Asian Poker Tour Ready for Massive Series in Taiwan

The Asian Poker Tour, the fastest growing live poker operator in the Asian region is taking their upcoming Taiwan stop to a new level. From April 25 until May 4, 2025, the upcoming APT Taipei 2025 features more than NTD 126 million (~USD 5.4 million) in guarantees across an intensive schedule of 126 tournaments.

The ambitious series is once again held in cooperation with Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP) but will be moving from the Asia Poker Arena to a brand new venue just around the corner. Red Space has sufficient space to host more than 100 poker tables, aplenty to combat the long waiting lines from last year’s record-setting affair in Taiwan. Fred Leung, CEO of APT, had this to share,

Taipei has become a must-play series anytime APT hosts a poker festival with our amazing partners in CTP. The three New Era events have set all-time national records each time. We are opening a new venue to meet the demands of our growth there as we fully expect to make yet another record in April.

APT Taipei 2025 Highlights

Reigning over the schedule is the tremendous NTD 55,000 (~USD 1,680) APT Taipei 2025 Main Event with a huge NTD 70 million (~USD 2.1 million) prize pool guarantee, highlighting the ambition of the APT to once again raise the bar for live poker in the country. More than 120 seats can be won for the flagship Main Event on Natural8, which adds more than $260,000 in buy-ins to the crown jewel of the series.

As usual, the cherry on top of the cake boasts four live Day 1 flights from April 27-29, and players can win their entry through various live satellites. The late registration will be open until the start of Day 2 on April 30, after which the tournament plays down to the money. From there on, all online qualifiers join the fray and there is certainly a chance that the record attendance set during the APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 with 1,991 entries may be beaten once again.

Seats To APT Championship Main Event

Of course, the extensive schedule also includes several other nuggets and pretty much something for everyone no matter what stake they are looking for. Low and mid-stakes players will have plenty of tournaments to join in while mixed game aficionados and High Rollers can likewise showcase their talents in Taipei a couple of weeks from now.

Three of the signature tournaments on the schedule award an entry to the NTD 165 million (~USD 5 million) guaranteed APT Championship Main Event worth NTD 350,000 (~USD 10,700) along with an additional USD 500 to cover travel expenses. This new flagship festival will be taking place in November and returns to the very same venue in the Taiwanese capital. The seats will be up for grabs for the eventual champion of the Main Event, the APT High Roller, and the APT Super High Roller.

A Feast for the High Rollers

This leads straight up to the scintillating high-stakes action set for the upcoming series. Nearly one fifth of the schedule bears the definition, and the buy-ins range between NTD 25,000 (~USD 760) all the way up to NTD 800,000 (~USD 24,400), the latter of which is demanded for entering the Superstar Challenge. It will run on April 28-29 alongside the Main Event Day 1 flights with plenty of big international names expected. Defending champion of the most expensive tournament is none other than Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, the former StarCraft esports player and WSOP bracelet winner resides in South Korea these days.

On the tail end of the festival, the NTD 110,000 (~USD 3,350) APT High Roller concludes the series on May 3-4 with a NTD 11 Million (~USD 335,000) guarantee. Earlier on the schedule as of April 26, the APT Super High Roller comes with a price tag of three times as much and a NTD 15 Million (~USD 455,000) guaranteed prize pool.

Several Turbo and Hyper Turbo High Roller variants will be available throughout the entire schedule along with Single-Day editions, the latter of which represent one third of this niche. Three new contests have been added to the schedule including Event #13: Pot Limit Omaha High Roller (NTD 65,000 / ~USD 1,985 buy-in), Event #66: Women’s High Roller (NTD 35,000 / ~USD 1,070 buy-in), and Event #93: 9 Game – High Roller (NTD 65,000 / ~USD 1,985 buy-in).

The latest craze in live poker will also have it’s spot in the high-stakes action in Taiwan with Event #58: Single Day High Roller – Mystery Bounty (35K Bounty). Tsui Han Hsiao is the defending champion of this event in a field of 75 and was one of the female winners in an open event this past November. Likewise, the NTD 165,000 (~USD 5,040) Baby Superstar Challenge which was introduced one year ago in Taiwan has quickly become a sweet spot for a medium-sized elite field with Niko Koop lifting the trophy in a field of 92 entries.

High Roller Packages

In order to attract poker enthusiasts from near and far with deeper pockets for the series, the APT has created two different High Roller Early Bird Specials. Both options require a full deposit of the funds until March 25, 2025, to secure the spot.

The Gold Package requires the pre-registration for the three flagship high-stakes contests APT Super High Roller, Baby Superstar Challenge, and the APT High Roller to unlock eight complimentary (Luxury Room) hotel nights at the ArTree Hotel, which is within walking distance of the event location. There is a shuttle service available every 30 minutes, though.

For those wishing even more luxury to unwind after long sessions at the poker tables, the Executive Premier Room at the JR Metropolitan Hotel may be a better fit especially if all of the highest tournament stakes are on your list anyways. A maximum of eight complimentary nights will be granted and require pre-registration in the APT Super High Roller, Superstar Challenge, Baby Superstar Challenge, and APT High Roller.

Gold Package: NTD 609,912.50 (USD $18,623) deposit – max. 25 packages available
Diamond Package: NTD 1,409,912.50 (USD $43,051) deposit – max. 10 packages available

Mixed Games and Other Key Events

Mixed game aficionados will find a total of 38 different events at their disposal and some of them may actually not be played anywhere else outside of the APT such as Stairway to Seven, Cry Me A River, Archie, Drawmaha 2-7, Super Versions of Stud, Razzdugi. More common are variants such as Pot-Limit Omaha and Big-O, both of which will now have Double Board Bomb Pot formats as well.

If only Texas Hold’em is of interest for you and the bankroll is rather limited, there are several marquee events on the event calendar to take a closer look. Right at the start of the series, the APT National Cup runs from April 25- 26 and features a buy-in of NTD 12,000 (~USD 366) with a deep NTD 10 Million (~USD 305K GTD) guarantee. It is swiftly followed by the Mystery Bounty – Sponsored by Natural8 on April 26-27, which costs NTD 17,000 (~USD 519) to enter and boasts a NTD 15 Million (~USD 458,000) guarantee.

The Sunday Super Stack has a price tag of NTD 30,000 (~USD 916) and will run from start to finish on April 27 with a NTD 5 Million (~USD 152,000 guarantee to complete the lower stakes trifecta during the opening days.

A few days later, the Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 will come with an elevated buy-in of NTD 80,000 (~USD 2,442), but also carries the higher guarantee of NTD 20 Million (~USD 611,000). Add to that the NTD 25,000 (~USD 763) Mini Main Event and respective Micro Main Event version (NTD 11,000 /~USD 336 buy-in) during the final days of the series and there is something for everyone available to stick around until the end of the festival.

Past APT Records

In 2024, the APT visited Taiwan on two different occasions and the equivalent stop early in the year attracted an incredible 13,153 total entries across 106 Trophy Events, with an astonishing NTD 383.49 Million (~USD 12.19 million) in prize money awarded. The APT Taipei 2024 Main Event became the richest tournament ever to run in Taiwan and that marquee threshold may very will be surpassed again.

APT Taipei 2025 – Information