Nevan Yu Chung Chang wins the 2020 WPTDeepstacks Taiwan Warm Up

Players in Taiwan finally got a tickle of the World Poker Tour’s famous WPTDeepstacks with the brand wrapping up a four-day stint at the highly popular CTP Club Taipei (Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association). This event has been in the works since last year and was intended to launch in March 2020 until Covid 19 put a wrench in everyone’s plans. After two reschedules, and Taiwan able to arrest the virus, the first part of the festival finally took flight. The WPTDS Taiwan Warm Up event ran from November 13 to 16. Taiwan’s Nevan Yu Chung Chang shipped it for NT$ 223,500 (~US$ 7,820). Read up on his win and other results down below. The series also saw 20 players earn WPTDeepstacks Taiwan seats worth NT$ 15,000 each. The upcoming main festival will take place on December 11 to 21 at the same location.

WPTDS Warm Up: NEVAN YU CHUNG CHANG – NT$ 223,500 (~US$ 7,820)

Highlighting the micro festival was the WPTDS Taiwan Warm Up event with 217 finding their way to the felt. Well known players advancing to Day 2 were Pete Yen Han Chen (2018 WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year winner), Jack En Ching Wu, Philip King Chung Wang, and Anthony Abram however none were able to match the might of Day 1A chip leader Nevan Yu Chung Chang. Nevan ranked second overall entering Day 2, carried in the largest stack into the final table, then proceeded to win it to become the festival’s biggest winner.

Nevan Yu Chung Chang is one of Taiwan’s young guns. His first live tournament cash was in Macau in 2017. At the time, live poker events in Taiwan were non-existent forcing players to travel. That year, Nevan cashed nine times with a small victory at the ACOP Platinum Series XVII HK$ 3,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em event. The following year, the Taiwan market opened and with it came numerous Asian brands and homegrown festivals. It wasn’t until July 2019 did Nevan land a second career win at the Taiwan Millions Tournament. His largest score to date was in December 2019 at the CTP Championship Series finishing 1st at the NT$ 30K Championships event for NT$ 1,245,000 (~US$ 41,200). Nevan’s WPT win was his first for the year to bring him up to US$ 170K in live cashes.

Buy in: NT$ 6,000 (~US$ 210)

Entries: 217

Prize pool: NT$ 1,073,500 (~US$ 37,500)

ITM: 28 places

*Top nine received one WPTDS Taiwan seat worth NT$ 15,000

Briefly recapping the final race, Nevan, and high rollers Kun Han Lee, and Justin Chi Jen Chu dominated the final table action, each one taking turns sitting up top. By five handed, Justin seesawed from chip leader to the exit with Nevan delivering the boot. Nevan proceeded to rail the next three to win it.

At four handed, Lee built a wide lead after winning a big pot on a straight versus straight against Nevan however, Lee’s lead was short lived as Nevan clawed back up to second rank then reclaimed command when Lee doubled up Shih Kiun Hsu. From there, Nevan stayed ahead while Lee plummeted. Lee’s next two shoves were his last falling with two pairs to Nevan’s straight. Three-handed, Nevan had a sizable lead over Hsu and Chih Wei Chen. Hsu busted holding outdrawn by Nevan’s with three Queens turning up for quads. Heads up against Chen was just one quick hand. Nevan shoved with , Chen risked it all with , the board bricked.

Final table payouts

1st Nevan Yu Chung Chang – Taiwan – NT$ 223,500

2nd Chih Wei Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 156,600

3rd Shih Kun Hsu – Taiwan – NT$ 96,200

4th Kun Han Lee – Taiwan – NT$ 58,500

5th Justin Chi Jen Chu – Taiwan – NT$ 45,200

6th Po Ching Lin – Taiwan – NT$ 37,400

7th Po Han Lee – Taiwan – NT$ 31,900

8th Feng Wen Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 27,200

9th Wei Lo – Taiwan – NT$ 22,400

Other Results

WPTDS Warm Up Micro Main Event: XIAO TU CHEN – NT$ 45,500 (~US$ 1,600)

Buy in: NT$ 3,000 (~US$ 110)

Entries: 91

Prize pool: NT$ 218,500 (~US$ 7,650)

ITM: 12 places

*Top 5 received one WPTDS Taiwan seat worth NT$ 15,000

Final table payouts

1st Xiao Tu Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 45,500

2nd Dinev Zheko Valentinov – Bulgaria – NT$ 27,300

3rd Li Ta Hsu – Taiwan – NT$ 17,200

4th Hua Wei Lin – Taiwan – NT$ 11,100

5th Chung Yi Ho – Taiwan – NT$ 8,600

6th In Kuei Tan – Tan – NT$ 6,800

7th Yu Wei Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 5,700

8th Wei Jen Tai – Taiwan – NT$ 5,000

9th Cheng Shuo Mai – Taiwan – NT$ 4,600

WPTDS Warm Up Evening Turbo

Buy in: NT$ 2,500 (~US$ 88)

Entries: 52

Prize pool: NT$ 110,500 (~US$ 3,900)

ITM: 7 places

Winner: CHIH KAI CHEN – Taiwan – NT$ 22,000 (~US$ 770)

2nd Li Ta Hsu – Taiwan – NT$ 13,100

3rd Michael Meng – Taiwan – NT$ 8,000

*Top 3 received one WPTDS Taiwan seat worth NT$ 15,000

CTP Standard NLH

Buy in: NT$ 2,500 (~US$ 88)

Entries: 35

Prize pool: NT$ 74,375 (~US$ 2,600)

ITM: 5 places

Winner: YU XUAN ZHENG – Taiwan – NT$ 8,500 (~US$ 300)

2nd I Wu Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 5,400

3rd Patrick Liang – Brazil – NT$ 4,300

4th Dinev Zheko Valentinov – Taiwan – NT$ 3,800

5th Michael Meng – Taiwan – NT$ 3,300

*Top 3 received one WPTDS Taiwan seat worth NT$ 15,000

CTP Daily Deep Stacks

Buy in: NT$ 1,500 (~US$ 52)

Entries: 50

Prize pool: NT$ 60,000 (~US$ 2,100)

ITM: 7 places

Winner: FONG JHAN LIN – Taiwan – NT$ 22,400 (~US$ 784)

CTP Daily Deep Stacks

Buy in: NT$ 1,500 (~US$ 52)

Entries: 63

Prize pool: NT$ 75,600 (~US$ 2,645)

ITM: 8 places

Winner: JU YI HUANG – Taiwan – NT$ 20,950 (~US$ 733)

CTP Daily Deep Stacks

Buy in: NT$ 1,500 (~US$ 52)

Entries: 42

Prize pool: NT$ 50,400 (~US$ 1,765)

ITM: 6 places

Winner: WEI HUANG – Taiwan – NT$ 18,00 (~US$ 630)

CTP Daily Deep Stacks

Buy in: NT$ 1,500 (~US$ 52)

Entries: 47

Prize pool: NT$ 56,400 (~US$ 1,973)

ITM: 6 places

Winner: TE KAI CHANG – Taiwan – NT$ 22,100 (~US$ 773)