3 games.
Over at the side events, Taiwan’s Pete Chen and England’s Craig Cooper emerged triumphant across the smaller fields and padded their APT trophy collections with the additional hardware. Check out these highlights below.
Singapore’s Jia Lee leads Main Event Day 3 action
The bustling Main Event action remains to be a sight to behold with hundreds of tournament runners finding themselves smack in the center of the buzz for a share of the country’s richest prize pool. Day 2 played down to 175 players where each returned to the felt guaranteed a minimum payout of NTD 111,000 (~USD 3,510).
Falling short of the money were a number of decorated pros including APT champions Shixiang Khoo and Philippines’ John Tech. Tech exited as the stone cold bubble after pulling a river jam bluff right into Shunsuke Tokoo’s nut flush. While Tech’s play cost him his tournament life, Tech fortunately drew a ticket for Event #90: Double Stack valued at NTD 20,000 (~USD 650) to ease his despair.
After nearly eight hours of play, the day wrapped up with Singapore’s Jia Lee reigning as the chip leader and the sole runner to bag a seven digit stack. Joining him in the top charts are two-time APT Main Event winners Lester Edoc (111 BB) and Mike Takayama (80 BB), stacking 3rd and 10th across the overall pecking order. Other notables remaining in battle for the NTD 12,944,020 (~USD 409,730) top prize are bracelet winners Max Neugebauer (55 BB) and Anson Tsang (39 BB), APT champion Renniel Galvez (55 BB), Flight B’s Jun Obara (101 BB), and Jereld Sam (89 BB) who took down last year’s record breaking APT Mystery Bounty Hunter. Day 3 action is set to run through another ten levels of play with 60 minutes on the clock per blind level.
Date: March 3 to 9, 2024
Buy in: NTD 70,000 (~USD 2,200)
Guarantee: NTD 65,000,000 (~USD 2,050,000)
Prize pool: NTD 72,232,020 (~USD 2,287,160)
Entries: 1,182 (737 unique)
ITM: 175 players
Flight A: 265 entries / 95 advanced
Flight B: 260 entries / 118 advanced
Flight C: 280 entries / 144 advanced
Flight D: 166 entries / 86 advanced
Natural8 OnLive: 154 players
Top Chip Counts
| Position | Name | Flag | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Jia Lee | Singapore | 1,221,000 | 152 |
| 2 | Safwane Bahri | France | 896,000 | 112 |
| 3 | Lester Edoc | Philippines | 888,000 | 111 |
| 4 | Jun Obara | Japan | 815,000 | 101 |
| 5 | Kok Wei Teoh | Malaysia | 737,000 | 92 |
| 6 | Jereld Sam | Singapore | 714,000 | 89 |
| 7 | Joshua Figuerres | Philippines | 679,000 | 84 |
| 8 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | 677,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Steve Ng | Singapore | 650,000 | 81 |
| 10 | Mike Takayama | Philippines | 647,000 | 80 |
Full Day 3 Chip Counts and Seat Draw
Pete Yen Han Chen lines collection with tenth APT trophy
Well decorated pro Pete Yen Han Chen extended his healthy record of cashes once more, having bagged his career tenth APT title in Event #77: Hyper Turbo – High Roller. Chen rose above the 70-entry field which included the likes of Thailand’s Phachara Wongwichit, Hong Kong’s Dicky Tsang and Edward Yam, to lock in the top payout of NTD 355,200 (~USD 11,260). In the final round, Chen defeated United Kingdom’s Guy Taylor in heads up play and added the victory to his impressive $4.5 Million record of total live winnings.
Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 20,000 (~USD 630)
Entries: 70
Prize pool: NTD 1,222,200 (~USD 38,770)
ITM: 9 places
Event #77: Hyper Turbo – High Roller Full Payouts
| Place | Name | Flag | Prize |
| 1 | Yen-Han Chen | Taiwan | NTD 355,200 |
| 2 | Guy Taylor | United Kingdom | NTD 257,000 |
| 3 | Minjae Kim | Korea, South | NTD 167,000 |
| 4 | Hakdo Kim | Korea, South | NTD 126,000 |
| 5 | Phachara Wongwichit | Thailand | NTD 98,000 |
| 6 | Jia Wei Wang | Canada | NTD 76,000 |
| 7 | Yamato Nakai | Japan | NTD 60,000 |
| 8 | Natalie Siew Po Teh | Malaysia | NTD 46,000 |
| 9 | Cho Hin Chan | Hong Kong | NTD 37,000 |
Craig Cooper bags second series title in Event #76: Turbo – PL Omaha Hi-Lo
Taking advantage of the lineup’s selection of poker variants, England’s Craig Cooper found success at Event #76: Turbo – PL Omaha Hi-Lo, shipping a second series title out of five impressive final table appearances. Cooper initially won Event #16: Limit Triple Draw Mix and followed through this victory with a bigger NTD 117,241 (~USD 3,710) payday after beating Ireland’s Shaun Conroy. His latest win records his sixth career APT title, the largest being a Mini Main Event victory in APT Incheon last September 2023 for KRW 44 Million (~USD 33,990).
Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 8,000 (~USD 250)
Entries: 57
Prize pool: NTD 389,241 (~USD 12,345)
ITM: 8 places
Event #76: Turbo – PL Omaha Hi-Lo Full Payouts
| Place | Name | Flag | Prize |
| 1 | Craig Anthony Cooper | England | NTD 117,241 |
| 2 | Shaun Conroy | Ireland | NTD 84,000 |
| 3 | Jeong Yeol Yu | Korea, South | NTD 54,000 |
| 4 | Furniss Mark | Australia | NTD 41,000 |
| 5 | Bradley Evan Ruben | United States | NTD 32,000 |
| 6 | Hoo Lam Kwan | Hong Kong | NTD 25,000 |
| 7 | Caleb Chan | Hong Kong | NTD 20,000 |
| 8 | Hiu Tung Chan | Hong Kong | NTD 16,000 |
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