Jereld Sam clinches record-breaking WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event for TWD 8 Million (~USD 250K); Justin Chu shares winner spotlight

The largest World Poker Tour Prime Championship Event to ever hit the tournament scene has finally come to a close with Singapore’s Jereld Sam reigning victorious over the record-breaking 1,666 entry field. Pure excitement filled the air across CTP Asia Poker Arena, Taipei, as the final day of the WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 season arrived on its doorstep. With seven trophies set to be awarded across the side events, the highlight of the day remained to be the final round of the esteemed Championship Event. Nearly ten hours of play flew by before Sam rose to victory, earning him a career best cash of TWD 8,065,000 (~USD 250,700), along with the highly coveted WPT trophy.

“Well, this is my first six-figure win, and it’s the Main Event, the prestige, a WPT Prime in a country that I love, Taiwan. I’ve been here quite a few times, it feels surreal.”

“..It was my tournament to win, I was the short stack. I had nothing to lose, I was just going for the win.”, commented Sam following his victory.

With his top prize including a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship this coming December, Sam stated that he is “..definitely looking forward to going to Vegas. I’m going to take a break first. Let everything settle down after the festival.”

WPT Prime Taiwan – Festival Results

WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Final Day Recap

The final day of the WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event welcomed only thirteen hopefuls back on the felt with Jereld Sam leading the pack across the final games. It took roughly three and a half hours of play before the final table was set with Japan’s Yuya Arito overtaking the lead, and Sam right on his tail.

The first final table casualty saw New Zealand’s Paul Hong run his last twelve big blinds in with , right into chip leader Arito’s . Moments later local runner Wei Chun Cheng followed suit with the same hand, albeit to Sam’s . Just four hands in following, Arito was once again seen picking up a stack with his , enough to send Tomoyuki Yoshimiya’s crashing out in seventh place finish.

Six handed play stretched for another level before Junya Yamaguchi bowed out with against Ka Shun Tsang’s . Arito, who was doing well throughout the tournament, found his Championship Event run come to an end after his 28 big blind four bet jam with stood behind Kosei Oguri’s . Oguri shipped over 60% of the chips in play to hold down a commanding lead across the final four. The sole Singaporean runner caught up fairly quickly, having delivered the next two eliminations – Tsang, and Jun Li in third and fourth place respectively.

By heads up play, Oguri remained ahead with Sam paying him off right on the first hand to widen the gap at 5:1. Oguri continued the upward momentum, leaving Sam down to 11 big blinds at one point. Sam managed to recover across the first race and went on to never look back. Sam successfully grinded his opponent down until the final hand came into play, with Sam clinching the victory with against the latter’s on board .

Read back on the concluded WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Final Day 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)
Prize pool: TWD 51,054,436 (~USD 1,611,293)
Entries: 1,666
ITM: 208 places

Day 1A: 421 entries / 53 qualified
Day 1B: 535 entries / 67 qualified
Day 1C: 710 entries / 88 qualified
Day 2: 206 players / 13 qualified

WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Final Table Results

*The winner also receives the $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas on top of his cash prize.

Justin Chu wins WPT Prime Taiwan High Roller for TWD 3,219,400 (~USD 100,640)

After a grinding fourteen hours on the floor, the WPT Prime Taiwan High Roller wrapped up with Taiwan’s own Chi Jen ‘Justin’ Chu emerging victorious over the 118-entry field. Chu re-entered on the first level of Day 2 and was down short from the last three tables onto the final round. Chu only needed to lock in two crucial pots – both with pocket kings, to reach heads up play against running chip leader Seunghun Ko. Ko amassed his stack early in the final table games after a three-way showdown against fellow Korean In Jungsu, and Yu Chung ‘Nevan’ Chang, earned him a third of the total chips in play.

Almost at par in chips, the final heads up duel saw a lot of room for play with each stacking just below the forty big blind mark. Chu hammered down his opponent hand after hand, yet found himself losing all three preflop showdowns. While Ko managed to double up and bounce back a number of times, Chu’s unmatched postflop play saw him recover quickly from these losses. Following three levels of back and forth, Chu finally secured the final victory with his dominating Ko’s . Chu takes with him TWD 3,219,400 (~USD 100,640) in winnings and the coveted WPT Prime Taiwan High Roller trophy, while Ko settles for a runner up finish and TWD 2,146,000 (~USD 67,100) in prizes in consolation.

Dates: August 18-19, 2024
Buy in: TWD 120,000 (~USD 3,720)
Guarantee: TWD 5,000,000 (~USD 155,320)
Prize pool: TWD 12,590,600 (~USD 393,585)
Entries: 118
ITM: 17 places

Backtrack on the concluded action via SMP Live Updates.

Event #44: WPT Prime Taiwan High Roller Full Payouts