APT Taipei 2024: Li Wei Sun leads Main Event Day 4 action; Daniel Smiljkovic and Ka Chun Tsui lift trophies; Giuseppe Murabito reigns as first APT Heads Up champion

Asia-Pacific
Live Poker
03/08/2024
The APT Taipei 2024 Main Event attracted a total of 1,182 entries across its qualifying rounds and saw the tour’s largest guarantee in history smashed on the schedule’s last flight.
Photo Credit – Asian Poker Tour

Thrilling action seems unending at the Asia Poker Arena and Chinese Mahjong League with the country’s richest prize pool on its way to crowning a winner. The APT Taipei 2024 Main Event attracted a total of 1,182 entries across its qualifying rounds and saw the tour’s largest guarantee in history smashed on the schedule’s last flight. The field drew down to its final 40 players with Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun stacking atop with a 115 big blind chip count. Play resumes for Day 4, playing down to the final table.

Claiming success over at the side events were Austria’s Daniel Smiljkovic, Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui, and Italy’s Giuseppe Murabito, who all snagged APT titles with a few days left on the series’ schedule. Check out these highlights down below.

Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun tops Main Event Final 40

Day 3 action welcomed 175 runners back to the felt, each guaranteed a share of the massive NTD 72,232,020 (~USD 2,287,160) prize pool. The battle for the coveted 24K Gold Lion APT Trophy continued on with the field eventually drawing down to its final 40 players after roughly six hours on the felt. Among those who fell out of contention were WSOPE Main Event winner Max Neugebauer (80th), Flight D frontrunner Thomas Ward (75th), APT champion Renniel Galvez (49th), and Hong Kong’s Chun Nam Fung as the day’s bubble. Chun flicked in his 4.5 BB stack on his big blind with Kc8h but was unable to beat Lester Edoc’s 10h4c to wrap up the day.

Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun found himself stacking the largest with 3,465,000 (115 BB) to lead the 40-player pack.
Li Wei Sun, Photo Credit – Asian Poker Tour

By the final chip counts, Taiwan’s Li Wei Sun found himself stacking the largest with 3,465,000 (115 BB) to lead the 40-player pack. Li rose to the lead after a set over set confrontation with Hayato Obana propelled him to the top ranks by the fourth level. Stacking high alongside Li is France’s Safwane Bahri (105 BB), two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc (72 BB), and APT largest Bounty Hunter winner Jereld Sam (70 BB). Day 3 frontrunners Brandon Lee and Jun Obara were also able to preserve their big stacks, bagging 3rd and 8th across the overall order respectively. Other notables remaining in the running for the NTD 12,944,020 (~USD 409,730) top prize are bracelet winners Quang Thai Ha (57 BB), Mike Takayama (36 BB), and Anson Tsang (22 BB).

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 Chips Big Blinds
1 Li Wei Sun Taiwan 3,465,000 115
2 Safwane Bahri France 3,175,000 105
3 Brandon Lee Singapore 2,510,000 83
4 Lester Edoc Philippines 2,160,000 72
5 Jereld Sam Singapore 2,105,000 70
6 Pitipong Posri Thailand 2,105,000 70
7 Quang Thai Ha Vietnam 1,730,000 57
8 Jun Obara Japan 1,675,000 55
9 Xi Guo Zhang Taiwan 1,630,000 54
10 Junzhong Loo Malaysia 1,510,000 50

Full Day 4 Chip Counts and Seat Draw

Daniel Smiljkovic ships Event #74: Single Day High Roller

Bracelet winner Daniel Smiljkovic bested the field and claimed the biggest share of the lot after beating Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung in heads up play.
Daniel Smiljkovic, Photo Credit – Asian Poker Tour

With the High Roller events being a hit across the schedule, another 92 entries were recorded in the single day event, generating a NTD 6,425,280 (~USD 203,770) prize pool to fight for. Bracelet winner Daniel Smiljkovic bested the field and claimed the biggest share of the lot after beating Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung in heads up play. The Austrian locked in the NTD 1,684,280 (~USD 53,620) top prize and added the fan favorite lion trophy to his already impressive collection of accolades.

Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 80,000 (~USD 2,540)
Entries: 92
Prize pool: NTD 6,425,280 (~USD 203,770)
ITM: 13 places

Event #74: Single Day High Roller Full Payouts

Place Name Flag Prize
1st Daniel Smiljkovic Austria NTD 1,684,280
2nd Sparrow Cheung Hong Kong NTD 1,182,000
3rd Shung Er Sua Malaysia NTD 781,000
4th Frank Lillis Ireland NTD 614,000
5th Jack Salter United Kingdom NTD 495,000
6th Younghee Park South Korea NTD 386,000
7th Takamitsu Namiki Japan NTD 305,000
8th Quang Thai Ha Vietnam NTD 238,000
9th Tsz Him Chan Hong Kong NTD 180,000
10th Kuan-Han Chen Taiwan NTD 148,000
11th Adam Martinsson Sweden NTD 148,000
12th Albert Nguyen Canada NTD 132,000
13th Daniel Shiang An Yang Taiwan NTD 132,000

Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui wins Event #114: NLH – Freezeout

An added trophy event on schedule saw Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui claim his second APT victory in Event #114: NLH - Freezeout.
Ka Chun Tsui, Photo Credit – Asian Poker Tour

An added trophy event on schedule saw Hong Kong’s Ka Chun Tsui claim his second APT victory in Event #114: NLH – Freezeout. Ka outlasted the 201-entry field and maneuvered his way to the top spot after defeating Thailand’s Noppon Taengruen for the title. It took nearly eleven hours of play before Ka emerged victorious, earning him his career best cash to date at NTD 973,825 (~USD 30,850).

Date: March 6, 2024
Buy in: NTD 25,000 (~USD 790)
Entries: 201
Prize pool: NTD 4,386,825 (~USD 139,125)
ITM: 27 places

Event #114: NLH – Freezeout Final Table Results

Place Name Flag Prize
1st Ka Chun Tsui Hong Kong NTD 973,825
2nd Noppon Taengruen Thailand NTD 656,000
3rd Cheung Yu Chuang Hong Kong NTD 451,000
4th Vikaash Shah India NTD 368,000
5th Guan Hao Tan Singapore NTD 293,000
6th Hung-Ling Wu Taiwan NTD 225,000
7th Sakan Dhangwatnotai Thailand NTD 164,000
8th Ta Wei Tou Taiwan NTD 119,000
9th Tse Jui Tsai Taiwan NTD 98,000

Giuseppe Murabito reigns as first APT Heads Up champion

The final round saw Japan’s Mayuko Morita in search of her second series title but fell one spot short of the win after Italy’s Giuseppe Murabito crushed the final best of three.
Giuseppe Murabito, Photo Credit – Asian Poker Tour

The inaugural APT Heads Up event drew in a total of 32 entries with only four players locking up a piece of the NTD 558,720 (~USD 17,735) prize pool. The final round saw Japan’s Mayuko Morita in search of her second series title but fell one spot short of the win after Italy’s Giuseppe Murabito crushed the final best of three. For his victory, Murabito claimed his maiden APT title for NTD 234,720 (~USD 7,470), reigning as the tour’s first Heads Up champion.

Date: March 7, 2024
Buy in: NTD 20,000 (~USD 635)
Entries: 32
Prize pool: NTD 558,720 (~USD 17,735)
ITM: 4 places

Event #81: NL Hold’em Heads Up Full Payouts

Place Name Flag Prize
1st Giuseppe Murabito Italy NTD 234,720
2nd Mayuko Morita Japan NTD 156,000
3rd Shoichiro Tamaki Japan NTD 84,000
4th Alecz Chan Singapore NTD 84,000

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APT Taipei 2024: News

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Author:janette