Main Event (33,000 NT$)

When the flop lands, the window card pairs up Liu and holds. Chan had to settle for 2nd place for a payout of NTD 3,027,000 (~US$ 94,770).

Liu becomes the first ever TMTC Main Event champion and pockets the NTD 4,538,600 (~US$ 142,100) champion's purse.

Hand #73: Big blind Manlok Chan calls Chiehchi Liu's 800,000 raise then off to the flop they go J♦ J♣ 6♣ . Liu c-bets 800,000, Chan check-raises 2,300,000, Liu gives it up.

In just over three hours, it is now heads up between Taiwan's Chiehchi Liu and Macau's Manlok Chan. Here are the remaining payouts:

1st NTD 4,538,600 (~US$ 142,100)

2nd NTD 3,027,000 (~US$ 94,770)

Hand #70: Cheng Wei Chu min-raises from the button and big blind Chiehchi Liu tosses in the call. More chips get dumped on the flop K♥ 8♣ 4♦ starting with 350,000 from Cheng. Liu answers with a check-raise of 1,200,000, Cheng flats.

The action heads to the turn A♥ and Liu continues the aggression with a 1,500,000 bet, Cheng replies with a shove of 2,985,000, Liu calls.

Hand #56: After four consecutive pots raked in, small blind Chiehchi Liu raises again 600,000 and this time big blind Manlok Chan calls. Both check it to the turn Q♠ Q♦ 7♣ 8♠ , Liu bets 600,000 and goes to the river K♦ after Chan makes the call. Liu then sends out a strong bet of 5,000,000, Chan doesn't bite.

Hand #57: Chiehchi Liu raises and wins with no caller for his sixth consecutive collection.

Hand #50: Gyu Won Jang opens his standard 800,000 and wins the blinds and ante.

Hand #51: Cheng Wei Chun raises 425,000, Manlok Chan re-raises 1,400,000 which is enough to induce a fold.

Hand #52: Chiehchi Liu raises 600,000, no takers.

Hand #53: Back to back raise by Chiehchi Liu of 600,000 and still no callers.

Hand #54: Hat trick for Chiehchi Liu as he wins three in a row on three uncalled raises.

Hand #55: All fold to Chiehchi Liu to win his fourth consecutive pot.

Hand #41: Cheng Wei Chen opens 425,000 and wins the blinds and ante.

Hand #42: Manlok Chan raises 500,000 and collects the blinds and ante.

Hand #43: Sparrow Cheung follows suit with a 400,000 bump, still no takers.

Hand #44: Utg Manlok Chan raises 500,000 and finally gets some action from the big blind Chiehchi Liu. The board is checked to the turn 6♦ 4♠ 2♦ K♣ , Liu leads 400,000 and Chan calls to see the river 3♦ . Both tap felt . Liu shows K♥ 8♠ top pair for the win.

Hand #45: All fold to Manlok Chan.

Hand #39: Small blind Chiehchi Liu limps and big blind Manlok Chan calls. On the flop A♠ A♦ 2♠ Chiehchi Liu bets 500,000 and wins the pot outright.

Hand #40: Gyu Won Jang opens 1,000,000 and Chiehchi Liu calls. Flop lands 3♦ 5♦ 7♣ , Jang tosses in his last 150,000 and Liu makes the easy call.

Gyu Won Jang: A♦ Q♦

Chiehchi Liu: Q♣ J♣

The turn A♠ and river 7♥ is another double up for the lone Korean at the final table.

Hand #38: Gyu Won Jang min-raises on the button and Chiehchi Liu gives him action from the big blind and see a flop 7♥ 7♣ 3♦ . Liu quickly jumps out with a shove, Jang risks his tournament life.

Jang's overpair holds for a double up.

The turn Q♠ and river Q♦ is a runner runner full house for both to split it up.

Hand #19: Sparrow Cheung joins the action by defending his big blind on a raise of 350,000 by Manlok Chan. Same action on the flop 3♥ 6♣ 8♦ with Cheung check-calling another 350,000. On the turn Q♦ an river A♣ , it's checked down. Cheung has A♥ 3♣ for the two pair win.

Hand #20: Manlok Chan opens 400,000 and as seen several times already, no callers.

Hand #21: Chiehchi Liu raises 400,000, no takers.

Hand #22: Another Manlok Chan raise of 400,000 doesn't find any challengers.

At the flip, Wei is dominated and goes on to fall to Liu's straight.

Hand #16: Action folds around the felt to the small blind Cheng Wei Chun and limps in. Big blind Chiehchi Liu signals a check then they check down the board A♣ K♣ 3♣ 8♣ 6♥ . Cheng flips the winner A♦ 4♥ .

Hand #17: Manlok Chan gets a walk.

With no improvement for Chu, he finishes in 9th place.

Hand #11: Manlok Chan opens, no callers.

Hand #12: Gyu Won Jang opens a large 600,000 leaving 75,000 behind, big blind Ko Chia Hsiang won't let it through that easy and calls. Flop comes J♠ 6♠ T♦ , Hsiang 150,000 bets, Jang calls for the remaining chips behind.

Gyu Won Jang: 8♦ 8♣

Ko Chia Hsiang: 9♣ 7♠

The turn 7♥ and river 2♣ means a double up for Jang.

Hand #13: Manlok Chan raises 400,000 and still no callers.

Hand #14: From utg+1 Chiehchi Liu min-raises and big blind Gyu Won Jang defends however on the flop Q♠ 5♥ 5♦ , Jang opts to fold to Liu's 400,000 c-bet.

