Asian Poker Tour announces USD 2 Million guarantee for 2024 season opener in Taiwan
Having been quiet since the abrupt cancellation in December, the Asian Poker Tour has come out with explosive news, announcing a jaw-dropping 2 Million USD Main Event prize pool for its upcoming season opener in Taipei City, Taiwan. This echoes last year’s announcement when the brand made history as the first in over a decade to guarantee a million USD for a Main Event in the region.
“The Main Event is just the first of several exciting announcements for APT Taipei 2024. We made history here last year and are optimistic that we will break those records again,” said APT President Neil Johnson.
While details have yet to be disclosed, players can start blocking the dates. APT Taipei 2024 is scheduled fromFebruary 28 to March 10 with the Main Event taking place March 3 to March 9. Buy in has also been bumped up to NTD 70,000 (~USD 2,225).
In anticipation of a massive attendance, the series will be held at two locations – CTP Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League – both in central Taipei, 1.7km apart.
APT’s roaring 2023 season
Under new ownership since 2022, the Asian Poker Tour has been making big waves in the poker world, consistently hosting record-breaking events at nearly every stop. Its 2023 Taiwan leg set the tone, paying out a grand total NT$ 229,174,757 (~USD 7.36 Million), the highest among all touring brands in Asia. The Main Event, in particular, stood out, amassing a record NT$ 62,594,100 (~USD 2 Million).
Following Taiwan, the brand held two events in Vietnam, each one seeing a festival prize pool equivalent to over USD 3 Million. In August, the APT staged its biggest and richest Korea festival, paying out the equivalent of over USD 6 Million across 67 events. For the first time, the APT generated a seven figure USD Main Event prize pool in the country of around USD 1.4 Million.
To wrap up the year, APT Hanoi Billions exceeded all expectations, amassing approximately VND 181.4 Billion (~USD 7.47 Million) despite being unable to conclude its full schedule. From the moment the doors swung open, the venue reached maximum capacity almost daily, leading to the cancellation of several side events. The Main Event witnessed an incredible turnout of 2,350 entries for a staggering VND 73.8 Billion (~USD 3 Million) prize pool—the largest ever seen in Southeast Asia.
In total, the APT generated the equivalent of over USD 32.7 Million across 7 festivals, inarguably the richest in the region for 2023.
