Chiehchi Liu Wins TMT Championship Main Event

The first ever TMT Championship crowned its Main Event champion and none was more deserving than Taiwan’s Chiehchi Liu who dominated the final table from start to finish. Liu entered as chip leader, proceeded to knock out six players to clinch the title in just over three hours.

“I am champion, of course I am very happy! I only started playing poker last year in September and then I finished in 3rd place in January at the TMT Main Event. Everyone calls me a fish and saying I am so lucky. So I wanted to prove that I can play poker. And I made it! I think I am really good at it.”

Chiehchi Liu Wins TMT Championship Main Event

The inaugural TMT Championship Main Event ran from November 1 to 5 at the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan. An off-shoot of the beloved low stakes homegrown Taiwan Millions Tournament, this high stakes edition was the first to be staged by the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club).

Throughout the four entry flights, locals populated the field joined by a strong showing of Koreans. At the close of registration, attendance  reached 936 for a noteworthy prize pool of NTD 27,237,600 (~US$ 850,000). Of those, 143 advanced to Day 2, each one already guaranteed a minimum payout. Closing the heat were the final 9 players, six of them were from Taiwan led by Chiehchi Liu.

Fina Day Recap

The final day took 74 hands to crown the champion. Early aggression from Manlok Chan awarded him a couple of pots to quickly steal the lead from Chiehchi Liu. However, Chan’s time up top was brief. By hand #10, both big stacks tangled resulting in Liu reclaiming the top spot. From that moment onward, Liu dominated the table, first eliminating Justin Chu in 9th place.

A few hands after, Liu delivered his second elimination with Kao Kuo Wei falling in 8th place.  By the end of the opening level, with 31 hands dealt, Liu had amassed over 40% of the total chips in play.

At the new level, Ko Chia Hsiang lost the flip for his tournament life against Chan and Lin Yun Tse busted to Cheng Wei Chun in 6th place. All of the next busts were dealt by Liu.

Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung was unable to gain any momentum and fell in 5th place on a cooler with pocket Queens running into pocket Kings. Cheng followed out in 4th place when his top pair was burned by a a bad beat on the river.

The lone Korean in the lineup, Gyu Won Jang, seemed more fortunate, landing two double ups against the leader Liu, however by hand #72, Jang lost it all, calling for his tournament life with top pair that ran into Liu’s pocket aces.

Heads up kicked off with Liu sitting on 142 bb and Chan with 45 bb. Despite the deep stacks, it only took two hands to wrap up. The final hand saw heavy preflop bets leading to Liu calling a five-bet shove with Q♣4♣ and Chan with A♦J♣. The final board was Q♦3♦J♠K♣8♥.

This was Liu’s first major win and career best score, easily surpassing his 3rd place finish at the TMT Main Event.

 Relive the action via the CTP YouTube and the SMP Live Updates.

TMTC Main Event Numbers

• Date: November 1 to 5, 2024
• Buy in: NTD 33,000 (~US$ 1,030)
• Guarantee: NTD 20,000,000 (~US$ 600,000)
• Entries: 936
• Prize pool: NTD 27,237,600 (~US$ 850,000)
• ITM: 143 places

Final Table Payouts

Chip Counts
Payouts

For more information on the TMTC 2024, please see the following:

TMTC SCHEDULE
TMTC – Festival Results
TMTC – Main Event Live Updates
TMTC – Main Event – Prize Pool and Payout Breakdown
TMTC – Daily Updates
TMTC – Photo Gallery