Florent Remi tops WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event Day 1A; Daewoong Song, Kai Yang and Shinya Nakai lock up victories

Exciting action has been evident all day at the CTP Asia Poker Arena, Taipei, with the WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event games having officially kicked off. The first flight on schedule racked up a great starting point for the headlining festivities with a total of 421 entries in the bag. France’s Florent Remi topped the charts as the day closed, and brings with him a seven digit chip count onto the Day 2 rounds.

Over at the side events, South Korea’s Daewoong Song celebrated an early victory at the Super High Roller event, banking a nice profit across the 15-entry field. USA’s Kai Yang and Japan’s Shinya Nakai likewise emerged triumphant later in the evening, and collected coveted WPT hardware for besting the PLO and Deepstack 8 Max Turbo event, respectively.

WPT Prime Taiwan – Players Guide
WPT Prime Taiwan – Festival Results

Florent Remi leads WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Day 1A

Day 1A of the WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event is off to a smashing start with a promising turnout seen straight away. One in eight (1-in-8) entries – approximately 12.5% of the field were deemed a spot into Day 2 which meant only 53 runners would be left by night’s end. Action closed as ITM was reached by the 18th level of the day following the exit of Hua Wei Lin with against Youngtaek Lim’s. Whilst a huge favorite, Lin’s run was sent to a halt after the runout landed Lim a set to take it down.

Bagging time saw France’s Florent Remi pack in the lead, towing a 1,039,000 chip count (87 BB) after a long grind. Remi jumped in late in the afternoon but quickly got to work to build a stack as the day’s end drew near. The French pro inched over the one million threshold right on bubble time, leaving Taiwan’s Yung Han Chien trailing closely behind with 1,026,0000 (86 BB).

Missing the mark were a number of strong local contenders including Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen, Chi Jen ‘Justin’ Chu, and Chien Chih ‘Maggie’ Weng. Seasoned international pros Dave Erquiaga, Hon Cheong ‘Ivan’ Lee, and Kyle Bao Diep likewise fell short of making it through, with two more shots through Saturday, August 17th remaining on schedule.

Read back on the concluded WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Day 1A action via WPT’s official Live Updates.

Dates: August 15-19, 2024
Buy in: TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,080)

Guarantee: TWD 32,276,500 (~USD 1,000,000)

Day 1A: 421 entries / 53 qualified
Day 1B: Friday, August 16

Day 1C: Saturday, August 17

Day 2: Sunday, August 18

Day 3/ Final Day: Monday, August 19

WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Day 1A Top Chip Counts

Side Events

Event #31: WPT Prime Taiwan SHR: Daewoong Song – TWD 1,904,600 (~USD 58,940)

The mightiest buy-in listed on schedule drew in fifteen entries vying for the WPT Prime Taiwan Super High Roller title. Of that two table field, only six players returned for Day 2 with South Korea’s Daewoong Song leading the pack. Within the initial hour of play, three busts were quickly seen on stage with WPT Global ambassador Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen being the first to fall. Chen shoved his last eight big blinds with and saw chip leader Song put in the call with . A huge favorite, Song swiftly delivered the elimination on board , and raked in the boost to stack over half of the total chips in play.

Short stacked Sung Joo Hyun and Vincent Rubianes followed suit just moments later, resulting in the money bubble burst as the American runner headed out one spot short of the money. Rubianes committed his last nine big blinds with and lost a race against Paul Hong’s for a fourth place finish, guaranteeing all three remaining players a share of the TWD 3,462,900 (~USD 107,170) prize pool.

The shortest amongst the three, Chi Jen ‘Justin’ Chu went with his open ended straight draw on flop , and faced chip leader Song’s. The turn and river bricked out for Chu, improving his opponent’s midpair to trip queens for the win. Down to heads up, Song carried a 2:1 advantage over New Zealand’s Paul Hong and clinched the win only twenty minutes later, with the final hand seeing both stacks in the middle preflop. Song snap called with against Hong’s, and sealed the victory on board .

Dates: August 14-15, 2024
Buy in: TWD 250,000 (~USD 7,730)

Prize pool: TWD 3,462,900 (~USD 107,170)

Entries: 15

ITM: 3 places

Event #31: WPT Prime Taiwan SHR Full Payouts

Event #36: PLO: Kai Yang – TWD 298,000 (~USD 9,220)

The final PLO event on schedule attracted 33 entries across the felt with only five players securing a portion of the TWD 726,700 (~USD 22,490) pot. A supposed two-day event, the games saw a quick finish and played down to completion in just under twelve hours. Three handed play saw Tao Wei ‘David’ Chang in the best position to secure the title, until a crucial spot against Kai Yang cost the Taiwanese runner his advantage. On a board of , Chang paid his opponent in full, only to muck after Yang revealed set .

Chang went on to eliminate fellow countryman Yiching Jeng in third place, and reach heads up play right on Yang’s tail. The final hand came up mere moments later with Chang all-in with against Yang’s. A dry board offered no salvation for Chang, leaving him to settle for a runner up finish, and Yangthe trophy win.

Date/s: August 15, 2024
Buy in: TWD 25,000 (~USD 770)

Prize pool: TWD 726,700 (~USD 22,490)

Entries: 33

ITM: 5 places

Event #36: PLO Full Payouts

Event #38: Deepstack 8 Max Turbo: Shinya Nakai – TWD 511,100 (~USD 15,810)

Running only 15 minutes on the clock, the Deepstack 8 Max Turbo event saw its 225 entry field quickly whittle down to 30 players remaining by the 20th level. Japan’s Shinya Nakai stood amongst the shortest stacks as the money bubble approached, yet completely turned things around following two back to back double ups. Now armed with ammo, Nakai towered over the field and carried his lead all the way down to the final table.

With the final nine all relatively short, it only took ten minutes for the two micro stacks – Yuta Miyata (8th) and Manhang Tse (9th), to fall out of contention. King Lun Shih suffered a crushing bad beat a few hands in following, with Kevin Mateo getting the best of an , battle. Mateo however, was unable to hold down his stack for long with a flip against Eum Sungsik, leading him to eventually crash in 5th place.

Tatsuki Hanada went on to deliver two short stack eliminations, and fall one level later, having run right into Nakai’s. Granted with another boost, Nakai continued his momentum and finished off his last opponent with the final hand tabling against the latter’s . The board left no worries for the Japanese runner as he shot up right into first place for a TWD 511,100 (~USD 15,810) payday.

Date/s: August 15, 2024
Buy in: TWD 11,000 (~USD 340)

Prize pool: TWD 2,182,500 (~USD 67,540)

Entries: 225

ITM: 29 places

Event #38: Deepstack 8 Max Turbo Final Table Results