Asian Poker Tour to Reach New Heights With APT Championship Series in November 2025

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The Asian Poker Tour, one of the fastest growing live poker operators not only in the Asia-Pacific region but all over the world is gearing up for the biggest mission to date. From November 14 to 30, 2025, the brand returns to Taiwan bringing with it its biggest series in history – the APT Championship featuring NT$ 276,000,000 (~US$ 8.4 million) in guarantees across the entire festival.

Asian Poker Tour - APTC 2025

The new pinnacle live poker event of the year in Asia once again runs in cooperation with Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club) and will take place at Red Space  in Taipei City. Through the years, the partnership between both brands has produced numerous records on Taiwanese soil. And with an even more ambitious project ahead, the history books of live poker in the country are certain to receive a brand new chapter.

APT Championship Taiwan 2025

APT Championship 2025

What makes this APT stop in particular so special? A quick look at the schedule makes it very clear as the crown jewel of the entire series is a very bold one. Usually, the APT Main Event has a moderate mid-stakes buy-in and allows for multiple entries, but this won’t be the case this November.

Schedule Released

On June 5, 2025, the APT released the full schedule for the 17-day long poker festival in Taiwan and it includes a total of 203 tournaments with 20 Championship Events. The Asia Gaming Industry Championship Freezeout kicks off one day prior to the official start of the series. There are 25 live satellites available during the festival to cover basically all of the Championship Events.

APT CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 – Schedule

APT Championship Main Event

The upcoming APTC Main Event features a higher buy-in of NT$ 350,000 (~US$ 10,550) and will be held in a Freezeout format from November 24-28, 2025. It also features the APT’s largest-ever prize pool guarantee by far with an astonishing NT$ 165 million (~US$ 5 million) up for grabs.

There is only one shot at glory and the new key figures are likely to attract more international participants than usual, sitting neatly right before other international festivals such as EPT Prague, WPT World Championships, and WSOP Paradise.

Satellites On Natural8

Leading Asian online poker operator Natural8 will support the project as main sponsor with an ambitious online satellite schedule which has already kicked off. Later this month, on June 29, 2025, the site will host a US$ 1,100 final where at least one US$ 12,000 package to the APT Championship is guaranteed with qualifiers running for as little as $20. If any Natural8 online qualifier or direct buy-in wins the target event, they will receive an additional US$ 50,000 bonus.

Natural8 X APT Championship

APTC Main Event Passes

The APT itself is also awarding some of their biggest winners in marquee events throughout the year with entry tickets to the grand spectacle. For example, the previous stops in Manila and Taiwan have already awarded 12 APT Championship Main Event Passes, and for the upcoming stop in Incheon this August 2025, the brand will give away seats to the winners and top finishers in six key tournaments on the schedule.

Akira Takasugi awarded APT Championship Main Event Pass
Akira Takasugi awarded APT Championship Main Event Pass – Photo by APT

Even during the event itself, players have several options to win their seat for the flagship tournament via live satellites. Furthermore, the winners of the following seven APT Championship Events will get the entry for the crown jewel of the series on top of their cash prize:

  • National Cup Championship
  • Mystery Bounty Championship
  • 7-Max Championship
  • Ultra Stack Championship
  • Natural8 Cup Championship
  • Super High Roller Championship
  • Superstar Championship

Asian Poker Tour Booth At 2025 WSOP

Asian Poker Tour - APT Lion Trophy

Their marketing efforts don’t stop there as the APT also has a booth at the ongoing World Series of Poker in Las Vegas to advertise their new flagship series. What better place could they have picked than Sin City to do so when poker enthusiasts from all over the world will be trying to capture one of the sought-after WSOP gold bracelets?

APT Continues To Set Records In Taiwan

APT Taipei 2025 - APT Main Event - Photo by APT
APT Taipei 2025 – APT Main Event – Photo by APT

It also isn’t a surprise that the brand is heading to Taiwan for their most-ambitious live poker series to date. After all, they have just reached a new dimension in Taipei City one month ago and the brand new Red Space venue offers the largest capacity to date for any APT stop. New records were perhaps expected prior to the APT Taipei 2025 that ran from April 25 until May 4, but a staggering sixteen signifies more than just a statement.

Quite simply, it was the most successful APT festival in the history of the operator which is looking upon nineteen years of poker action in the Asia-Pacific region. The largest and richest APT stop of all time also entered the history books of the card game in Taiwan, but some new chapters may be added by the time November 2025 draws to a close.

Ramping Up High Stakes Events

Nguyen Trung Quan
Nguyen Trung Quan – Photo by APT

High-stakes players can also look forward to three flagship tournaments: the Super High Roller Championship (NT$ 850,000/~US$ 25,620 buy-in), the Superstar Championship (NT$ 1.7 million/~US$ 51,240 buy-in), and the High Roller Championship (NT$ 500,000/~US$ 15,070 buy-in). Expect further news for the high-stakes specialists soon with the release of the Early Bird packages anticipated in the near future. 

Something For Everyone

With a very diverse set of tournaments now set in stone, the schedule also contains 19 events for women only culminating in the Women’s Championship (NT$ 35,000/~US$ 1,055 buy-in). There are a total of 62 non-NLH events accompanied by several low and mid-stakes events of which 80 have a buy-in of US$ 300 and lower.

Various different poker variants are part of the schedule highlighted by the Mixed Games Championship (NT$ 70,000 /~US$ 2,110 buy-in) and the PLO Championship (NT$ 80,000/~US$ 2,410 buy-in).

Natural8 Events

Main sponsor Natural8 has at least two dedicated tournaments as part of the schedule and that includes the latest craze in live and online poker. The Mystery Bounty Championship comes with a price tag of NT$ 35,000 buy-in (~US$ 1,055) and carries a guaranteed prize pool of at least NT$ 15 million (~US$ 475,500). Furthermore, the Natural8 Cup Championship from November 19 to 21 costs NT$ 100,000 to enter (~US$ 3,350) and comes with a seven figure guarantee of NT$ 35 million/ (~USD 1.07 million).

Lock Up The Dates

While one of the pinnacle live poker events in Asia is still several months away, it cannot hurt to block these dates on the calendar and already check for flights to Taipei early on. Also expect to hear soon about special early bird and High Roller deals for the festival. The results so far speak for themselves and the APT Championship 2025 is one not to be missed for poker enthusiasts from near and far.