Most Popular Low Stakes Festival Taiwan Millions Tournament 17 Opens Today

last Thursday at 12:14 AM

What has become the most popular homegrown tournament in Taipei City, the 17th edition of the Taiwan Millions Tournament (TMT) opens today January 2 and will run until January 20, 2025. Highlighting the festival is the Main Event with a buy-in of only NT$ 9,000 (~US$ 280) and a prize pool of 1 Million in USD.

Taiwan Millions Tournament US$ 1 Million Guarantee

Taiwan Millions Tournament - TMT 16 field — Taiwan Millions Tournament – TMT 16 field

For the second installment in a row, the Taiwan Millions Tournament will once again test the capacity of the Asia Poker Arena after the attendance in the previous edition reached an astonishing 6,953 entries in July 2024. TMT 16 was the first time since the inception of this homegrown event to reach such an incredible turnout with the prize pool soaring to NT$ 51,594,800 (~US$ 1,572,390).

The growth, however, doesn’t come as much of a surprise in one of the fastest growing live poker markets thanks to the hard work of the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP Club). Raymond Wong, CEO of Global Poker Index Asia and one of the leading figures at CTP Club shared,

“The Taiwan Millions Tournament has become one of the most iconic events in the Asian poker scene, and we at CTP Club are incredibly proud to be part of its journey. Over the years, TMT has grown not just in size, but also in its significance within the global poker community. The event brings together players from diverse backgrounds, creating a vibrant atmosphere of competition and camaraderie. Watching its growth year after year has been truly inspiring, and we’re excited to see how it continues to evolve and set new benchmarks for poker in the region.”

It is certainly planned to keep the event series on home soil in Taiwan, however, the organizers have struck partnerships with other poker clubs from abroad such as Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea to host starting days and send qualifiers to the finals in Taipei. That was confirmed during a promotional video on the Facebook page of CTP Club, which was released just before Christmas. CTP Club CEO David Tai elaborated in the teaser video for the upcoming TMT 17,

“In the beginning, I never thought it could grow to such a large scale. Of course, it took consistent effort year after year, and the number of participants gradually increased. Now I am extremely proud that TMT has become the event with the largest number of participants in Asia and a focal event across the continent.”

Players have multiple starting days to try and turn their 25,000 starting stack and a dream into a cash prize. All survivors in the money will then head to the finals in pursuit of glory.

Ka Lam wins record breaking TMT 16 Main Event — Ka Lam

This past July, Macau’s Ka Lam earned his first victory after defeating local Taiwanese player Hao Che Cheng in heads-up play. He turned his small buy-in into a huge payday of NT$5,748,790 (~USD $175,200), while runner-up Cheng settled for a consolation prize of NT$4,870,407 (~USD $148,430). For both players, it was not only their far biggest cash but also the first ever recorded live poker cash!

But not only new players ran deep in this event, but established poker pros as well. Singapore’s Alex Lee who already has an Aussie Millions title under his belt along with more than USD1.5 million in cashes to his name. Lee reached the final two tables in the previous edition and finished in 14^th place.

The marquee event certainly contains a very diverse line-up and it will be exciting to see just how big the latest edition will be.