APT Taipei 2024: Jun Obara dominates Main Event Flight B; Chi Jen Chu and Teng Kuei Hsu rise to victory

The twelve day affair at Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League in Taipei, Taiwan is right on its halfway mark with at least sixty trophies awarded throughout the week. Day 6 of the APT Taipei series saw its headlining Main Event play through the second flight on schedule, ending with Japan’s Jun Obara stacking the highest amongst the Flight B survivors. Local runners Chi Jen Chu and Teng Kuei Hsu equally stood in the spotlight with Chuhaving crushed the Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty, and Teng with back to back wins. Check out the highlights below.

Japan’s Jun Obara leads Main Event Flight B from start to finish

Boasting a NTD 65,000,000 (~USD 2,050,000) guarantee, this year’s APT Taipei Main Event stands to be the center of attention with the event positioned to be the brand’s largest prize pool yet. Last year’s festivities saw its Main Event pot swell to a smashing NTD 62,594,100 (~USD 2,012,380) after 1,434 entries turned up on the felt. Eyeing to surpass those numbers, Flight B added another 260 entries to the tally, bringing the combined field up to 525, which already covers half of the ambitious guarantee.

Japanese runner Jun Obara dominated the games from start to finish, having captured the lead as early as Level 4 and taking it all the way down to close the flight. Obara bagged an enormous 260 BB stack and fell just under Flight A chip leader Chen Yu Hung in the overall pecking order. No stranger to big field events, Obara lists several cashes from major festivals across the globe yet remains to be on the lookout for a Main Event victory. Obara came close at the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event back in 2022 but fell three places short of the title, earning him his career best score to date and a 7th place rank in Japan’s All Time Money List.

Stacking high alongside Obara are Zhonghuan Dai (205 BB), Jonald Garcia (203 BB), and Thailand’s Phachara Wongwichit (158 BB) who is looking to clinch his 8th career APT title. Other notables also making it through are Terry Nguyen (139 BB), Edward Chun Ho Yam (78 BB), rising star Peng Sen Wu (63 BB), Czardy Rivera (52 BB), Kwun Ngai Vincent Li (45 BB), and APT Manila Main Event champion Christopher Mateo (39 BB),

Date: March 3 to 9, 2024
Buy in: NTD 70,000 (~USD 2,200)
Guarantee: NTD 65,000,000 (~USD 2,050,000)
Flight A: 265 entries / 95 advanced
Flight B: 260 entries / 118 advanced
Flight C: March 5, 2024 at 11am
Flight D: March 5, 2024 at 6pm

Running today are the last two flights on schedule, Flight C and D both of which offer 30 minute blinds for the first six levels then 40 minutes at the start of Level 7. Similar to the first two qualifiers, both entry flights are set to play down a total of 10 levels with registration remaining open until the start of Day 2.

Taiwan’s Chu Chi Jen crushes Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty

Local high roller regular Chu Chi Jen successfully clinched his career second APT title after topping the 74-entry field Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty and defeating Malaysia’s Kean Wei Tan in heads up play. The Taiwanese runner locked in the biggest share of the NTD 9,690,300 (~USD 307,100) generated prize pool, capturing NTD 1,341,300 (~USD 42,450) and an additional NTD 850,000 (~USD 26,900) in bounties. This brings Chu’s total to a noteworthy NTD 2,191,300 (~USD 69,350) in prizes, boosting his career total live earnings past the $1.2 Million mark.

Canada’s Albert Nguyen finished in third place but exited with the second largest share after collecting a massive NTD 1,150,000 (~USD 36,440) in bounty prizes to bump up his winnings to NTD 1,775,000 (~USD 56,170). Malaysian runner up Kean Wei Tan on the other hand, saw an additional NTD 150,000 (~USD 4,750) in bounties stretch his NTD 954,000 (~USD 30,190) payout into seven figures.

Date: March 4, 2024
Buy in: NTD 150,000 (~USD 4,750)
Entries: 74 (57 unique)
Prize pool: NTD 9,690,300 (~USD 307,100)
ITM: 11 places

Event #51: Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty Results

Teng Kuei Hsu lands back to back titles

Another impressive feat saw Taiwan’s Teng Kuei Hsu join the list of multi event winners, raking in back to back victories midway through the festival. After lifting the second largest Mystery Bounty Hunter event in APT history just the day prior, Teng wasted no time in securing another title at Event #52: NL Hold’em – Freezeout. This time, Teng bested a smaller field of 155 entries and clinched the NTD 787,875 (~USD 24,940) top prize after defeating fellow Taiwanese Chia Yun Wu in heads up battle.

Teng’s latest victory earned him a third career lion trophy, coincidentally capping both events with the same hand, ace-eight. Interestingly, Teng’s career best cash was at last year’s APT Taipei Main Event where he came close with a 5th place finish for NTD 2,595,400 (~USD 84,345). With six more days of APT action left on the felt, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Teng land another spot across the headlines.

Date: March 4, 2024
Buy in: NTD 25,000 (~USD 790)
Entries: 155
Prize pool: NTD 3,382,875 (~USD 107,205)
ITM: 23 places

Event #52: NL Hold’em – Freezeout Final Table Results

Head on over to APT’s official website for all the APT Taipei 2024 results.

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APT Taipei 2024: News