Hand #10: Big stacks Chiehchi Liu and Manlok Chan face off with Liu first limping in then calling Chan's huge button raise of 525,000. When the flop runs A♦ 2♦ 7♦ , Liu check-calls 250,000 then on the turn J♣ , Liu check-raises from 700,000 making it 1,800,000 for Chan to see the river. Chan gives it up.

Liu is back up top.

Hand #9: Another shove seen with Kao Kuo Wei sending it in after defending on the big blind and seeing a flop 2♦ T♣ 8♥ . Chiehchi Liu first c-bet 350,000 then folded to the shove.

Hand #2: Gyu Won Jang opens 600,000 and wins the blinds and ante.

Hand #3: Manlok Chan opens 300,000 from hijack and big blind Ko Chia Hsiang pays up to see the flop K♠ J♥ 2♥ . Chan c-bets 250,000 and wins the pot that easy.

Hand #4: Chiehchi Liu ups it to 250,000, Justin Chu joins in, small blind Ko Chia Hsiang shoves 3,025,000 and takes it down unchallenged.

Hand #5: Chiehchi Liu raise preflop again, this time 300,000 and wins the blinds and ante.

Hand #6: Manlok Chan wins his third pot out of five that have been dealt with an uncalled raise preflop.

Hand #7: Chiehchi Liu get first walk of the day.

Hand #8: Manlok Chan also gets a walk.

After nearly twelve hours of intense play, the TMTC Main Event has its final table set at the Asia Poker Arena. Starting with 143 hopefuls that returned from the qualifying flights, the field has been whittled down to the final nine, with a strong showing of local players securing six spots.

Leading the pack is Taiwan’s own Chiehchi Liu, who enters the final day with a commanding 12,275,000 (98 bb). Liu built his huge stack defending the big blind with 3♥ 2♠ that landed trips against Justin Chu. From there, Liu surged further ahead after knocking out Chih Wei Chen (15th) and Jee Weon Kim (13th).

Another player also bagging up a hefty stack was Macau's Manlok Chan with 11,175,000 (89 bb). Like the leader, Chan knocked out two players during the final two tables - Yoda Lin (12th) and Wonkyu Kang (11th) to earn his spot just below Liu.

The TMTC Main Event kicked off on November 1, 2024 boasting a US$ 600,000 guarantee. With 936 turning up at NTD 33,000 (~US$ 1,030) each, that pot swelled to a richer NTD 27,237,600 (~US$ 850,000). The biggest cuts will be awarded on November 5 when the finalists return for the last dash to the NTD 4,538,600 (~US$ 142,000) top prize.

The champion will also be awarded the special TMTC trophy especially made for the champion of this event. Each one is currently guaranteed NTD 456,000 (~US$ 14,200).

Justin Chu open shoves his last 7 bb and sweats it when two players call. The board A♥ T♦ 5♣ J♣ 2♥ is checked down.

After heavy preflop action that opened with Yun Tse Lin min-raising, called by chip leader Chiehchi Liu, re-popped by Cheng to 1,000,000, four-bet to 1,800,000 by Lin, called by Cheng after Liu folded, Lin and Cheng checked the flop K♣ 7♣ 4♥ .

On the turn 9♣ ,Cheng shoved 2,050,000, Lin let go reluctantly.

Chiehchi Liu is now the overwhelming chip leader after landing a massive pot defending his big blind. Hand opens with button Justin Chu raising 160,000, blinds call. Chu bets a larger 350,000 on the flop 8♦ 9♣ 2♠ , and only Liu continues to the turn 2♥ . Again Liu passes the betting to Chu who bets 600,000, this time Liu raises 1,600,000 and Chu calls. The river then comes 4♦ , another 1,600,000 bet by Liu is called by Chu.

Liu shows 3♥ 2♣ trips and ships it as Chu mucks.

Chiehchi Liu makes it 200,000 to go, Gyu Won Jang thinks more and re-raises 440,000, Liu flats. On the flop 9♣ 7♣ A♦ , Liu check-calls 125,000 from aggressor Jang then both check the turn 9♠ .On the river 6♠ , Liu leads out 500,000, Jang tanks then gives up his stake on the pot.

Chiehchi Liu looks down at K♦ K♣ and three-bets 350,000, early aggressor Wonkyu Kang calls. Liu spikes a set on the flop 4♠ 9♥ K♠ and fires 300,000, Kang calls. Both check the turn 9♦ . Kang leads out 275,000 on the river 3♥ , Liu raises 1,000,000 and is happy for the call as he shows the full house.

Kang plunges to 10 bb, Liu rises to over 70 bb.

From hijack, Yoda Lin raises 125,000 and gets called by Chiehchi Liu on the small blind. On the flop and turn Q♥ Q♣ J♠ 9♦ , Ling fires 180,000 and 360,000, Liu check-calls both. On the river 9♦ , Liu takes control with a shove of 330,000, Lin tank-folds.

Preflop battle is kicked off by Wei Jen Wang for 120,000, Chiehchi Liu three-bets 250,000, small blind Yoda Lin four-bets 1,000,000, no takers.

Day 1A of the Main Event wrapped up with Hong Kong's Andrew Ma (Chun Yu Ma) bagging the lead with over a million in chips. Ma topped the 50 survivors out of the thunderous 329 field. Stay tuned for the recap.

With the bubble approaching, heavy bets have been seen around the room. One such hand saw action fold to the small blind Chung Yi Ho who let out a 20,000 raise, big blind Chieh Chi Liu responded with a 65,000 re-raise, Ho gave up his hand.